Welcome to the Walk You Through It blog where I walk you through life's challenges on our way to success and fulfillment.
Today I'm going to walk you through the book that I'm currently reading and the system that is the 12 week year.
Personal update: It feels good to be back. My last blog post was over a year ago in the end of 2021. I took a year off from the blog and podcast and dialed back the number of clients I had to focus on my life and to get things sorted out. I got married in May of last year to the most amazing woman and I'm super excited to celebrate our one year anniversary next month! I'm ready to ramp things up with Walk You Through It coaching so get ready to see and hear a lot from me.
The 12 week year is a system that will dramatically change the way you think and act.
In this blog post we are going to talk about 3 things: The book itself, how it works, and my implementation of it.
THE 12 WEEK YEAR by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington
The book itself was a little difficult to read at first. I want to say it wasn't well written but I'm not sure if that's it. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was the arrangement of the words in the sentences. I was finding myself zoning out and having a difficult time following along so much so that I actually put down the book for a little over a month and came back to it.
The return to the book was initiated by the 12 Week Year workshop that I paid $23 for which included a hardcopy of the book 'Uncommon Accountability' by Moran and Lennington. Honestly, the only reason I justified paying money for a webinar was because the book that was included. The workshop was not anything spectacular. It was pretty much the run of the mill webinar with the upsell at the end. BUT, what it did do was spark my interest in reattempting to read this book.
So I did. I started back at the beginning and reread PART I. Then I moved onto PART II, which is where I'm currently at, and begun to implement the system into my life. I've got two more chapters to read to finish the book (UPDATE: I finished the book since I posted this.) But let's talk about how the book is set up because I love how it's set up. It's set up into 2 parts: Part one basically help you understand the concept of the 12 week year and part two is more about the implementation of the 12 week year.
Part one was the difficult part for me to read. Like I said earlier I believe it is the phrasing of the sentences that made it hard to following along. It didn't resonate with the way I speak, write, read, or think. So maybe it was just me. Maybe I wasn't completely focused when trying to read it. I'm not completely sure. And who knows, you might read it without an issue.
One thing I did that helped me engage with the book was write in it and take notes. I usually never ink up any of my books but with this book it helped.
To wrap this up, I'm glad I read the book and I recommend that you also read the book because I think the concept is a game changer. Successfully implementing the 12 week year into my life has already begun to create serious changes in my life and I want that for you too.
How it works:
The concept is really simple: Instead of 12 months being a year, 12 weeks is now a year.
That excitement you have for the new year now comes four times a year rather than just once. The ability to refocus comes four times as often. The motivation to end the year strong, the resolution to become better in the following year, the deadlines -EVERYTHING- now repeats on a much shorter time frame. It's awesome and inspiring.
What this means is that yearly goals have a lot more weight to them. They are tangible rather than some far off thing in the future. You can't screw around or you won't achieve your goal. Today matters and so does tomorrow. Each week counts because you only have twelve.
You're going to utilize your time more intentionally. You're going to create a plan and execute on it. It changes the way you get things done. It turns a goal from a wish into an actual goal.
My 12 Week Year
I started my 12 week year at a weird time so my first 12 week year is going to be 10 weeks. I'm fine with that. My thinking was "Start it now or you won't start it at all." It's better to have a rough start with something than to not start at all. Things don't have to be perfect in order to get start. Perfection is a barrier. It's a limiting belief. I may have wrote a blog post about that or created a video but if not I will. If so I'll post it HERE.
My 12 week year has three goals:
I will be 10% body fat.
I will pay off my CapitalOne credit card.
I will improve my relationship with my wife Cathi.
From there I created my tactics. Goal 1 consists of 5 tactics: Track my food, lift weights three days a week, trigger sessions in the off days, stick mobility prior to workout, and cold shower post workout.
5 tactics seemed like a lot so I grouped things together. Lifting weights, trigger sessions, and stick mobility could all the put into one tactic: Working out. I have a set schedule so I know what I'm doing each day. Weights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and trigger sessions on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. I warm up each workout with stick mobility and I wrap up each workout with a 3 minute cold shower. So honestly cold showers could be grouped into the tactic of working out but I've decided to keep it separate. Now instead of having 5 tactics I only have 3: workout, cold shower, and track food. All of which are daily.
HINT: There is power in grouping things together when you are creating a new habit which is essentially what a tactic is. It helps if you can combine and simplify a few new habits into one OR attach a new habit to a preexisting one. For example, if you want to implement meditation into your daily routine combine it with a old habit you already have like waiting for the water to boil while making your coffee in the French press. There's a 6 minute window where you can sit and focus on your breath while waiting the scream of the kettle to let you know your waters boiling. So either group a few new habits together to simplify it or find a way to connect your new habit to an existing one and you'll see more success.
Goal 2 is simple. The only tactic is to pay X amount weekly. The thing is it inspired me to take on more coaching clients to reach the goal without neglecting other financial responsibilities so if you're looking for some help figuring out life I'm your guy. Shoot me an email or a text and let's see if we are a good fit for a coaching relationship.
Goal 3 is fairly simple as well. I already have a good relationship with my wife but I knew there's always room for improvement so here's the tactics. Talk a minimum of 15 min daily and go on a date once weekly without the kids. We missed the date night last week so this week I decided to talk to Cathi about my goal for our relationship so we can brainstorm date ideas together and so we can strive to achieve this goal together.
HINT: An accountability partner is great to have when working towards goals. Having someone you can talk to about your goals on a consistent basis will certainly increase your odds of achieving them. This is why coaching works and why people attend masterminds. Support is necessary. We are foolish to think we can do it alone.
Thanks for reading.
I will be writing a lot more blogs moving forward. Check every 1st and 15th of the month for a new blog post and I have a special announcement coming in July. Until next time, I'm Rob Stanish and this is the Walk You Through It blog.
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