08: Using a 12 Week Plans to Set and Reach Your Goals!

by Laurie | Dec 27, 2021 | Podcast

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Stop Setting Yearly Goals and Do THIS Instead!

Too many of us have been taught to focus on yearly goals but there’s a strategy that’s SO MUCH more effective… and when I put it into practice I ended up increasing my income by 5x! (Yes, you read that right!!)

I recommend this approach IF…

You’ve been running your own business for a while but aren’t really sure how to set goals that you’ll actually achieve…
You’ve been following all the big names in online business and are overwhelmed with the possible strategies to grow your business
You aren’t sure which tasks you need to work on or for how long until you should switch to something else
Have worked on getting clients or building programs for weeks, months, years but have little progress to show for it.
You know that there are a lot of things that you should be doing but find yourself constantly pulled in different directions, distracted by shiny objects
or you’ve reached goals but aren’t really sure how it happened and how to keep growing

If you’ve ever worked a corporate job, you probably created really detailed business plans at the first of the year that laid out strategies and tactics for the whole year, adding timelines all the way through December.

We spent massive amounts of time mapping them and then a few months or even weeks later, something changed and all the sudden we had new priorities.

Those carefully plans had to be redone. (I’m looking at you, March 2020!)

It was a huge waste of time!

As you’re running your own business, you will undoubtedly find that strategies or tactics that you decide on at the beginning of the year may be outdated or completely irrelevant a few months later.

…Cue the 12 week year system

The 12 Week Year is a system created by Brian Moran that outlines exactly how to set and achieve your goals in just 12 weeks.

Why 12 weeks?

12 weeks is short enough that you don’t lose focus but long enough that you can make significant progress toward goals.

It’s enough time to see if the strategy you’re using is actually working for you… and if not there’s enough time to pivot and adjust

It’s really the perfect amount of time for a plan.

This is what I used to 5x my business during the pandemic and it’s the process I use with my own 1:1 clients!

In the 12 week year we create long-term goals (5 year, 3 year, and 1 year ) and then we break it down into 4 12-week plans for the year.

Switching to 12 week plans gives you the flexibility you need to achieve your goals.

A 12-week plan helps you gain momentum.

You don’t want to wait until the end of the year to see results, do you? No, you want to see results as quickly as possible, you want to know that what you’re doing is working. Success breeds motivation, motivation breeds action, and action breeds success…

Seeing actual results keeps you motivated to keep going, keep taking action, and grow your business.

When I was creating my 12-week plan, i started with the long term vision and worked backwards to decide what i needed to accomplish in the short term to make it happen.

I set no more than 1 or 2 goals at a time, and based on where you are in your business – that goal might be getting more 1:1 clients, growing my email list or really focusing on growing my network and referral partner list.

Having more than 2 goals when you’re starting with the 12 week year can make it hard to stay focused.

Your goals should be your top priorities – the things that will really move the needle in your business.

A 12-Week Plan Lets You Create Focused Action Plans

A goal without a plan is just a dream.

After you determine your goals for the 12 weeks, break each one down into three to five action items that are going to have the most impact. There will probably be a hundred different things you could do to help you reach your goal but you want to use the 80/20 rule here… what are the FEW things you can do that have the MOST impact!

Break these tasks down into weekly action plans so you know ahead of time what you’ll need to do week in and week out to get closer to your goal

Track your progress

You need to be able to see what you’ve accomplished. I use a spreadsheet and check the tasks off daily as I do them.
Each week I can see how closely i stuck to the plan and see if these tasks are actually effective in generating the results that I wanted.

Be Accountable

With the 12 week year, we take ownership of our actions, and are 100% responsible for doing what we say we’re going to do.

Committing to weekly accountability meetings and reporting your progress is a critical part of successfully using the 12 week year to grow your business. (I know that I wouldn’t have had grown as quickly as i did without having weekly check-ins with my accountability partner, Kathy Allen Davis!)

Want to learn more about the 12-Week Year strategy for setting and smashing your business goals? Check out Brian Moran’s book on Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2BYcQrs

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