Happy New Year (for all who celebrate the 12 week year)!

“What do you mean Happy New Year? It’s March!” I hear you say. Well for those who gave annualised thinking the flick and committed to setting 12 week goals, Happy New Year!

Back in January, I sat down to do what I would normally do and set goals for 2024 that are either so big that they hard to measure, or so small that they can be achieved within the first few months of the year. After reading the 12 Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington, I realised that setting annual goals was holding me back and instead, I committed to setting goals for the next 12 weeks. Setting 12 week goals means you are working to a condensed timeline so what you would normally achieve in a month, you will do in a week, and what you will do in a week, will become a day. That means that you have to make every day count. I wrote about the 12 week goal setting process and why I decided to give it a try here: https://www.parismcneil.com/blog/setting2024goals

Now that the 12 week year has come to an end, I sat myself down on New Years Eve to reflect on my goals and whether the 12 week year process lived up to the hype. I must say, it felt like I achieved a lot in 12 weeks and worked towards the majority of goals I set, but I also fell short in a lot of areas.

My first mistake was setting far too many goals. I am all for setting ambitious stretch goals, but often the sheer volume of goals that we are working towards sets us up to fail. I set 16 goals for this 12 week period, actively made progress towards 10 and achieved 4 goals – meaning I only achieved ? of the goals that I set. Warren Buffet preaches the 5/25 rule: write down your 25 biggest goals, circle the 5 most important and then cut out the other 20 (yes, actually cross them out; do not put them in your diary or in a drawer for another day). By focusing only on the 5 most important goals, you avoid being distracted by the laundry list of other things that you want to achieve. In setting your goals for the next 12 weeks, I’d invite you to join me in choosing 5 goals to focus your attention on and pursue those at all costs.

My second mistake was setting goals for outcomes that were frankly, unrealistic. One of my goals was to score 20 runs in a cricket game. That was a big stretch goal for me having only picked up a bat for the first time in November, and it wasn’t one that I was able to achieve. Every time I would get out before I hit 20 runs, I would feel utterly demoralised and disappointed in myself. Eventually I realised that it simply wasn’t realistic; that scoring 20 runs wasn’t within my capability at this stage and that I needed to reframe my goal. Often our goals are unrealistic, particularly when they are outcome, rather than process driven. I liked that the 12 week year framework gave me the prompt to review my goals far sooner than if I’d set annual goals so then I could revise my unrealistic goals and press on. If you fall off the bandwagon, the 12 week New Year is always just around the corner so you can reset and jump back on.

My final mistake was not committing to a system that kept me accountable to my goals on this tighter timeframe. I wrote on my goals page that I would do Sunday evening check ins to review my progress and set tasks for the week ahead for my goals. What I didn’t consider at the time was that my cricket games were also on Sunday evenings and when I got home, I was absolutely gassed, meaning the last thing I wanted to do was reflect and plan for the weeks ahead. As a result, I did not do a single Sunday night check in and while I made consistent progress on a few of the goals that were front of mind, others I had largely forgotten about (for example, reading 3 personal development books) and I made zero progress towards in 12 weeks.

So what’s my verdict? I am still a huge fan of the 12 week year. Despite setting myself up for failure on a number of fronts, by doing it in the 12 week year format, I have the opportunity to review and set new goals that are more realistic far sooner than if I waited until 31 December. The other awesome thing about a 12 week year is that we can celebrate our achievements more often! As with the traditional New Year, I encourage you to take some time to reflect and then celebrate making it to the end of the 12 week year. Be that taking a day, a week or just an hour off to breathe a sigh of relief and give yourself a pat on the back before resetting for the year ahead.

So if you’re ready to start your New Year on a high, join me in jumping right into the next set of 12 week goals! Happy New Year!