_{The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks that Others Do in 12 months.}

This isn’t some woo-woo productivity hack .

The central idea is to condense the traditional annual goal-setting approach into 12-week cycles. The shorter timeframe creates urgency, focus, and a better chance for you to accomplish meaningful progress without the complacency of a full year.

This plays into our basic psychology or urgency.

We only work on those things that are immediately in front of us and we’re only motivated by up to 3months ahead of where we are now.

There’s a reason most marathon training plans are just 3months long (and those who attempt to make these longer will burnout or get injured).

There’s a reason most courses, including my Procurement Soft Skills Mastery are 10-12 weeks long.

It’s because of our basic psychology around urgency and how we are motivated by shorter-term milestones.

Here are the key concepts and strategies you should look to apply to 2025 and why it will supercharge your Procurement career.

1. Shorten the Planning Period to 12 Weeks

• Instead of setting yearly goals, plan and focus on what you can achieve in 12 weeks. This condensed timeline reduces procrastination and keeps you more engaged, as the "year" will end sooner. And guess what? You can achieve 5 x what others achieve in a year by applying this method. It really does work I promise.

2. Set a Vision

• We’re not negating the long-term vision in all of this by the way. You start by defining a long-term vision (3-5 years) to create clarity on where you want to go in life or business. I did this two years ago when I set my vision to build my own business. This vision becomes your "why" and motivates your actions. From there, break down your vision into actionable 12-week goals.

3. Plan Tactics, Not Just Goals

• Once goals are defined, break them into specific, measurable weekly actions or "tactics" that will lead to achieving these goals. These actions are the foundation of the weekly and daily plans, making progress easy to track and adjust.

• This doesn’t have to be anything fancy by the way. I actually have a piece of paper blue tacked to my wall which has these written down each week. It’s one of my Sunday tasks and takes me 10mins max.

4. Weekly Accountability and Review

• Each week (on a Sunday), set aside time to review progress toward your 12-week goals, identify what went well, and adjust your approach if needed. This allows for continuous improvement and helps prevent minor setbacks from derailing progress.

• I’ve hit a number of setbacks and at times (like in September this year) I realised I was doing too much and had decisions to make. But it didn’t completely derail me.

5. Daily Focus and Prioritization

• Daily planning is key to the 12 Week Year. Every day, you should identify the three high-priority tasks that directly support your 12-week goals.*

• So in a workplace setting I ruthlessly remove distractions. I’ll only respond to e-mails for example once I’ve completed these priority tasks.

*Pro tip: these are YOUR priority tasks that support YOUR objectives, not someone else.

6. Scorekeeping

• Tracking progress is central to the system. Each week, assign yourself a score based on whether you completed the planned tactics. This scorecard system lets you see if you’re on track and gives you data to refine your strategies over time.

• I don’t always score a 10 by the way. This week I scored a 6. But by tracking this over a period of time you can make adjustments and identify some of the factors to be addressed that will lead to better focus.

7. Accountability Partners

• I suggest creating an accountability structure, either with a partner, a team, or a coach. Regular check-ins create a sense of commitment and accountability, helping you stay on course and ensuring you don’t lose momentum.

• The way I’ve done this is two-fold. Firstly I have a weekly coaching call with my Course Builders curriculum cohort which helps keep me focused on my business goals. But in my work I use my 1-1 with my boss as a real check in for me really (not for him). What did we say I’d focus on last week? How much progress has been made? What support can he give me for the week ahead? These are the only three questions we go through. Try implementing this structure with your manager.

8. Embrace the "Greatness in the Moment" Mindset

• The book encourages the "Greatness in the Moment" mindset. I know, this might take a little getting used to but when I’m in flow state and working well I feel it ‘in the moment’.

• Each action in the moment is an opportunity to act toward greatness, even when you feel setbacks. This is also key to mindfulness and managing anxiety or stress. It’s how I stay focused and enjoy the process too (taking regular breaks of course).

Benefits of the 12 Week Year

By focusing on shorter cycles, I promise you’ll have a game changing year in 2025.

It’s a structured framework to achieve more in less time.

We’ve become so conditioned by the corporate mindset of annual objectives and reviews and honestly most of your colleagues will be miles behind you as soon as you adopt this approach.