What It's About

The guide to shortening your execution cycle down from one year to twelve weeks Most organizations and individuals work in the context of annual goals and plans; a twelve-month execution cycle. Instead, The 12 Week Year avoids the pitfalls and low productivity of annualized thinking. This book redefines your "year" to be 12 weeks long. In 12 weeks, there just isn't enough time to get complacent, and urgency increases and intensifies. The 12 Week Year creates focus and clarity on what matters most and a sense of urgency to do it now. In the end more of the important stuff gets done and the impact on results is profound. • Explains how to leverage the power of a 12 week year to drive improved results in any area of your life • Offers a how-to book for both individuals and organizations seeking to improve their execution effectiveness • Authors are leading experts on execution and implementation Turn your organization's idea of a year on its head, and speed your journey to success.

My Thoughts

I like it. It seems to reduce pressure and streamlines my focus.

Notes

Intentionality

Everything I want to accomplish in life required an investment of I time, so when I want to improve my results, I must face the fact that my supply of time is completely inelastic — and perishable.

The Importance of Yes and No

• The reality is if I am not purposeful about how I spend my time, then I leave my results to chance.
• Actions that I choose to take throughout my day ultimately determine my destiny.
• Spending whatever time is needed to respond without giving much thought as to the relative value of the activity.
• Living with clear intention goes against the powerful natural tendency to be reactive because it requires me to organize my life around my priorities and consciously choose those acc
• When I spend my time with intention, I know when to say yes and when to say no.
• I am probably aware when I am procrastinating or engaging in low-level activity to avoid tackling a less comfortable high-payoff activity.
• When I use my time intentionally, I waste less of it and spend more of it on my high-value actions, but to do this I must be willing to be to be disciplined and structure my days and weeks.

“It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is : What are we busy about ?” — Henry David Thoreau

Blocking your time

• Benjamin Franklin said “If I take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves”.
• The key to successful time use — intentional time use — is not trying to eliminate these unplanned interruptions, but instead to block out regular time each week dedicated to my strategically important tasks.

Three Primary components of performance time :

• Strategic Blocks: A strategic block is a three-hour block of uninterrupted time that is schedule into each week. Strategic blocks concentrates my intellect and creativity to produce breakthrough results. I will likely be astounded by the quantity and quality of work I produce. For most people, one strategic block per week is sufficient.
• Buffer Blocks: Buffer blocks are designed to deal with all of the unplanned and low-value activities — like most email, messages and calls — that arise throughout a typical day. For some, one 30-minute buffer block a day is sufficient, while for others, two separate one-hour blocks may be necessary. The power of buffer blocks comes from grouping together activities that tend to be unproductive so that I can increase efficiency in dealing with them and take greater control over the rest of my day.
• Breakout Blocks: One of the key factors contributing to performance plateaus is the absence of free time. To achieve greater results, what’s often necessary is not actually working more hours, but rather taking some time way from work. An effective breakout is at least three-hours long and spent on things other than work. It is time scheduled away from your work during normal work hours that I’ll use to refresh and reinvigorate my mind, so that when I return to work, I can engage with more focus and energy.

“If I am not in control of my time, I am not in control of my results.”

• The more I create routine in my days and weeks, the more effective my execution will be. The best way to accomplish this is to create a picture of an ideal week.
• The concept of an ideal week is to plan on paper all the critical tasks that occur in typical week and organize them so that I can be most productive.
• If I can’t fit all the things I do on paper, there is no w ay, I’ll get them done in reality, so the exercise of strategically planning my week will cause me to make some hard choices about how I use my time.
• As I create my ideal week, it helps to schedule routine tasks at the same time, on the same day each week, if possible.
• Schedule your most important activities during your prime time.
• Learn to use my time with greater intention and I will not only be more effective, but I’ll also feel a greater sense of control, less stress, and increased confidence.