Gil’s personal book notes.
Cause you know… I forget shit.
Summary
The guide to shortening your execution cycle down from one year to 12 weeks
Most organizations and individuals work in the context of annual goals and plans; a 12-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.
Intro
Knowledge is only powerful if you act on it. If you use it. Great Ideas are useless they are implemented.
Quote: You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do – Henry Ford
Annual goals is a barrier to high performance – It limits performance
success or failure is determined by what they achieved
it’s a trap – annualized thinking. plenty of time to get things going
Periodization in sport – focus on 1 skill at a time. usually for 4-6 week.
at the end of 12 week – you take a week off – regroup and energize.
I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific – Lily Tomlin(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LilyTomlin)
Setting Goals
12 week plan starts with goal setting –
if your tactics are done in a timely basis, the goals are achieved
12 week plan is aligned with your vision.
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else – Yogi Berra
Jhon Hopkins – day tight compartments, while we plan future, we act in the day
One Week at a time
In the end, you have greater control over your actions than your results.
You have have act on your intentions, not just once but consistently
Your current actions are creating your future, if you want to know what the future holds, look at your actions.
The Weekly Plan
the starting point for your weekly plan is your 12 week plan – not a glorified to do list.
sample weekly plan
Keeping score
Sports Analogy: score, measurements, stats to determine success and identify areas of improvements – ever player knows where their team stands. scorekeeping lets us know if what we’re doing is effective.
Measuring Results
scorekeeping focus is not on efforts but on outcomes
Leading and lagging indicators – lead indicators produce the end results. most companies measure lag indicators.
lead indicators is a measurements of your actions.
unlike results, can lag week, months years, behind your measurements, and exectuion measures gives you immediate feedback to make game time adjustments.
if you’re not hitting your goal, I need to know if the flaw is in your planning or executions. there’s a difference big difference on how to handle these two breakdowns. If you’re not meeting your goals due to planning you know that strategy and tactics are not effective. while a breakdown in your execution is due to a failure to implement the planned tactics. 60% its due to a failure to execute the plan tactics, while people assume the plan is at fault and change it. effective measurements enables you to know where the changes need to be made. but first you need to execute the plan before adjusting the plan.
Weekly Scorecard
You don’t need to be perfect. you only need to be 85% effective to achieve excellence.
Blocking your time
- Strategic block – 3hrs week – blocking out time for intentionally on strategic activities – strategic money making activities.
- Buffer Block – Low value activities – bulking
- Break out block – 3hrs weeek – a key factor performance plateau is the absence of free time. working long and hard kills your energy and enthusiasm. when we don’t take time off from work we can lose our creative edge. during business hours.
best way to plan this is to write down on paper your Ideal Week. if you can’t get it down on paper, you won’t be able to execute it.
Accountability as Owner
Accountability is the realization you that you have choice.
there’s a big difference when approach it as a choose to vs have to.
have to is a burden, you meet the minimum. the realization that you have choice. when you choose to do something, you tap your resources and your very best.
The only thin you can control are your thinking and your actions.
Commitment
comment is a personal promise AND keeping promises to yourself build characters, esteem, and success.
interest vs commitment. – interest is when we do then its convenient
Learning to do things that you need to do regardless of how you feel is a core discipline for success.
Greatness in the moment
in the efforts to not miss anything we miss unwittingly miss everything. multi-tasking answering emails and responding to texts between moments.
we will be mediocre. nothing is getting the attention, not the import projects, not the important conversations. they’re running so fast the miss life.
you are most effective when you are mentally are you physically – Present in the moment.
Intentional Imbalance
life balance is about intentional imbalance. It’s not about spending time equally in all areas of your life, but having intentions and control over where you spend your time.
The Execution System
Three Principles
Accountability – Own actions and results regardless of circumstances.
Commitments
Greatness in the moment
Five Disciplines
Vision – clear picture of the future. business vision should align with personal vision to ensure continual action.
Planning – alignment. clarifies and focuses needed to achieve the vision.
