President’s Message

Cari Young, April 2019

As we find ourselves moving into the second quarter of 2019, I am suddenly faced with the reality of how quickly the year is moving and how time creates so many challenges in business and in life. We each have only 24 hours in a day and yet some seem to be able to accomplish so much more. Someone recently recommended a book to me which addresses this issue and provides a great guide to becoming the optimal you so I wanted to share it with all of you.

The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington asks the question, how would your life change if each and every day you performed up to your full potential?  It offers a guide to creating results through focus, commitment, and accountability which focuses on 12 week cycles versus 12 month cycles. I know that many of you set goals every year and write annual business plans which is certainly an important component in your success. This book, however, points out that one of the things that actually gets in the way of individuals achieving their best is the annual planning process. While these annual goals certainly have a positive impact, the annual process may actually limit performance in many ways.

The concept of periodization actually began as a training technique for athletes and has been adapted by Morgan and Lennington for use in business and personal success. By focusing on a 12 week cycle, there is a higher sense of urgency and an increased focus on the critical, core activities that drive success. This focus and the daily execution of these items serves to ensure the achievement of your objectives. This shorter cycle provides the excitement, energy, and focus that typically happens at the end of the year as your annual deadline approaches. By setting a new endgame date for your to achieve and access your your success, this cyle more consistently pushes you to hit your goals every 12 weeks. This system narrows your focus to the week and, even more specifically, the day, which is where execution occurs. One no longer has the luxury of putting off the critical activities imagining that there is plenty of time left in the year to handle such activities.

In addition, at the end of every 12 week cycle, you have the opportunity to take a break, celebrate, and reflect upon what you have accomplished. While I certainly can’t share all of the detail and specifics covered in the book, I wanted to share the basic premise as the process seems so perfectly applicable to our business where there is always a sense of urgency and a lack of time. Refocusing on a 12 week cycle, whether it be for your sales goals or in the marketing plan for a listing, allows you to create more energy, focus, and commitment every week throughout the year and will certainly lead to improved results.

The 12 Week Year opens with the following quote from Thomas Edison which I will leave you to consider. “If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” I hope this will help inspire you to further improve upon your existing success.