Episode 17- Book Review: The 12 Week Year (Pt. 2)

In this episode of Idea to Done, we continue our discussion of "The 12 Week Year" by Brian Moran. We focus on setting goals and accountability.

J/E: Hey Everyone, I'm Josh and I'm Erick

E: Today's Idea is work efficiency. It’s the second part in our series on the book The 12 Week Year. Where we left off. I had just finished reading part one. I don’t read a lot. That was like a month ago. I finished it yesterday. It’s time to dive a little more into this now that I have actually read it.

J: So my big takeaways from the book were: discard annual thinking, periodization and overload, and start with the end goal and work backwards. Erick, what were your big aha moments from the book now that you’ve actually read it?

E: Write down your goals, and structure them, stop thinking so big that you don’t start, and don’t start so small that you can’t gain traction. Incorporate more than just your work into your goals. Tie in health and spirituality. 

J: So last time you talked about how you didn’t like reading, but you read a book, how did that work?

E: My boss bought me a book and told me to read it. I also took the first part of the book and set some goals for myself. I wanted to not lose 100 pounds, I wanted to lose some weight. 12 pounds to be specific. 1 Pound a week.If I stick to this plan, by this time next year I will be smoking hot. 

J: That’s great. That leads to one other part of the book I forgot to bring up which is setting goals and hitting 85% of your check list each week.

E: That brought me to my next important part of this is planning my week. I scheduled into my calendar gym class. Around lunch time every day, I have gone to the gym, and worked out. I also was super efficient, and read the rest of this book while pedaling 50 miles. Now I exceeded my goal of 3 days this week, and finished a book.

J: Gym class, I like that…

E: In high school, I loved gym class because it gave me afternoon energy to get through stupid Spanish. As an adult..adultish normally around 2, I am ready for a nap. I have had energy to do work this week, even though I had to stay a little later in the day, but it is much easier to catch up on emails at 630 then start working out.

J: That is awesome. So I’ve read the book and drank the kool aid, sounds like you are on board as well. What is next?

E: Brining it to all the nerds! One of the things in the book that most people miss is leadership and accountability. It says to have a Weekly Accountability Meeting, or WAM. I want to make it our own and have a Weekly Hourly Accountability Meeting or WHAM like the super group for the 80s. I have a meeting scheduled for Monday with my personal, and professional goals lined up to present, have everyone do for themselves, and help hold me a little accountable.

J: That's definitely one thing that helps drive things forward is the accountability factor. It is a lot easier when you get to say that you hit your goal then to say I only worked out once last week.

E: I want everyone to ask if I have had gym class today? At the same time I want to ask Brian or Cody if he has had gym class as well. 

J: The accountability is something that helps align the team and now we’re fighting for each other to succeed. Sort of a rising tide raises all ships. So what’s next?

E: Presentation for everyone! I will present my thoughts Monday to the group, and try to raise the tide of our whole team.

J: Awesome. I guess we’ll have to wait until the final part 3 of things to see how your presentation went.

E: Thank you for listening to this episode, if you know a startup that could use our random advice and thoughts have them subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.