The 12 Week Year for Writers

CHAPTER 16FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CAN I USE THE 12 WEEK YEAR IN COMBINATION WITH ANOTHER PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEM LIKE GTD?

Yes, you can. The 12 Week Year is a system that serves up your most strategically important tactics each week in a Weekly Plan. The process of executing those tactics, however, can be challenging. Many times, there are unplanned urgent or administrative tasks that emerge in the week that don't create progress towards your goals but that suck up capacity and pull you away from your plan. Tools like GTD (David Allen's Getting Things Done) that help you manage those distractions can help you stay on top of your weekly tactics.

CAN I MAKE A 12 WEEK PLAN THAT IS SHORTER (OR LONGER) THAN 12 WEEKS?

Yes, you can. Many people have used the 12 Week Year in increments that don't neatly fit a twelve-week horizon. For example, for many years I used to break the calendar year into three “12 Week” Years, representing the fall, spring, and summer semesters of my academic life. Each of my 12 Week Plans was about 16 weeks long, but still short enough (especially given exam periods, study breaks, holidays, etc.) that the essential logic of the 12 Week Year still applied.

You may find a situation, on the other hand, in which you want to squeeze a 12 Week Plan into a shorter time window so you can start the following 12 Week Year on a particular date. If you are reading this book and there are only two months left in the year, don't be afraid to create an eight-week plan so ...