How to Achieve Your Annual Goals in Just 12 Weeks

Summary

This video script discusses the effectiveness of the '12 Week Year' concept by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington, which challenges traditional annual goal-setting. It emphasizes the importance of execution over knowledge or strategy, suggesting that consistent action is the key differentiator between high and low performers. The script introduces three key ideas: addressing the 'execution gap', 'periodization' of time for more focused goal achievement, and the necessity of an emotionally resonant vision to overcome the fear of discomfort and motivate progress. The speaker also shares personal insights and prompts for reflection, aiming to inspire viewers to enhance their productivity and life outcomes.

Takeaways

• 📅 The traditional annual goal-setting approach often fails to motivate and can lead to forgetting goals or getting sidetracked.
• 🔑 The '12 Week Year' by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington offers a system to achieve more in 12 weeks than most do in 12 months by focusing on execution.
• 🚀 The key to differentiating high performers from low performers is not knowledge or strategy but consistent execution, which is often lacking.
• 🤔 The concept of 'Execution Gap' is central to the book, emphasizing that most people have the capacity to achieve more but are held back by their lack of consistent action.
• 💡 The book challenges the idea of annualized thinking and suggests 'periodization' the year into four 12-week segments to create a sense of urgency and focused action.
• ⏳ Periodization is inspired by athletic training, where focusing on one skill at a time leads to more effective progress than trying to improve multiple skills simultaneously.
• 🔄 The '12 Week Year' approach leverages the 'deadline effect', where performance increases as deadlines approach, to keep motivation and progress consistent throughout the year.
• 😌 The book discusses the need to overcome the 'comfort crisis' and face discomfort as a necessary step towards achieving goals and making significant life changes.
• 🌟 Creating a compelling vision for the future is essential for high performance, as it provides a clear direction and motivation to endure the discomfort of taking new actions.
• ❤️ Emotional connection to the outcome is vital; goals need to resonate with individuals on an emotional level to motivate them to take action and make sacrifices.
• 🛠️ The script encourages self-reflection through journaling prompts to identify areas where lack of execution or fear of discomfort may be hindering progress towards a desired life.

Q & A

What is the main problem with setting annual goals according to the transcript?

The main problem with setting annual goals is that people often lose motivation, forget about their goals, or get sidetracked, leading to not achieving the desired outcomes or building the life they want because their system isn't working effectively for them.

What is the '12WE Year' concept introduced in the book by Brian Moran and Michael Lenington?

The '12WE Year' concept is a system designed to help individuals achieve their annual goals in just 12 weeks, enabling them to accomplish more within this period than most people do in 12 months.

What does the transcript suggest is the key differentiator between high performers and low performers?

The key differentiator between high performers and low performers is not knowledge, strategy, or information, but execution. There is a major execution gap between high performers and less high performers.

What is the 'Execution Gap' mentioned in the transcript?

The 'Execution Gap' refers to the significant difference in the ability to execute plans and actions between successful individuals and those who are not, which is the primary factor in achieving success.

How does the transcript relate the concept of 'periodization' to goal setting?

The transcript relates 'periodization' to goal setting by suggesting that instead of thinking in annualized time frames, one should break down the year into four 12-week periods, focusing on specific goals for each period to increase productivity and urgency.

What is the significance of the quote from Thomas Edison mentioned in the script?

The quote from Thomas Edison, 'If we did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves,' emphasizes the potential that lies within individuals and the impact that consistent execution can have on achieving success.

How does the transcript suggest using the concept of 'deadline effect' to improve productivity?

The transcript suggests using the 'deadline effect' by setting shorter, more frequent goals within 12-week periods, which creates a sense of urgency as the deadline approaches, thereby increasing productivity and focus.

What is the role of 'emotional connection to the outcome' in achieving goals according to the transcript?

The 'emotional connection to the outcome' is crucial in achieving goals because it provides the motivation to face discomfort and take new actions. A compelling vision for the future that one is emotionally connected to can drive action and help overcome the fear of discomfort or love of comfort.

What is the 'Comfort Crisis' mentioned in the script, and how does it relate to productivity?

The 'Comfort Crisis' refers to the addiction to comfort that prevents individuals from taking actions that could improve their lives. It relates to productivity by highlighting the need to face discomfort to achieve greater outcomes and progress.

