The 12 Week Year for Writers. Michael Lennington

into my academic career, my good friend Michael Lennington was joining forces with Brian Moran to develop and promote the system that would become the 12 Week Year. When I told him that their system sounded like just what I needed, Michael sent me a copy of their materials. I devoured their wisdom about the benefits of creating focused plans based on 12-week “years” and embraced the planning tools they had developed to support the successful execution of my plans. Not only did I become far more productive than I had ever been before, but I also experienced a huge sense of relief when I started focusing on 12-week periods and stopped worrying about what was due six years later. I am happy to say that the system worked so well for me that I published enough for tenure ahead of schedule. Even more importantly, it allowed me to get my writing done while still managing to maintain a healthy relationship with my wife, to help raise our kids, and to juggle all sorts of other projects and obligations. To put it another way, I could never have had the full and satisfying career and personal life I've had if I had not used the 12 Week Year.

      I continued to use the 12 Week Year after I got tenure and eventually realized that my students could benefit just as much as I did from it. Much of the advice in this book comes from conversations I've had with hundreds of students as they struggled with papers, theses, and dissertations. I've had similar talks with former students still facing the same challenges as professionals working in their chosen fields. These students not only broadened my understanding of the challenges facing writers of all kinds, but also inspired me to think more deeply about how to overcome those challenges. The old saying that “you don't really know something until you teach it” is spot on in this case. And one of the most important things I have learned from my students is that pretty much everyone's writing can benefit from the 12 Week Year.

PLAN OF THE BOOK

The next chapter in Section I provides a brief explanation of the 12 Week Year system and why it works before we dive into the details. The rest of the book is then organized into three additional parts. Section II (How to Use the 12 Week Year, Chapters 3 – 8) walks you through each step of the 12 Week Year system and the creation of your first 12 Week Plan. Section III (How the 12 Week Year Will Help You Write, Chapters 9 – 14) discusses how to get the most from the 12 Week Year. It covers topics like how to make your first 12 Week Plan a success, how to juggle multiple projects, work with coauthors, and how to cultivate the writer's mindset. Section IV (The 12 Week Year in Action, Chapters 15 – 16) includes my journal – a behind-the-scenes look at how I used the 12 Week Year to write this book – as well as answers to some frequently asked questions.

IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE 12 WEEK YEAR

      I recommend that you pick up a copy of the book that launched the movement, The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington. In this book you, will learn everything you need to know to master the system but reading their book will give you a different perspective, one that will serve to deepen your understanding of the system and broaden your appreciation of what it can do for both your professional life and personal life.

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH THE 12 WEEK YEAR

      …this book will still be valuable to you. As with any general system, there is plenty to learn about applying it to a specific domain. I have spent almost twenty years not only using the 12 Week Year as my general productivity system, but applying it specifically to my writing. As a result, I am confident that even people who have a great deal of experience with the 12 Week Year will benefit from a book focused on the specific challenges writers face in using the 12 Week Year effectively.

CHAPTER 2 THE 12 WEEK YEAR: YOUR STRATEGIC OPERATING SYSTEM FOR WRITING

      The 12 Week Year combines five disciplines into a system that helps you determine what, how, and when you should be writing, and how to stay on track toward your goals. The disciplines include Vision, Planning, Process Control, Scorekeeping, and Time Use. The 12 Week Year also identifies three principles – Accountability, Commitment, and Greatness in the Moment – that help determine your ultimate success implementing the system. In this book, I expand these three principles into what I call the “writer's mindset,” a somewhat broader concept that I believe helps explain the success of the most productive writers. In this chapter, I explain why the 12 Week Year paradigm shift is so crucial as well as provide a brief outline of the five steps you'll take to put the 12 Week Year into practice. The following chapters will then guide you through those steps in more detail.

THE 12 WEEK YEAR PARADIGM SHIFT

Is there anyone who has made it through high school or college without pulling an “all-nighter” to finish a paper? I doubt it. Why is it that everyone has had this experience and what does it tell us about writing productively?

      The first thing we can learn from all-nighters is the power of urgency. Beyond the simple fact that students would rather party than work, the most obvious reason that students routinely write their papers at the last minute is that they lack a sense of urgency until the deadline approaches. I see this every year in my classes. Early in the semester students receive their term paper assignments. They see that the due dates are months away, at which point the assignments get tossed on a stack of other papers and promptly forgotten. You've heard the familiar lines: “I've got tons of time,” “I'll crank it out over spring break,” “The paper's not due for ages.” In most cases, students seem to believe that there will magically be a better time later in the semester to get it done. Rarely, if ever, do students schedule time to complete the specific components of their papers. As a result, most students write their papers just before the deadline when they start to feel the heat.

      But there is another dynamic at work here. Many students steadfastly believe that they do their best work under the pressure of a deadline. They feel invigorated by the approaching deadline and motivated to see if they can rise to the challenge. I have heard more than a few students brag about how they write all their papers at the last minute and always manage to get A's.

Teachers and professors moan when they hear this, but I think these boasts reveal an important kernel of wisdom. Urgency – within limits – is our friend. When you're fired up and focused, you can do amazing things you could never do under normal circumstances. You'll push yourself to think harder, to think smarter, and spend more time on task. When you're bored or unmotivated, you won't get much done no matter how capable you are. The lesson isn't that you should write everything at the last minute. The lesson is that you need to structure your writing – your life – so that you have a healthy sense of urgency and the motivation your brain needs to get things done.

      The Problem: Annual Thinking

      It turns out that we can find the all-nighter dynamic at work everywhere we look. In many organizations, managers set annual goals only to realize as fall sets in that they are nowhere near hitting them. Then, in a flurry of last-minute activity, the team rushes to make up ground. It is no wonder that in so many companies the fourth quarter is the most profitable one. But if such great results were possible, why did it take until the fourth quarter for everyone to get it in gear? One of the most common obstacles to consistent execution is the dominance of annual thinking. When people make plans based around annual goals, they unwittingly drain the motivation and focus from most of the year.

      Have you ever been at a New Year's Eve party where everyone made New Year's resolutions? Imagine that your friend decides that this is the year they'll