Why you may want to plan in a 13-Week cycle

Did you know that there is a trend to move from planning out an entire year to only looking at 13 weeks at a time?

I didn’t.

Which is why when I purchased a Self Journal I was shocked to find out that it only ran for 13 weeks. You know what I discovered after diving in and using it? 13 weeks is a much better length of time for a planner than a year.

Here are three reasons you can get more out of planning for only 13 weeks than for a full year:

1. Motivation is a perishable commodity.

We’ve all experienced starting a project with great enthusiasm only to have it wane as time goes on.

Executing in short timelines keeps our motivation high.

The faster we can get from ideation to execution, the more likely it is that we will put something new out there. Perfectionism, fear and insecurity chip away at ideas. If we can execute quickly—before we start to question and second-guess ourselves—then big things can happen.

2. 13 weeks shortens the timeline from planning to execution.

Brian Moran in his breakout book, The 12 Week Year asserts that the problem with annual planning is that the cycle is too long to connect results with actions. The urgency incurred by shortening the cycle moves people from planning to execution more effectively.

In Moran’s system, there is never a year with four periods. There is simply 12-weeks, followed by 12-weeks, followed by 12-weeks. The year-end push to hit your goals happens all of the time.

3. John Lee Dumas does this.

Podcast host, John Lee Dumas of EOFire has interviewed over 1500 successful entrepreneurs and identified that 100 days (13 weeks) is the sweet spot for setting goals that are: S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Attainable, R-Relevant and T-time-bound.

Dumas created The Freedom Journal to help entrepreneurs achieve their #1 goal in 100 days.

Time and energy are finite resources. We have to focus them, or we run out. It is much easier to plan resources for shorter periods of time. If we focus on a primary goal and align our time and energy to meeting that one goal, we are much more likely to achieve it.

Have you test-driven a 13-week planning cycle yet? Pick your goal and go for it!