The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months

Chapter 1

The Challenge

How is it that some people seem to accomplish so much while the vast majority of people never accomplish what they are capable of? If you could fully tap your potential, what might be different for you? How would your life change if each and every day you performed up to your full potential? What would be different six months, three years, and five years down the road if each day you were at your best?

That set of questions, that core concept, is what the past dozen years or so have been about for Mike and me. For years, we have been helping our clients to execute more effectively. We work with individuals, teams, and corporations to make plans to help them achieve their goals. Our quest has been to unlock the secret to helping individuals and organizations perform at their best and live the life they are truly capable of.

“If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

—Thomas Edison

I agree with Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, that most of us have two lives: the lives we live and the lives we are capable of living. It’s the latter that intrigues me. It’s the life, I believe, that we all deeply desire. It’s the life that we know exists somewhere deep inside us that we wish we could actualize. This life isn’t driven by the you who settles or gives in to procrastination and doubt, but by the optimal you, the best you, the confident you, the healthy you. The you who shows up with your best stuff, making ...