How does the transcript suggest creating a compelling vision for the future?

The transcript suggests creating a compelling vision for the future by envisioning what one truly wants to achieve, including personal, professional, and spiritual goals. This vision should be emotionally resonant and provide a clear direction for action.

What is the 'Productivity Lab' mentioned in the transcript, and what is its purpose?

The 'Productivity Lab' is a community being built by the speaker to help ambitious entrepreneurs, creators, and professionals double up their productivity while enjoying the journey and making friends along the way. It offers resources such as free workshops and video playlists to assist in goal setting and productivity improvement.

Outlines

00:00

📅 The 12 Week Year: Achieving More in Less Time

The speaker introduces the concept of the '12 Week Year' from the book by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington, which challenges the traditional annual goal-setting approach. The book proposes a system to achieve more within a 12-week period than most do in a year. The speaker highlights the importance of execution over knowledge or strategy, using the 'execution gap' between high and low performers as a central theme. They also discuss the prevalence of inaction despite available knowledge, exemplified by the fitness industry, and suggest that consistent execution is the key to closing this gap and achieving goals.

05:01

🕒 Periodization: Breaking the Annualized Mindset

The speaker discusses the concept of 'periodization' as an alternative to annualized goal setting. They reference Ed Mylett's strategy of dividing the day into three periods to increase productivity. The speaker explains that the traditional annual goal-setting approach often leads to wasted time and a rush to meet targets at year-end. They advocate for breaking the year into four 12-week periods to create a sense of urgency and focus, leveraging the 'deadline effect' to enhance productivity. The speaker emphasizes the effectiveness of periodization in goal achievement, drawing on examples from the Olympics and business practices.

10:02

🏋️‍♂️ Overcoming Discomfort: The Key to Achieving Goals

The speaker addresses the discomfort that comes with new actions and change, suggesting that this discomfort is often the barrier preventing individuals from achieving their goals. They argue that a compelling vision for the future is necessary to motivate individuals to overcome their fear of discomfort and take the necessary actions. The speaker shares journaling prompts to encourage self-reflection on how a fear of discomfort might be holding one back. They also discuss the importance of creating an emotionally resonant vision to drive action and change.

15:03

🌟 Creating a Compelling Vision for High Performance

The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a compelling vision to achieve high performance. They discuss the need for a vision that is emotionally connected and provides a sense of direction and purpose. The speaker suggests that without such a vision, individuals will not be motivated to endure the discomfort of change. They reference a podcast clip about the correlation between a lack of a meaningful life vision and male suicide, highlighting the power of a vision in driving action. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to think about their personal vision, legacy, and desires to create a future that is worth working towards.

Keywords

💡Productivity

Productivity refers to the efficiency with which an individual or system performs tasks and achieves goals. In the video's theme, it is central to the discussion about achieving more in less time. The script mentions the author's role as a 'productivity expert' and the importance of consistent execution to improve productivity.

💡12WE Year

The 12WE Year is a concept introduced in the book 'The 12 Week Year' by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, which is the focus of the video. It suggests a system for achieving annual goals in just 12 weeks, emphasizing a more intensive and focused approach to goal setting and execution, as opposed to traditional yearly planning.

💡Execution Gap

The execution gap is the difference between high performers and others, not in knowledge or strategy, but in the consistent application of known strategies. The script uses this term to highlight that success is less about knowing what to do and more about doing it consistently.

💡Periodization

Periodization is a training concept where time is divided into specific periods for different types of training. In the context of the video, it refers to breaking down the year into 12-week segments to focus on specific goals, enhancing the sense of urgency and productivity.

💡Annual Goals

Annual goals are objectives set for a 12-month period. The script contrasts these with the 12-week approach, suggesting that the latter can lead to more significant achievements in less time due to a heightened sense of urgency and focus.

💡Consistent Execution

Consistent execution is the act of persistently applying known strategies or actions towards a goal. The video emphasizes its importance by stating that the difference between success and failure often lies in the consistent application of what one already knows.

💡Knowledge Problem

A knowledge problem refers to a situation where the lack of knowledge or information is the barrier to achieving a goal. The script argues that in many cases, the problem is not a lack of knowledge but a lack of execution, as most people already know what they need to do.

