Insights from The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington
“Let’s redefine a year: A year is no longer 12 months, it is now only 12 weeks...There are no longer four
periods in a year; that’s old thinking. Now, there is just a 12 Week Year, followed by the next 12 Week Year...
(and) each 12 week period stands on its own.” – The 12 Week Year
During a typical 12‐month year, it’s easy to procrastinate on your annual goals. But during a 12‐week year, there’s a constant sense of
urgency because the end of the year is always looming and you need to generate a month’s worth of progress every week!
To accomplish your annual goals in 12‐weeks and achieve a month’s worth of progress every week, you need to fundamentally change the
way you approach your goals and adopt the 12‐week year ‘Special O.P.S.’ framework:
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Own results
Plan weekly keystone actions
Keep score of execution
Ownership requires 100% commitment to your goals, and commitment (as defined in the American
Heritage Dictionary), is “The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action, or to
another person or persons.”
A sure way to be “bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action, or to another person” is to bet
on yourself. Tell a friend: “In 12‐weeks I will [ANNUAL GOAL], or give you [A PAINFUL AMOUNT OF MONEY],
no matter what!”
When you meet with your friend 12‐weeks later, you either prove you hit your 12‐week goal, or you pay up.
No excuses. You can’t tell your friend you were too busy, your house burnt down, or you didn’t receive
enough support. If you didn’t do what you said you were going to do, you must honor your word.
“When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit, but when
you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” – The 12 Week Year
“At its most basic level, planning is just problem solving. Your plan solves the problem of how to close
the gap between your results today and your 12‐week goal… A 12 week plan gets down to the critical
actions that you will need to take each week to reach your goal.” – The 12 Week Year
When you spend 15 minutes to plan your week, you ultimately save time and energy ‐ two resources you
must use wisely to achieve a 12‐month goal in 12‐weeks.
 Weekly planning increases the odds of finding the shortest route to your goal and prevents you from
constantly backtracking. The authors say, “If you take time to plan before engaging with a complex task,
you reduce the overall time required to complete the task by as much as 20 percent.”
 Weekly planning prevents you from overthinking hour‐by‐hour decisions and thus reduces daily
decision fatigue
Every week, search for tactics people have used to reach a similar goal, then extract and write down a list of keystone actions.
“In most endeavors there are often many activities that help you accomplish your goal. However there are usually a few core activities
that account for the majority of the results, and in some cases there are only one or two keystone actions that ultimately produce the
result. It is critical that you identify these keystones and focus on them.” – The 12 Week Year
Results lag action, often by several weeks.
If two people are selling the same product, the person who focuses sales made may lose enthusiasm and
quit if he’s not hitting his weekly sales targets. But the guy who measures his execution (i.e., number of
doors he’s knocked on and number of prospects he’s called), and does not fixate on weekly results, will
ultimately make more sales.
“If you want to know what your future holds, look to your actions; they are the best predictor of your
future.” – The 12 Week Year
Stay focused on execution by keeping score of weekly actions. Each week review your weekly action plan
and give yourself an execution score. If you completed 4/5 planned actions, give yourself an execution
score of 80% and aim to improve your score next week.
“We have found that if you successfully complete 85 percent of the activities in your weekly plan, then you will most likely achieve your
objectives (12‐week year goals).” – The 12 Week Year
“The 12 Week Year system forces you to confront your lack of execution — and it’s uncomfortable, but it is
the very thing that is required if you’re going to perform at your best. We call this discomfort productive
tension.” – The 12 Week Year
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