08: What Would You Accomplish If You Had More Time?
I'm genuinely curious.
It’s crazy how I stumbled on this book ‘The 12 Week Year’ by Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington just coming into the new year, utterly oblivious to the fact that I was about to get hit with a truck load of fresh and reinforcing ideas that I didn’t know (how much) I needed.
Before we go into this #BookReview proper, let me put you onto yet another interesting thing I found about 2 months ago. It’s this brilliant (but very relatable) behavioural concept in productivity and time management called PARKINSON’S LAW. I’m not sure how I’m only just discovering it though, but I wholeheartedly subscribe to it.
Parkinson’s Law states:
“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
— Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1955)
This simply means that if you allocate a longer timeframe for a task, the task itself will likely take longer to complete, effectively filling the available time. Conversely, if you set a shorter deadline, you'll likely finish the task more quickly.
For instance, if you give yourself a week to complete a 7-hour task, it will likely take a week—not because the task truly needs that long, but because the perceived deadline stretches your effort.
This means THREE things for productivity:
More time ≠ better results — extra time often leads to procrastination, overthinking, and perfectionism.
Tighter deadlines drive focus — they force prioritization and sharper execution.
Constraint breeds creativity — limited time encourages smarter, simpler solutions. Remind me of a saying we had growing up:
“Necessity is the mother of invention”
The 12 Week Year is practically a response to Parkinson’s Law. By condensing your "year" into 12 weeks:
You limit the time window, which naturally compresses focus and intensity.
It forces you to act now, not later.
It breaks the illusion that there's “plenty of time left in the year.”
In short, the 12 Week Year works because Parkinson’s Law is real—and it flips it to your advantage.
Did you know that a staggering 40% of total work gets done in the final quarter of a typical 12-month year?
With observable patterns such as: Sales cycles spike in Q4 (especially in B2B sectors). Project completions often accelerating before year-end, and Employee output increasing due to performance reviews or bonuses.
Insane, right?! This happens because most people procrastinate in the early months (or at the very least, dilly dally), believing they have plenty of time. Then, as the year winds down, urgency kicks in, and they scramble to meet their goals.
Don’t think too far, I have a personal example. In November 2023, as the Product Marketing Manager at the EduFintech company where I work, I developed and ran a sales-led marketing (Black Friday) campaign for one of our products that made up for 53% of paid users and 24% of the total revenue generated in the ENTIRE YEAR— all in ONE month!
Granted, I had only joined the company less than 3 months prior, but the point still stands. As end of year approached, the reality of not hitting the company’s revenue goals became more imminent, and “just like that”, creativity took over, and the rest is a beautiful piece of history that’ll now forever be etched in my portfolio.
To be honest, a similar sense of 11th hour urgency canvassed the team in 2024, although sadly, I can’t say that the 2023 “magic” did a comeback.
So, for starters, the 12 Week Year book tackles this menace with one of it’s hottest takes:
YOU NEED TO DISCARD ANNUALIZED THINKING!
Uhmm, say what now? Yup, you heard it!
What that basically means is that your goals and plans should no longer be structured with the entire 12-month calendar year in mind.
Truth is, being someone that often questions social constructs, this was very appealing to me.😅 Cause you see, Time is Natural, but Months are (largely) Psychological…as we have them today.
Here’s an idea, (because I like to show off my Product Marketing skills), let’s conceptualise this book like a product that I’m trying to get you to adopt.
Ready?
Introducing The 12 Week Year: A Productivity System for High-Performance Execution
Core Offering/ Positioning Statement:
The 12 Week Year is a high-performance execution system that helps individuals and teams achieve in 12 weeks what others do in 12 months. By shifting from traditional annual goal-setting to a focused 12-week cycle, this system eliminates procrastination, increases urgency, and drives consistent execution.
Here’s how it works:
1. The Problem: Annual Goals Lead to Delayed Action: Most people start the year with ambitious goals (new year new me?), but without immediate pressure, they slow-roll execution in the early months. As deadlines approach, they scramble to catch up, leading to last-minute stress, rushed work, and missed opportunities…then because there’s always next year, what happens? We go again! Cycle successfully repeated.
2. The Solution: The 12-Week Year Creates a Sense of Urgency: Instead of a 12-month timeline, this system condenses goal achievement into 12-week cycles, making each week as impactful as a traditional month. The result?
No more waiting until year-end to act—execution starts immediately.
Shorter deadlines create focus, ensuring that only high-impact work gets prioritized.
Teams and individuals work with a heightened sense of accountability and momentum.
3. The Outcome: Shorter Cycles, Better Results: By working in compressed execution windows, users experience:
Sharper focus—Fewer distractions, no wasted time on low-priority tasks.
More consistency—Every week contributes directly to the end goal.
Real-time tracking—Regular check-ins ensure continuous progress and necessary adjustments.
For clarity, let’s drill a bit deeper using the Value-Benefit-Feature Messaging Framework:
✅ Value
Achieve your most important goals faster—with clarity, focus, and measurable momentum.
You get to experience real results in less time.
It transforms high-level vision into tangible execution, helping professionals, creatives, and teams consistently close the gap between intention and action.
Ultimately, it builds a lifestyle and mindset of ownership, urgency, and high performance.
💡 Benefit
You stop procrastinating, stay focused, and execute with consistency.
No more “starting strong and fading out.” You build weekly habits that push the needle.
You create a rhythm of action that makes progress visible and motivational.
It helps you ditch the overwhelm of annual goal-setting by giving you short-term wins and real accountability.
⚙️ Feature
A 12-week planning and execution system based on behavioral science.
You plan and act in 12-week cycles instead of 12-month timelines.
Includes built-in tools for weekly check-ins, scorecards, and accountability structures.
Prioritizes high-impact tasks, short deadlines, and measurable goals.
We can sum it up by saying:
Because the 12 Week Year gives you a behavioral-based system to focus and act in short, high-intensity cycles (feature), you build consistent habits and avoid procrastination (benefit), which means you achieve meaningful results and hit your goals in a fraction of the time (value).
Why It Works
The 12 Week Year system is built on behavioral psychology and performance-driven execution, ensuring that goals are set, actually end up getting achieved. It’s a framework for dreamers (like me), who want to be doers, it’s creatively designed for professionals, creatives, and leaders who need to move fast and deliver results.
From practical accountability strategies that shift the focus from punishment to ownership, to breaking the illusion that no matter what we plan for the year, we will somehow miraculously achieve it all—down the line… the 12 Week Year truly rethinks how we approach execution.
It (is the product that) finally solves the JTBD (jobs to be done) of everyday 9-5ers, side hustlers, and believers who know that dreams only work when you WAKE UP!
“Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months.”
Would you buy in?
Keep Breathing.
Jisike!💪🏾