💡Deadline Effect

The deadline effect is a phenomenon where the urgency to complete a task increases as the deadline approaches, leading to a spike in productivity. The video mentions this effect as a reason why the 12-week periodization can be more effective than annual planning.

💡Comfort Zone

The comfort zone is a psychological state where a person feels at ease and in control, often avoiding discomfort or the unfamiliar. The script discusses the need to step out of the comfort zone to achieve goals and overcome the fear of discomfort.

💡Compelling Vision

A compelling vision is a clear and attractive mental image of a desired future state. The video emphasizes that having such a vision is crucial for motivating action and overcoming the love of comfort, as it provides a strong emotional connection to the desired outcome.

💡Emotionally Resonant

Emotionally resonant refers to something that deeply affects or engages a person's emotions. In the script, the concept is used to describe how goals and visions should be emotionally engaging to motivate action and change, as opposed to being based on fear or duty.

Highlights

The traditional annual goal-setting approach often fails due to loss of motivation, forgetfulness, and distractions, leading to unfulfilled aspirations.

The book '12 Week Year' by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington offers a system to achieve more in 12 weeks than most do in a year.

Three key concepts from the book are discussed to help viewers get more done efficiently.

The 'Execution Gap' is identified as the difference between high performers and others, being the key to success rather than knowledge or strategy.

A quote by Thomas Edison emphasizes the potential within individuals if they execute their capabilities.

The diet and fitness industry's growth exemplifies the knowledge-execution gap, where people know what to do but fail to execute.

Most people have the capacity to significantly improve their income but are held back by inconsistent execution.

The importance of addressing the execution gap to live the life you want is highlighted.

A journaling prompt is suggested to reflect on how lack of execution is holding oneself back.

The concept of 'periodization' is introduced to replace annualized thinking for more effective goal achievement.

Ed Mylett's time manipulation strategy is discussed as an example of periodization.

The '12 Week Year' approach divides the year into four focused 12-week periods to leverage the deadline effect.

The benefits of periodization in goal setting are explained, including increased focus and urgency.

The emotional connection to outcomes is crucial for overcoming the fear of discomfort and taking new actions.

Creating a compelling vision for the future is essential to motivate action and high performance.

The importance of aligning one's vision with their emotional resonance to drive consistent action is discussed.

Free workshops and resources are offered to help create a personal vision and implement the '12 Week Year' strategy.

