If you are an Artist looking for a system to set goals and be more productive, I have found the answer! I have read my fair share of books in the productivity genre, but the fresh ideas in The 12 Week Year have offered me a novel perspective on improving productivity, especially as a creative.
#1 Creating urgency gets results
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available for completion.
So, the more time we give ourselves to achieve a specific goal, the longer it will take. For this reason, having annual goals is a bit counterproductive because there is no urgency, and let’s face it, a year sounds like such a long time (yet it never is). So how do we fix this? Welcome to the 12-week year concept.
By shortening your year to three months and having each week represent a whole month, you create urgency and improve your focus and intentionality regarding the goals you are trying to achieve during that time.
The more urgency you create, even if artificial, the sooner you get things done.
You can take this concept further by shortening your day into three or two sections and having two to three days in one day. This would have the same result.
#2 Create emotionally driven goals
Whenever I read anything on productivity, it hardly ever starts by asking you to ponder your dreams and create a vision for your life. Yet, in the 12-week year, this is the crucial starting point and why many people fail at planning successfully. Their vision needs to be improved. Your vision is of such importance that you need to get emotionally attached to it and keep it in front of you daily so that you do not lose connection to the emotional connection with your goals and your vision.
Your vision should be expansive and cover more prolonged periods, like five, ten, and fifteen years in the future. From there, you can achieve what you want your life to be.
When your goal is to connect emotionally with a goal, I find it helpful to use images instead of just writing down words. I like making a Pinterest board (multiple boards really) and then using the photos on Milanote, to create a ‘Life Book’.
#3 Life Goals should inform career goals
The vision you must create should be for your life, not your business. Your life goals should inform your work goals and not vice versa.
“The 12 Week Year” emphasizes aligning your professional goals with your broader life vision. Here’s what the book suggests about creating a vision for your life and its relationship to your work goals:
The book encourages you to define a clear vision for your life, encompassing professional aspirations and personal, relational, health, and spiritual goals. This broader life vision is a guiding compass for all aspects of your life.
The book advocates integrating work and personal goals harmoniously rather than separating them. Your professional goals should serve your larger life vision and align with your values, passions, and priorities.
By prioritizing your life goals and allowing them to inform your work goals, you create a framework for achieving balance and fulfillment across all areas of your life. This approach helps prevent burnout and ensures your work is meaningful and fulfilling. The term I would use to describe this is Holistic Success.
When setting goals 
for your creative business or professional endeavors, consider how they contribute to your vision. Ensure your work goals support your desired lifestyle, relationships, health, and personal growth.
Periodically reassess your life vision and goals to remain relevant and aligned with your evolving priorities and circumstances. Adjust your work goals to stay true to your broader life vision.
#4 Planning is preventative
Effective planning is a skill that you need to learn. It is not about feeling overwhelmed by the details but about feeling secure and confident in your preparedness. It is essential to help you avoid many mistakes, save you heaps of time, and guarantee or improve your focus 10 fold.
It is not enough to merely think you know what to do. You have to plan down to the minute, or you will be ineffective and have a high chance of failing at your goal.
Benjamin Franklin said if you master the minutes the days will take care of themselves.
Here’s a video with a free Notion template you can download to help you plan your 12-week year.
#5 Keep score
“Measurement drives the execution process”.
This is the most apparent tactic when it comes to productivity. Everyone focuses on to-do lists and software, but I believe (as do the guys at The 12-week year) this is the nail in the coffin of productivity. This portion of the plan is the enforcement. By having some standardized way of keeping your weekly score for your goal, you quickly and easily become aware of any issues and adjust the plan. This is crucial. It’s the feedback.
The best news is that for our plan to work, we only need to be successful at implementing it 80% of the time.
#6 You don’t lack time; you lack focus.
Do you feel you never have enough time to do what you planned? You might be surprised to learn how much time you spend daily on certain activities. I like to refer to these as time vampires. They suck more of your time quicker than what you are aware of and leave you feeling out of time.
Having time suck activities is like having a slow puncture in your tire. It’s guaranteed to slow down your progress or end your journey.
The way to overcome this is to pay close attention to how you spend your time. How much time do you spend watching TV? How long does it take you to scroll social media?
#7 Routinise your days
Leverage the power of habit and systems to do the heavy lifting instead of your willpower or memory every day. Creating a routine and forming a habit around the routines will make completing those tasks automatic. You will have more time and brain capacity to use better ideas. Build systems!
“The 12 Week Year” recommends routinizing your day by focusing on consistent daily actions that align with your 12-week goals. Here’s what it suggests:
- Start your day with a consistent morning routine that sets a positive tone for the rest of the day. This routine might include exercise, meditation, journaling, or reviewing your daily goals.
- Identify the most essential tasks that will move you closer to your 12-week goals. Prioritize these tasks and schedule dedicated time to work on them during your most productive hours.
- Allocate specific blocks of time in your day for different activities, such as creative work, administrative tasks, meetings, and personal time. This helps create structure and ensures you focus on important tasks. The worst possible thing for productivity, flow, and focus is jumping back and forth between different types of functions. The best way to focus and be in flow is to block a couple of continuous hours for deep work. In the 12-week year, they suggest you have a block of time daily for a Strategic Block. This block should be reserved for your most important project. The thing that makes you the most money and gets you the most clients, is on top of your priority list.
- Wind down your day with an end-of-day routine that includes reflecting on your accomplishments, identifying unfinished tasks or challenges, and setting priorities for the next day. This helps you wrap up your workday positively and prepares you for a productive day.
#8 Identify the keystones
In “The 12 Week Year,” finding keystones involves identifying the lead indicators—the specific actions or behaviors that significantly impact achieving your goals. By identifying and focusing on these keystones—the lead indicators that drive progress and success—you can maximize your effectiveness and achieve your goals more efficiently within the 12-week-year framework.
Here’s what the book recommends to help you find your keystones:
Clearly define your 12-week goals.
These should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
It helps to phrase the goal as an actionable sentence. Instead of saying, I want a successful YouTube channel, you should be more specific and say I want to have a YouTube channel with 30 videos.
Break down your larger 12-week goals into smaller, more manageable components.
This helps identify the key activities or behaviors that contribute most directly to achieving the desired outcomes. So film ten videos every month and 2-3 videos every week.
Identify your lead indicators.
Determine which actions or behaviors have the most significant impact on moving the needle toward your goals. These are your lead indicators—the keystones that drive success. It’s important to note that Lead Indicators are what we have more control over lag indicators which we have little to no control over.
Quantify & adjust your lead indicators.
If your goal is to increase the number of subscribers on your YouTube channel, your lead indicators might include the number of videos you produce, the number of views (so the engagement level), or the percentage of views converted into subscribers.
Experiment with different lead indicators to see which ones yield the best results.
Once you start getting feedback, you can adjust your method of measuring accordingly.
Focus on the key actions that will move the needle
Prioritize the actions that will make the most significant difference in achieving your goals within the 12-week.
To conclude, the main effort you need to put into setting goals in this way will ultimately guarantee you more success. Trying to save time by not spending the time to visualize, plan, and prioritize will be counter productive.