the productivity bros were right (just this once)

how the 12 week year made me finally focus on what's really important

i started out the 12 week year with my best friend thinking at the end of it i was going to be a real business owner. get done in 12 weeks what others get done in 12 months. absolutely, i was ready. i was going to have my branding locked in, aesthetic unmatched, content perfected. i was going to really give it a go this time, 26th time lucky. but instead, all it did was make me realise how much of an anxious mess i really was.

the 12 week year is a time management system. it’s a bit productivity bro but you can apply it to anything you like. for me, i wanted to solidify myself as a writer by building a real, engaged social media following (gag), lose a couple pounds to reach the goal weight i set about three years ago and write another 10,000 word short story.

the system makes you set two or three goals and then split those goals into actionable tasks you complete each week. every month becomes a quarter and every week becomes a month. you also have things like lead and lag indicators that help you pin point exactly which actions will yield the specific outcomes you want. for example, lead: meditating every day, lag: calmer nervous system. it’s surprising how much you can actually get done in a week when you really map it out like this. but of course, some of us can get a little excited and take things slightly too far.

some weeks my calendar looked like someone had given my crayola supertips to a four year old and told them to go wild. for someone who gets winded by a singular phone call, i’m not quite sure who i thought i was. i had content creation days, afternoons scheduled just for editing, pages and pages of haphazard caption ideas, specific times of day to post on this site and that, videos, pictures, the lot. and this is someone who loathes social media marketing by the way. on top of that, i wanted to workout four times a week and commit to writing 1,000 words a week. and post on substack weekly. as you can imagine, i lasted about 10 minutes before i was on the brink of collapse.

everyday things overwhelm me. conversations with anyone that isn’t my partner, friends or immediate family come with running commentary, why did you say that, what do people usually say here, you’re giving them too much eye contact look away okay now look back, every twinge in my stomach is something to analyse, (as kids, tv ads in the uk taught us to stop, look and listen before crossing the road and i appear to have taken this aphorism into all areas of my life) and my body drops a new intolerance more frequently than lorde releases albums which makes eating fun too. eventually, my calendar returned to its natural semi-blank state soon after i realised that i have enough to worry about in my life.

but instead of giving up altogether, at around week 6, i simply changed my mind. my friend was well on her way to achieving her goals, her digital products were taking shape and she was finding that she was already gaining some flexibility in her legs from her daily stretches. but i was at day 1 again. day 1 of calming the heck down.

i had approached the 12 week year completely wrong. even though most people use it to finally get all the stuff they’ve wanted to do for the past several years done quickly and efficiently, i took it as an opportunity to finally confront the pressure i kept putting on myself and pay some actual attention to my physical health. instead of posting online four times a week, i practised yoga four times a week. i checked off a box every time i read another chapter of the roots of yoga by nikita desai. i meditated for 50 days straight and really started to see a difference in my life. the 12 week year helped me to realise that there is nothing more pressing that i have to get done right now other than making sure i was actually putting my health first instead of just thinking i was.

it’s been a couple of weeks since we finished up. naturally, i haven’t been as strict with myself when it comes to the things i used to check off my list daily but i feel like my life has truly changed. i haven’t done any of the rigorous workouts i used to do in well over a month and i have surpassed my goal weight. i still trip up on my words when the script isn’t crystal clear in my head when speaking to customers sometimes, but i don’t ruminate about it so much anymore. i’m sleeping through the night again (90% of the time). and most importantly, i don’t constantly feel overwhelmed anymore.

would i recommend the 12 week year to someone? absolutely. but i’d remind them that it doesn’t require you to set goals about being a business owner or doing something that seems “productive”. anything is productive if it makes your life better. also, i was able to get a little creative and make us an extremely cute notion template to work from. who needs another boring beige thing in their life. not me that’s for sure.

my happy place

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hello quiet readers, thank you for reading this week’s post! okay, tell me, have any of you tried the 12 week year? or maybe you’ve tried the artist’s way, i imagine that has a similar premise. maybe i’ll give that one a go in the autumn. i found that i struggled a little towards the end of my 12 week year and i think that’s because i’m more motivated for this sort of thing in the autumn and winter. right now i just want to be outside, sit in my garden and read all day and soak up all the sun i can. autumn and winter feel more like head down and get projects done sort of seasons. just me?

also if you were curious about starting your own 12 week year, you can download the template i made for me and my bestie here! it’s specifically made for two people, so if you have someone in mind you wanted to do it with, this is perfect!

okay, have a lovely sunday. i’ll see you again next week in the sun room <3