Transcripts

okay so if you're anything like me you

probably think a lot about how to get

more stuff done and the typical approach

to this is to set annual goals and to

track your progress throughout the year

but for a lot of us this doesn't really

work we can lose motivation we can

forget about our goals we can get

sidetracked by other things and the

worst part about this is that you're not

achieving the things you want or

building the life that you want because

your system isn't really working for you

but what if there was a system that

helped you achieve your annual goals in

just 12 weeks and do more than most

people do in 12 whole months that is

where this book comes in the 12we year

by Brian morren and lennington and this

is what we're talking about in this

episode of book club the ongoing Series

where for the last 4 years I have been

distilling And discussing highlights and

learnings from some of my favorite books

and really in this video I wanted to

talk about three key Concepts that I

personally taken away from the book the

book has 21 chapters it's fairly in

depth I would recommend reading the book

cuz it actually is a genuinely good book

but in this video I'm just going to

focus on three key ideas that if you

apply to your life will hopefully help

you get more done in 12 weeks than other

people do in 12 months key idea number

one is the execution Gap now really

their whole stick in this book which I

broadly agree with is if you look at the

thing that differentiates High

performers from low performers or people

who are successful versus people who are

not successful how however really people

Define their own terms of success

obviously it doesn't have to be in terms

of money but however you define success

the thing that separates people who are

successful from the people who are not

successful is not knowledge and it's not

strategy and it's not information it is

simply execution there is a major

execution gap between High performers

and less High performers and there's a

nice quote from Thomas Ed in the very

first chapter which is if we did the

things that we are capable of we would

literally Astound ourselves and then

they're going on to talk about how 65%

of Americans are overweight or obese do

you think that there is some secret to

losing weight and getting fit the diet

and fitness industry is a $60 billion

industry as of 2013 when this book is

written each year new books are

published on diet and exercise when I

searched diet books on the internet my

search came back with

45,9 results almost 46,000 books some

with familiar titles like the Atkins

diet or South Beach Diet some with less

familiar titles like run fat pitch run

yet Americans continue to be overweight

and out of shape most people know how to

get back in shape eat better exercise

more they just don't do it it's not a

knowledge problem it's an execution

problem our experience has shown that

most people have the capacity to double

or triple their income just by

consistently applying what they already

know despite this people continue to

chase new ideas thinking that the next

idea is the one that will magically make

it all better and like the whole first

chapter kind of J basically elaborates

on this point in great detail that the

single biggest barrier between you and

the life that you are capable of living

and the success that you're capable of

achieving however you choose to Define

that is simply a lack of consistent

execution there are still basic

fundamentals like this a lack of

consistent execution that also like

really deeply connects with me you know

I'm supposedly a productivity expert

some might say the world's most followed

productivity expert according to my

publisher but even still I just found

myself thinking as I was reading this

damn I am also holding myself back

simply because of a lack of consistent

execution there is a journaling prompt

that came to my mind as I was reading

this book which is is where am I

allowing a lack of consistent execution

to hold me back and honestly I would

encourage you to pause the video now and

just like think about that where am I

allowing a lack of consistent execution

to hold me back you know to use a

personal example one of the reasons why

my health is not in the place that I

would like it to be is simply a lack of

consistent execution it's not that I

don't have the knowledge of what it

takes to go to the gym and eat protein

and eat relatively well consistently

it's just that I don't do the thing

similarly last year our business did

like 5 million in annual revenue and had

I in fact considered L executed the

things that I know I should have done it

probably would have been closer to 8 or

9 million so there's literally $4

million difference between me

inconsistently executing and me

consistently executing and so the whole

point of this book as they lay out in

chapter one is to close this execution

Gap and the concept of the 12we year

which is sort of what it says on the 10

which we're going to talk about next but

the whole concept of the 12we year is

designed to help us close this execution

Gap so if you've identified that in your

life for example there's some sort of

execution Gap that's stopping you from

living the life that you actually want

to live then hopefully you can watch the

rest of this video and then maybe you

can consider picking up a copy of the

book as well now once you've solved this

execution problem and you've freed up

more time and energy in your life and

you might want to spend some more time

learning and a great way to do that is

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so thank you so much brilliant for