Process Control – ensure your more of time is spend on money making actives
Measurement – Lead and lag measures that give you feedback on whether the process is working.
Time Use – If you’re not control of your time, you’re not in control of your results
The Emotion cycle of Change – ECOC
five stages:
- uninformed optimism
- informed pessimism
- valley of despair
- informed optimism
- success and fulfillment
Closed System
the 12 week year is a closed system. It’s similar to a computer, no matter how good the software you have on it, it doesn’t matter if you have a bad performing OS, it’ll crash every time you try to use it.
Vision
with most great things, it was first envisioned, then created.
it should be big enough to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable.
Three Time Periods:
- Long Term Aspirations
- Mid-Term Goals 3 years
- 12 weeks
Thinking Shift
vision is not soft is fluffy
it is the ignition switch and source of high-performance. It is the all important why behind the things you do.
Team Application
when an individual is reluctant to take action comfront them it’s likely an indiciation they’re not taking ownership
Tips
Vision Share it with others
print it out
When you tell people about your vision, you’re more likely to act.
live with intention – at the end of each day – take a few minutes to reflect.
Game Changer
Living in the moment can be done in two ways. Either proactively or reactively.
The difference between a 12 week plan
annual plan is not action based because you can predict what’s going to happen in 12 weeks. They’re objective based and can’t be execute as written. However the 12 week plan has a much shorter time horizon and can have actions associated.
Imagine driving cross countries
Business plans is often like directions with signals all out of order and street signs misplaced, or directions that leave out large portion of the trips.
Establish your 12 week goal
Your goal should be a complete sentence, measurable, attainable in the week that is due.
Writing your 12 week plan
Write out the actions that we need to do weekly basis and a daily basis.
Thinking Shift
If you take time to plan it can reduce the overall project by up to 20%
Common Pitfalls
Keep your goals and tactics as small as possible if you can accomplish it in four, don’t have five
brainstorm all the tactics that you can and select only the critical few
keep it suimple
will power has a fatigue factor, you can’t leave it up to will power alone
process support is the structure that enables you to not rely solely on will power to execute.
Don’t do go into it alone
Common pitfalls
number one you don’t plan your week.
tactics should not be added to the day but the weekly plan first
Chapter 16. Keeping Score
12 week year has shorter measured goals
execution measures and results measure.
Team Application
Measurement is not a accountability measure but a feedback mechanism.
Chapter 17: Take back control of your year.
Comparing watching tv to the following up to emails, not working on tasks that important.
doing mindless email is almost like watching tv, you’re not using your time in a productive manner. it’s busy procrastination
to achieve greatness requires discomfort
A weakness will rarely become a strength
Performance time
three components of an effective time use:
- Strategic block
- buffer blocks
- breakout blocks
Model Work Week ← important
If you can’t make it work on paper, you won’t make it happen in life.
15 week to review the prior week and plan the upcoming week
schedule 3 hour strategic block
schedule one or two buffer block each day – in the morning and one in the end of the day 11am and 5pm
Schedule a breakout block
Schedule all other important activities
Review and assess your vision
Time shift
when you assume you can do it all if you work hard enough or long enough.
in reality can’t do it all and eventually you can’t get to your important shift.
if you do the 12 week plan right, you put the important stuff first.
its crutial that you get it on paper, if you can’t get it to work on paper, you can’t it done in actual practice. if you’re not in control of your time, you’re not in control of your outcomes.
Team Application
if you do bundle your buffer blocks you can often make it easier for your coworkers to reach you.
Common pitfalls
work from a written weekly plan.
Model work
Take ownership
account. life as struggle threat. ← come back to this
- Appendix
– Other materials recommended by this book
– Any books or materials recommended in this book?– Things to research
– Things that sparked curiosity into other areas mentioned in the book.– Keystone Habits– Extended Thoughts
– Things I think should be added to this conceptother resources:
The 12 Week Year-Notebook.html
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-12-week/9781119475248/c09.xhtml
