How Small Steps Can Lead To Great Wins

How many times have you set a goal and on the onset it looks too big for you?  The mere thought of how you will accomplish it is so discouraging you are afraid to start on it.

Well, mid this year, I was introduced to the book The 12 Week Year… This book offers solutions to the problems we often have when it comes to achieving our goals. It also helps you to be more intentional and focused since 12 weeks is enough for you to create the sense of urgency required to achieve your goals.

My biggest lesson from this book is that small steps can lead to great wins. Below I share my takeaways from this book and how I will use the lessons to help me accomplish the results I want.

#1. Do Away With Annualized Thinking

Many times when we set goals in January, we immediately convince ourselves that there is still plenty of time left to work on those goals. However, what the book discourages is having an annualized mentality. Instead, we are encouraged to divide our year into weeks specifically 12 at a time. What you do is have a big goal say save $6000 for a vacation at the end of the year. Divide that amount into how much you can save every quarter. What this does is build momentum for you. As you begin to see your savings grow every quarter, you are encouraged to keep going. In the end, you will achieve your goal without much stress.

I came up with my Twelve Week Year System that helps me break my goals into action steps that I can take over the period of 12 weeks. I couple this with a weekly and daily schedule to ensure that I am working towards the results I want.

#2. Treat Every Week As Important

With the 12 Week Year, every week is as important as the one before it and the one after it. What this does is ensure you are focused on the goals you have set. Given the fact that you want to see results on your “mini goals” every 12 weeks. You find that you are pushing yourself to do your very best. The result is that you constantly work with a sense of urgency and this produces results in the end.

Breaking goals into “mini goals” makes them manageable and achievable. In our example above, if your goal is to save $ 6000, this means you need to set aside $125 per week. Do you see how this looks manageable?

Time is always of the essence since you always work with the mentality that every week and every day is important for you to achieve your goals. This automatically moves you from mediocre or average performance to peak performance all the time.

#3. Develop Systems To Hold You Accountable

In order to keep making progress with the 12 Week year, you need to put in place systems that you will use to check your progress. Keep in mind that every moment counts and execution of your goals is going on every single day. This is the reason why you need a system to ensure you keep on track. The book requires that you have lead measurements where you set out clearly what you will do to achieve the results you want. You are also required to have lag measurements where you document the actual results you have achieved. This ensures you are able to change strategies to ensure you get your desired results.

Many people like this one, have come up with free spreadsheets to help track progress. He offers this spreadsheet for free if you sign up for his mailing list.

#4. Celebrate Your Small Wins

What I like about the 12 Week year system is how you are encouraged to celebrate your wins along the way. The authors advise that every after 12 weeks, you take a break and celebrate what you have achieved. Many times we wait to actually finish the big goal before celebrating. However, taking notice of the milestones you are making on the way to your big goal is what will motivate you to eventually finish.

Finally, 

You need to keep in mind that when it comes to goal setting and achievement, what matters is that you are taking action all the time. I like the Chinese proverb that says “be not afraid of growing slowly be afraid of standing still”.

The key like the book advocates is to keep breaking your big goals into small actionable steps and then take the needed action. Remember like John Wooden says“it is the details that are vital. Little things make big things happen” Similarly, you may have heard or even quoted Lao Tzu’s “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. I have found this to be very true when it comes to goal achievement. For sure all big achievements have one thing in common and that is they started small. Mark Twain confirms this when he says, “the secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first task”.

I hope that the above reasons will convince you to at least give the 12 week year a try. It does make a difference and will enable you to accomplish the goals you set. In addition, you will be productive all year round and this will greatly contribute to your overall success at the end of the calendar year.