sponsoring this video key idea number

two replace annualization with

periodization now I want to start this

with a clip from Ed melet which I saw

last year that I thought had some

profound wisdom to it my day is 6:00

a.m. to noon and I'm not crazy you're

crazy for thinking it takes 24 hours

just like some dude in a cave did 300

years ago my second day starts at noon

and goes till 6:00 p.m. that's day two

and then the next day is 6:00 p.m. to

midnight what I've done now is I have

changed a manipulated time I now get 21

days a week stack it up over a month I'm

going to kick your butt stack it up over

a year you're toast stack it up over 5

years my entire life is different than

it would have been otherwise now this

was a clip that that went viral on Tik

Tok uh and and so the comments are kind

of funny you know so in other words he

splits his day into morning afternoon

and night me me chatting with the nurse

while she puts the straight jacket on me

now obviously this clip taken out of

context like Ed Miler is great Tom bil

is great the podcast is absolutely sick

like it's a great conversation but this

clip taken out of context like I can see

why people would quibble about this

thing but there is actually profound

wisdom in this one of the comments here

is I cut my pizza into 48 slices equals

more pizza it's

like yes but also no like there actually

is wisdom in what Ed is doing here which

is basically what he's doing is

periodization so let's segue that into

what these guys actually talk about in

the book and the whole reason why it's

called the 12we here is because the way

that we generally think about setting

and achieving goals is based on

annualized thinking level zero is you

don't set goals at all and you don't

even think about your life and you don't

do any kind of New Year stuff cuz you're

just like operating an autopilot I

suspect if you are a viewer of this

channel you are a little bit more

hopefully uh intentional about how

you're spending your time hopefully you

might have seen some of my my previous

videos around goal setting around the

importance of goal setting and maybe

you've decided to actually set some of

your own goals that's you know level

zero is the people that don't set any

goals at all level one is the people who

set annualized goals that these are my

goals for 2024 this is what I need to do

to achieve them etc etc this is how most

businesses operate as well they set we

set annual goals like our goals for 2024

are a b c d and e and then often

businesses will break them down into

quarterly goals but as individuals we

tend not to think about quarters

quarters are a very kind of business

speaky type thing where mostly yeah we

don't think about like how can I achieve

my annual goal and break it down into

quarters but even that that is all based

on annualized thinking and basically

what the guys in the book are talking

about is that when you think in an

annualized time frame it means means

you're wasting a lot of time so when it

comes to the end of the year this is

usually when a lot of progress is made

there's the idea of Parkinson's law

which is that work expands to fill the

time that we allocate to it if you set a

goal for the New Year in January or

February or whatever you still have this

sense of like oh you know the end of the

year is so far away and then by the time

the end of the year starts to roll

around you see this in the workplace you

see this in most people's personal lives

there's a real push of like oh crap we

need to hit our targets by the end of

the year and often businesses you know a

lot of businesses will do like 40% of

their annual Revenue in the final 2

months of the year yeah Black Friday

Christmas probably makes a difference

but there is a certain sense of urgency

that happens when you get closer and

closer to a deadline deadlines as much

as I don't particularly like them are

generally annoyingly motivating back

when I was working on my book I had

weekly deadlines from my editor and I

was just making no progress in the book

and every Tuesday we'd have a meeting at

like 5:00 p.m. and so on Tuesdays you

can bet your ass that like that morning

I was like crap I need to need to have

the meeting and I don't want to show up

to the meeting empty-handed and so I

would write lots of words on a Tuesday

this is the deadline effect as we get

closer to a deadline our performance

increases there's more of a sense of

urgency it's not that we're working any

harder I wasn't working any harder on a

Tuesday than I was on a Monday or the

weekend or a Friday or whatever the

thing might be I was just I just had

more of this sense of urgency and I was

spending my time doing sensible things

rather than wasting my time playing

PlayStation or scrolling social media or

doing random stuff that had nothing to

do with the primary goal that I was

working towards now according to the

book the concept of periodization was

first starting to be a thing in in the

Olympics in the

1970s where Eastern European athletes

were using that skill and they were

using it to great effect basically the

idea is that if you're an athlete trying

to improve a skill instead of trying to

improve all aspects of the skill all in

one go you're instead periodizing your

training so you have four to 6 weeks

working on skill a then you stop and

then the next four to six weeks working

on skill B and then you're sort of

stacking this up and doing things one at

a time in series rather than trying to

do multiple things in parallel I've

talked about this concept in a bunch of

videos before around how trying to make

a little bit of progress across lots of

things all at the same time is generally

a lot less effective than just focusing

on one thing and then finishing it and

focusing on another thing and finishing

it and the whole idea of this whole like

12we year is that it periodized the year

into four periods of 12 weeks or

quarters in other words but they're

calling it 12 weeks because it's just

like sounds cooler than like quarterly

planning basically the whole book is

about quarterly planning it's about like

thinking of your year instead of it

being 52 weeks instead thinking of a

year as being 12 weeks and the idea

