Hi, I’m Dr. Tiffany Shelton Mariolle, neuropsychologist, published author and founder of modambition!

The Best Planner for the 12-Week Year

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Have you ever set yearly goals but have a difficult time following through with them and sticking with them when they're difficult? the 12-week Year may be exactly what you need to finally be the goal getter you know you are. 

If you’re new here I’m Dr. Tiffany Shelton Mariolle, neuropsychologist, published author, and founder of modAmbition. I post every week about how to plan, manifest, and enjoy your dream life. If you’re into that tapity tap that subscribe button.

In this episode not only am I going to give you a strategic summary of the book 12 week year, but I'm going to show you how to use your planner to implement the gems that are in this book.

So let's not waste any time and jump right into what is the 12 week year and the best planner to implement it.

First off the whole premise of the book 12 week year is to shift your mindset from thinking about yearly goals to quarterly goals or 12 week olds. the idea behind this is that 90-day planning sessions create deeper focus and a sense of urgency that you just can't get with long-term goals like yearly goals.

The author says, ““We mistakenly believe that there is a lot of time left in the year, and we act accordingly. We lack a sense of urgency, not realizing that every week is important, every day is important, every moment is important. Ultimately, effective execution happens daily and weekly!”

Only planning using annual goals breads complacency because you arbitrarily feel like you have plenty of time, and even envisioning meeting your goals at the end of year feels so far out and kinda vague. Think about the end of the year surge and productivity and working towards your goals. this is because you know the end of the year is coming soon and you want to do everything you can in that last push to get as close to your goals as you can. You can get those same Effects by using a 12-week year and capitalize on the urgency and passion that comes with 90 day planning. And importantly every week counts when you're thinking about your goals in the sense of a 12-week year. unlike a year where you can afford to have a couple off weeks, when your mindset is a 12-week year every week counts. 

And the planner I'm going to share with you today is one that I created out of direct need from the clients that I was working with implementing manifestation techniques.  it is a 211 gold planner and 90 day planner that works perfectly with the tenants of the book 12 week here. so let's walk through the major strategies in this book and how the modern Vision planner can help you implement them.

The first step when implementing the 12-week year strategy is to create a vision. the author says “to help you stay on track you will need a powerful reason why, and that's your vision ".  He says that you need measurable goals and a tracking system to keep up with these goals. in the modern ambition planner the initial section is a goal planner infused with achievement psychology and proven mindset strategies on effective goal setting. specifically as it relates to the 12-week year the goal planner walks you through creating a vision, defining your why, and setting goals based on your own personal values. In the book he talks about using this Vision to create aspirational goals which are the more larger long-term goals, and smart goals. and the modern ambition planner I'll call these Moon goals and star goals. your moon goals are those long-term goals usually a year to 3 years that speak to where you want to be in a very aspirational Larger than Life way. and then the planner watched you through how to set smart goals which are specific measurable realistic And Timely that will help you get to these Moon goals and I also like to give the suggestion of making these smart goals smart singles which means adding the Sea of controllable meaning that you set these  smaller goals to be things that are within your control that you can take action on. 

And these more smart goals are going to lead into the next step in the process in the book which is setting your 12-week goals. and the mon ambition planner this is the quarterly planning that you will do, where your guided through  setting 12-week goals informed by your moon and star goals.

Then the next step in the process according to the book the 12th year is creating action plans. and in the modern ambition planner you do this by utilizing the Strategic monthly weekly and daily planning pages. it's really rare to have quarterly monthly weekly and daily planning pages in a planner but it was really important for me to include all four of these types of planning with the goal planner in order to stay on track with your goals and feel motivated along the way.

And speaking of staying on track the 12 week year heavily emphasizes tracking and reviewing. and he preaches meticulous measurement and tracking of two types of indicators. the first type of indicator is something he calls lag indicators where you're tracking the end result. so you're measuring how closer how much closer you are to the larger Moon goaAcl. the other indicator that you're going to be tracking along the way is the what he calls the lead indicators and these are those smart actions that you have laid out for yourself as a part of your action plan. within the modern ambition planner tracking is heavily emphasized as psychology research has shown it's one of the most effective tools for habit forming and goal getting. so you will find  tracking infused in the quarterly planning which helps you track how close you are to those lag indicators. and within the monthly weekly and daily planning you'll be able to track those smart actions. so in the monthly planning for instance you will be able to track things like wins and challenges and review your larger goals. and on the weekly tracker there is a habit tracker to track the habits that are supporting your moon goals as well as wins and challenges to learn from these things so you can continue doing what's working for you and your smart actions and learn from things that are getting in the way. and then on the daily planning Pages you can specifically track your smart actions that you have laid out for yourself with a dedicated space for back planning.

Another huge Concept in the book 12 week year is time management. He discusses three very important time blocks that you should be putting into your schedule. the first one is what he calls it deep blocks this is when you'll be doing the Strategic work and taking those smart actions that are going to move you closer to your goals. the second type of block is buffer blocks which I have talked about on this channel for years always adding buffers to your schedule to be able to accurately plan your time and allow for the unexpected period and the third block is what he calls the breakout block which is 3 hours each week to refuel, refresh, and not work. this block is dedicated to self compassion and giving yourself a chance to re-energize and continue working.  the modern ambition planner is especially handy when it comes to managing these different types of blocks within your 12 weeks. on The Daily planning pages you have your entire day mapped out and blocks for really easy time blocking within your schedule. and there's also weekend planning that allows you to incorporate most likely when you're going to put those breakout blocks.

The book also talks about four keys to successful commitments that I wanted to highlight because each one of these key aspects of successfully committing to your goals is directly infused into the mod ambition planner. they include:

• A strong desire - goal planner
•  Keystone actions - goal planner
•  counting the cost before committing - considering your values and life domains
•  and acting on commitments not feelings - committed action - requires learning to accept and learn from challenging emotions, thoughts, and experiences which is infused into the planner.

I would love to end this episode by offering an intention for you this week: 

May you live an intentional life by setting meaningful goals and rising to the challenge of meeting them. 

Cheers to planning, manifesting, and enjoying your dream life.