Why setting 2024 goals will hold you back!

As the end of the year is fast approaching, I sat down with my lo-fi beats and leftover gingerbread to set my goals for 2024. It was not long after I opened my notebook that I realised that setting annual goals was holding me back.

Have you ever noticed how people and organisations will plod along all year, then get a surge of productivity around November and December as they push to hit their KPI’s by year end?

So why is it that we seem to cruise along for most of the year, and then sprint to the finish line for an arbitrary deadline?

Annualised thinking is the belief that there is plenty of time in the year to make things happen. When you apply annualised thinking to your goals, for example, if you don’t make progress and have a slow month in March, you’ll probably think to yourself ‘well that’s okay because I still have 9 months to go’. Annualised thinking makes us forget that every day counts. By October, often little progress has been made and then it’s all systems go for the last quarter of the year to meet the goals by 31 December.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could channel November’s productivity all year round? In their book titled the 12 Week Year, Brian Moran and Michael Lennington suggest that we ditch annualised thinking and adopt a 12 week year instead.

Importantly, a 12 week year isn’t equivalent to setting quarterly goals – that’s still annualised thinking. Rather, the 12 week year is its own time period that is long enough for you to set meaningful goals, but short enough that if you fall off the bandwagon, the new year is just around the corner.

When I would set annual goals, it was difficult to pick measurable targets because frankly, I don’t know how much I can realistically achieve in a year. After learning about annualised thinking, I decided to test out the 12 week method.

⭐ I found I can gauge my abilities much more accurately when I’m planning in 12 week increments;
⭐ I set less goals that were more realistic because I was only focusing on what I could achieve in the next three months; and
⭐ I spent more time breaking down what I needed to do each day and week to meet each target.

The 12 week year also condenses your timeline so what you would normally achieve in a month, you will do in a week, and what you will do in a week, will become a day. That means that every day counts.

The 12 week year reminds me of the school term. An important similarity is that after a school term or 12 week year, there is a break before the next period commences. Resting and celebrating your achievements at the end of a 12 week year are integral to the success of this process. Whether it be a weekend away or two weeks off, take time to reflect, unwind and plan for the new (12 week) year ahead.
 
So as you’re thinking about your new years resolutions and goals for 2024, I challenge you to join me in leaving annualised thinking behind and supercharging your productivity through a 12 week year.