there is that it means that you set

goals that are more focused on things

that you can actually get done in the

next 12 weeks when you only have 12

weeks every week counts whereas when you

have 52 weeks is you can sort of screw

around for a lot of the time and it

means you're taking advantage of the

deadline effect which means that as the

12 weeks starts to come to an end you

get more of that sense of urgency and

you're actually going to work a little

bit harder or in a more focused fashion

to achieve the goals that you set out to

achieve in that 12we period now a

criticism to this might be well like bro

is doing what Ed milet is suggesting and

just breaking down arbit arily breaking

down time into different chunks but that

actually does work if you arbitrarily

break down a year into four 12we

segments with like I don't know a week

of break in the 13th week or if you

arbitrarily break down a day into 3 days

like whatever terminology you want to

use you're really taking advantage of

that psychological phenomenon of the

fact that as things come to an end we

tend to push a little bit harder at them

this is not an advocation of hustle

culture this is simply a case of using

our time in a way that's actually more

effective and more aligned with the

goals that we say we want to achieve and

key idea number three is your emotion

connection to the outcome okay so the

first idea here is that often like if

you do decide to set goals for a 12E

period usually that involves doing new

actions and new actions can be

uncomfortable which is why we tend not

to do them and there's a quote here in

our experience the number one thing that

you'll have to sacrifice to be great to

achieve what you're capable of and to

execute your plans is your comfort we

always have to sacrifice comfort you

know for me to get jacked I have to

sacrifice the comfort of playing on the

PS5 and instead go to the gym and lift

some weights it's is going to be

uncomfortable for me to grow my income

or grow my business or like be more

intentional about my relationships I

might have to have uncomfortable

conversations I might have to initially

experience an uncomfortable amount of

work over time I would get better at

dealing with that discomfort and it

would then go into my comfort zone but I

have to face that discomfort in the

first place and this is a big thing that

holds a lot of us back because we do not

want to face that discomfort we're so

addicted to comfort the whole book about

this called The Comfort crisis but we're

so addicted to our comfort that we allow

the love of comfort to hold us back from

living our best life which leads us to

another journaling prompt I love

collecting journaling prompts it's like

one of my favorite things because I

think these questions can be incredibly

powerful if we just ask them to

ourselves even every now and then the

question that came to my mind was this

where am I allowing my fear of

discomfort to hold me back from building

a life that I love again I'd recommend

pausing the video and having a think

about these two prompts and I can

guarantee if you just think about this

for a minute you will get more value

from this video than you've gotten from

most YouTube videos that you probably

tend to watch because you know you can

watch videos all day right like and just

feed your brain with the information but

as we know from studies around active

recall and stuff like the actual change

will happen in your life when it's

driven from within and so that's why I

think these questions are incredibly

powerful yeah I could tell you that uh

you're probably allowing your love of

comfort to sacrifice your income

potential or your health whatever but

like it wouldn't be nearly as powerful

as you asking that question for yourself

and really recognizing oh crap in this

specific area of my life I'm allowing my

love of comfort to hold me back that's

useful to know that is like the initial

spark that leads to the change that may

happen further down the line so anyway I

talked for a bit longer than that but

like please pause the video and have a

think about these two little

prompts so how do we actually get over

this love of comfort and fear of

discomfort that we have and actually

take actions that are going to help us

get more done in 12 weeks than others do

in 12 months oh Chapter 3 of the book

talks about how the one key skill that

you need to have to make that happen is

a compelling vision for the future now I

want to play a clip from the Diary of a

CEO podcast where my friend Dr K who is

a psychiatrist was being interviewed

this is what you have to say if you look

at the statistics on suicide it's very

interesting so the number one thing that

correlates with male suicide is not

depression and this is super scary

there's one study I saw recently that

suggests that 50% of men who kill

themselves have no history or evidence

of mental illness and this I I believe

this statistic in in my clinical

practice because I know what depression

looks like I know what bipolar disorder

looks like and half the men that I've

worked with at least are not actually

mentally ill see mental illness means a

mythology of the mind which means that

the mind is malfunctioning most of the

suicidal men that I work with they're

not ma their mind isn't malfunctioning

they genuinely have a life that is no

longer worth living they're looking at

things and objectively realizing that

there's no way out of this situation so

they turn to Suicide now obviously this

video is not going into the whole mental

health stuff what I took away when I

heard that I was like oh that's

interesting and it sort of Vibes with

what these what the authors of the 12

week talk about in the book which is

that if you don't have a vision of the

future which is significant L better

than your current state there is no

reason for you to act in a way that

pulls you towards that future if you can

create this compelling vision and you

just have lots of reasons to act that

pulls you in a direction that helps you

overcome this fear of discomfort or the

love of comfort you're unlikely to

bother doing that unless you genuinely

thought there was something worthwhile

on the other end you know part of the

