Book Club: The 12 Week Year, by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington
Get more done in 12 weeks than others do in 12 months, you say? Sounds a bit fishy…
The 12 Week Year is described as “The guide to shortening your execution cycle down from one year to 12 weeks.”
Sounds a bit corporate, doesn’t it?
The BFF book clubbers weren’t big fans but we did find some useful takeaways.
Let’s go over some of them right now - you can also scroll down and watch the video highlights if you’d like to see their beautiful faces.
The book sets out a plan for breaking the year down into 12-week phases, setting goals for each phase and then mapping out the steps you’ll take to make those goals happen.
“I liked what the book said about how businesses put a lot more effort it in at the end of the year to reach their goals. If we picture that as every week, it’ll help us get rid of procrastination because every minute counts,” said Laura Smith.
Sara Donaldson agreed. “I’ve got to stop faffing about.”
Maybe they should have called the book Stop Faffing About and Get S**t Done?
Most of us found that we were already doing (or at least already knew about) the techniques the book promotes, but it was a good reminder that plans don’t always need to be complicated. If we know what we want to achieve and then can work backwards to plan small steps each week, we’ll find that we’re making progress towards those bigger goals.
But it’s knowing what those goals are in the first place that can hold some of us back.
“I think, for freelancers, the whole vision piece gets missed out,” said Keith Fowler. “I think people jump into it, everyone’s running the day-to-day, and the whole big picture vision stuff doesn’t get much of a look in.”
“I don’t think this book is actually very good if you’re struggling with what your vision is,” adds Jo Gordon.
Susie Jackson’s been working towards her vision for a year now. She said “I picture myself in 10 years, where I am and what my life looks like, and then work out what I need to make my business in order to live that lifestyle. I have made a lot of progress in terms of achieving business goals since I started doing that, so I do think there’s something to it."
“It helps with each choice that you make,” agreed Rachel Webb. “Without your vision, you can’t change. If you're thinking about what your vision is, that’ll give you the impetus to make change, and if you don’t change, you won’t get your vision.”
Makes sense.
“I liked the plan where it showed you how to break down your week and what you should include in it,” said Laura Smith. “And how important it is to put time aside each week for something that’s not necessarily work-related but will get the creative side of your brain going.”
We all agreed.
Katy Carlise said “I liked the reminder about reframing things from ‘I have to do this’ to ‘I’m choosing to do this’. It was a nice reminder that I’ve chosen to be freelance and I’ve chosen to take on these clients and I’m choosing to do these goals.”
In terms of the way the book was written, we all felt that it left a lot to be desired, although Andy McAnally said it was much better to listen to than it would have been to read.
“The first ten or fifteen percent of the book felt like an advert telling us to read The 12 Week Year. I was already reading it so that just made no sense to me at all,” said Kerstin Sheppard.
“It felt like I was being pitched to the entire time,” agreed Elizabeth Jones. “It’s not novel. Others have done it better first and will do it better later.”
Would we recommend the book? Only a handful of us said we would but there is some good stuff in there. Maybe you should judge it for yourself.
Watch the highlights now in the Facebook community!
Similar books that the BFF Book Clubbers recommend:
The Chimp Paradox, by Prof Steve Peters
Manage Your Day-to-day, edited by Jocelyn K. Glei
Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done, by Jon Acuff
(The links to books on this page are affiliate. If you click one and purchase within 24 hours, some pennies come in to help keep Being Freelance in biscuits.)
Thanks so much to these BFFs for turning up and sharing what they thought of the book:
Charles Commins, Podcast and Audio Producer
Rachel Webb, Virtual Assistant
Laura Smith, Digital Marketing Consultant and Copywriter
Susie Jackson, Copy Editor and Translator
Adam Pearson, Research Consultant
Kerstin Sheppard, Copywriter, Editor and Proofreader
Sara Donaldson, Copy Editor, Writer and Genealogist
Keith Fowler, Marketing, Business Development and Lead Generation Consultant
Katy Carlisle, Squarespace Trainer and Web Designer
Jo Gordon, Data and Analytics Specialist
Pete Clark, UX Designer and Web Developer
Elizabeth Jones, Content Writer
Andy McAnally, Multi-sport Events Manager
Victor Gimenez Con Ge, Copywriter and Translator
Stuart Davis, Copywriter
Marc Zarefsky, Copywriter
Abi Nottingham, Illustrator
Andrea Broughton, Brand Identity Designer
Leonie Thomas, Bid Writer
Laura - who was accidentally on mute the whole time but was lovely company nonetheless
