This is Week 32 of a Year of Living Productively
This week I tested whether The 12 Week Year {affiliate link} could help me get more done. This week was the 12th week I have been using the approach. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post for more details.
How The 12 Week Year Saved My Sanity The Past 12 Weeks
- Helped me determine which goals were most important to me. I have a hundred different projects I’d like to work on in any given week. When the time frame expands to a year, I’m convinced that I can finish everything I can dream up. The 12 Week Year helped me get serious about what three goals I could realistically accomplish in a summer. The wonderful thing was I felt validated in choosing goals that weren’t necessarily have-to’s, but were want to’s.
- Helped me break the projects down into weekly tasks. When I begin a big project, I often dive in without thinking through everything that must be done and how long each step will take. The book encouraged me to do it and the online program I paid for made it really easy. I never saw my goals as overwhelming, because I just looked at what I had to do this week to make them happen. I was also prevented from procrastinating because I knew full well that I couldn’t get it all done last minute.
- Introduced me to time blocking for goals. I wrote about how much I enjoyed time blocking and I’m sure the reason I loved it is because it gave me permission to pursue my want-to’s in a time-protected way. Putting the time block for this work early in the week is both symbolic (this is important!) and practical (you’re more likely to do it).
How The 12 Week Year Made Me Crazy the Past 12 Weeks
- Didn’t take advantage of accountability. When I did Body for Life and wrote So You’re Not Wonder Woman (which is free on 9/20/13 on Kindle), I had accountability to keep me honest. I had told many people I was doing BFL and I was speaking at a women’s retreat where I would have the best opportunity to share my book with potential buyers. I just didn’t have that kind of accountability this time, nor do I think I could have created it because the goals weren’t the public “I’m going to do it!” type.
- I failed to review my reasons. One of the aspects of BFL that worked for me was reading over my “why’s” for getting fit every day. I didn’t do that with the 12 Week Year and I think that’s one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy as much success.
- Too many goals. When I read that I could have up to three goals, I remember thinking, “Hm.” My experience is that I don’t do well having more than one big project at a time to focus on. I hoped this time would be different and it wasn’t. While I loved being able to switch from project to project during my 3-hour time block, that was the end of what I loved. Because I had three goals, I wasn’t able to make progress and accommodate the unexpected. We had a house guest this summer and then I was given an opportunity to host a podcast. I also have a new book project that replaced one of the goals I had started with. Finally, when planning three goals, the potential for underestimating how much time tasks will take is multiplied by three.
Did The 12 Week Year Help Me Get Things Done?
Yes, though I didn’t complete my three goals. I completed 90% of one goal, 50% of the second, and 10% of the third. The good thing is I’m pretty satisfied with my progress given the circumstances. I completed 100% of the new podcast goal and I’ve made good progress on the new book goal, too. I plan on creating a new plan for completing the book as my next 12 Week goal and reading my reasons for writing daily.
**UPDATE**
I had three goals for the past 12 weeks and accomplished them all! One thing that I don’t do is plan everything out in elaborate detail. It’s too frustrating when you have to reschedule. But intermediate deadlines can be very effective if needed and I love setting goals for the quarter as opposed to the year.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 33
This week I’ll finish testing Ten for Ten from Dave Seah. A big thank you to Brain Cutlery for the suggestion! The idea is to try to accomplish ten tasks in ten hours and earn points as you go. More points are awarded for tasks finished later in the day. Tasks can be added as you’re ready to work on them, rather than at the beginning of the day.
The concept. The first three tasks are starred because accomplishing them in a day is a great feat in itself. Points are designed to reward you for working beyond that. The method should help in breaking tasks down into reasonable sizes, too. This is a variation on the gamification theme from last week, but it really appeals to me. I just love the look of this form!
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read Dave’s post and download the free forms he shares. We can compare points at the end of the week! (Just a reminder that I am not vouching for sites I link to. They may contain language or opinions you find objectionable. But then that applies to this website, too, doesn’t it? Thanks for understanding.)
If you’d like to see if Ten for Ten worked for me, click here.
Are you on Google+? Follow me here.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
Week 16: David Seah’s 7:15AM Ritual
Week 17: Another Simple and Effective Method
Week 18: Daily/Weekly/Monthly To-Do List
Week 19: Ultimate Time Management System
Week 25: Make it Happen in 10 Minutes
What would you think about doing something like having a “primary” goal for the 12 week project and 2 quite small, secondary goals? I was thinking that you could make the primary goal something you work on every day and have the secondary goals something you work on once a week or so.
Jacq, I thought about it because I really want to achieve more things! But now that I’ve tried it, I’d rather have unofficial small goals and space for other things to come up. That being said, I think it depends in how all-encompassing your first goal is.
Thanks for another good post, Melanie. Your blog is really helping me make some improvement in time management. I’m trying to limit my extra tasks each day to 6 (from one of your previous posts). I think that will really help me, but boy it’s hard to limit my tasks to six! I got tons done today. Felt good!
Good for you on getting things done! I don’t think a lot of time should be spent in choosing 6 goals. Go ahead and allow yourself another one or two if they’re all really important. But it’s good to have a realistic target. I know it’s highly unlikely I will finish 10. If I want to do more, I can always dive back into my main task list.
I just found this series, and read all of them so far. Wow do I have some food for thought. Some of these really appeal to me, and I’m curious as to what I can pull together from them to actually implement. I definitely need more help in this area as we settle into a heavier homeschool schedule, plus I need more structure to work more efficiently.
I don’t suppose you would want to do a wrap up post of what you keep and how you use it at the end? Regardless, I can’t wait until Friday to hear yet another result. 🙂
Audra, so glad we crossed paths here. I really wish I had done a six-month summary but I was past it by the time I thought of it. I will definitely do a year-end wrap and hopefully a book for homeschoolers. Depends how good I’ve gotten at time management. 😉
A book would be wonderful. If you need someone to test drive it, I am definitely willing. 😉 I’ll be taking ideas gleaned from your posts in this series, and seeing what will work for me. I like the 12 week year idea because I do something similar with homeschool planning. I break it down and plan out one season at a time. It works for my brain. I do wish I’d figured that out sooner. 🙂
If I succeed in writing the book, I will make it available free to people like you who’ve suffered through my experiments. 🙂 The 12-week year is a great approach for dealing with those projects that are hard to make time for.