whole concept of feel good productivity

is that it's not really about the

destination it's about the journey but

even so there is no Journey without

without a compelling destination I most

people don't enjoy just like leaving the

house and sort of wandering aimlessly

it's like if you just do that all the

time the wandering aimlessly doesn't

doesn't feel that fun whereas if you

have a destination in mind you're like

okay I'm going in that direction now

wandering in that direction yes you can

enjoy the journey along the way but you

kind of need to have a specific

destination in mind but you kind of need

to have at least a sense of direction at

least a sense of what is this compelling

vision of the future that's going to

pull me in that direction and get me to

actually do things and get off my bum

and get off the PlayStation and actually

go to the gym for example or actually

work on my business or actually be a bit

more intentional about my relationships

whatever the thing might be so these are

some of the things they encourage us to

think about think about what you truly

want to achieve what Legacy do you want

to create what do you want for yourself

and for your family what do you want

spiritually what level of security do

you seek what level of income and

fulfillment do you want from your career

what interests do you wish you could

pursue what do you really want to do

with the time you've been allotted if

you're going to perform at a high level

take new ground and be great then you

better have a vision that is compelling

in order to achieve a level of

performance that is greater than your

current performance you will need a

vision of the future that is bigger than

the present you must find a vision with

which you are emotionally connected

without a compelling Vision you'll

discover that there is no reason to go

through the pain of change this is good

here we go vision is the starting point

of all high performance you create

things twice first mentally then

physically the biggest barrier to high

performance is not the physical

manifestation but in fact the mental

creation you will never outpace your

mental models vision is the first place

where you engage your thinking about

what is possible for

you I like yeah again having been in

this productivity space for a very long

time like almost every everyone around

everyone who written books about this

stuff even mine chapter 9 alignment

talks about this idea of creating a

compelling vision for yourself because

it's just so incredibly powerful in

helping you actually take action towards

what the thing is and I find that when

I'm giving talks and when I'm speaking

to people and it often turns into like

pseudo life coaching e type productivity

coaching sessions people often struggle

with with with stuff and and my first

question is usually okay what's the goal

and why is that the goal like what are

we actually working towards here and

usually I kind of talk people through

various prompts that help them figure

out some sort of personal Vision cuz you

start with a A Life vision and then you

figure out what does your work Vision

look like to facilitate the Life vision

that you want and once you have that

sense of like okay this is the direction

I'm currently headed in that doesn't

mean you can never change your mind on

that thing it's just a rough first draft

but even having that rough first draft

usually gives people enormous Clarity

and this sense of like like oh cool now

I get it now I'm willing to put in the

effort to put in that kind of facing of

discomfort in order to get to this thing

this this destination that actually

feels really compelling and crucially

this is where the emotions come in your

vision that you create for your life

like the goals that you're working

towards kind of need to be emotionally

resonant within you there can't be

shoulds like a should is like I really

should work on my health but a should is

not at all emotionally resonant a sh is

like based on fear and based on like

avoidance of negativity and based on on

like Duty and these things tend not to

motivate us as much as a vision that we

genuinely you know I would love to do

this thing I'd love to have a business

that allows me to quit my job I would

love to be in amazing shape so that I

can play with my kids when I'm 85 I

would love to be better at the guitar so

I can play Anything by ear ah that feels

so emotionally resonant and therefore

when I figure out what do I then need to

do every day every week every 12 weeks

as in the book the 12we year to make

progress towards that Vision now I'm way

more likely to actually overcome the

discomfort of practic in guitar and

choosing to practice guitar or choosing

to go to the gym or choosing to work on

my business instead of scrolling Tik Tok

or playing on the PlayStation now if

you're interested in creating a personal

vision and in 12we planning and all this

sort of stuff I actually host regular

free Zoom workshops uh about this

there'll be linked down below depending

on when you're watching this the next

one is on April 20th 2024 but I'm

hosting these basically every 3 months

they're completely free for anyone to

attend you can check out the link this

is all part of the free version of

productivity lab which is a new

community that I'm building of ambitious

entrepreneurs creators and professionals

just like you uh to help us all double

up productivity while enjoying the

journey and making friends along the way

but yeah quarterly planning sessions

Vision planning sessions a bunch of

these are going to be completely free

check out the link below if you want to

attend and if you don't want to do this

thing live and you'd rather figure out

your own vision and your goals on your

own which is also totally fine you

should check out this playlist over here

this is three videos which is part of my

series about why you might feel lost in

life and basically if you just follow

the advice in this series of videos that

will help you create a compelling vision

translate it into goals and then when

you read the 12we ear and start

implementing it into 12we plans all of

that stuff will make a lot more sense so

thank you so much for watching and see

you in the next video bye-bye