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The 12 Week Year — Chapter-11: Intentional Imbalance
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Chapter 11 Intentional Imbalance The 12 Week Year is powerful and life changing. Although the bulk of examples we use in this book address the application of the 12 Week Year for your business, it applies equally well in all areas of your life. One challenge most of us face is balancing our time and energy—between work and family, community service and recreation, exercise and relaxation, personal passions and obligations. Too much time and effort spent in a single area can create burnout and a lack of fulfillment overall. You can start to feel as if one area of your life is draining your energy, stealing your joy, and subverting your real purpose in life. It’s no wonder so many people are seeking ways to regain balance in their lives. “The challenge of work-life balance is without question, one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.” —Stephen Covey If taken literally, the phrase life balance is something of a misnomer. It is natural to think that the goal of life balance is to spend equal time and energy in the various areas of your life, but in reality, that is not practical and it would not necessarily create the life you desire. Trying to spend equal time in each area is unproductive and often frustrating. Life balance is not about equal time in each area; life balance is more about intentional imbalance. Life balance is achieved when you are purposeful about how and where you spend your time, energy, and effort. At different times in your life you will choose to focus on one area over another, and that’s perfectly fine, provided it’s intentional. Life has different seasons, each with its own set of challenges and blessings.
“There’s no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.” —Jack Welch The 12 Week Year is a terrific process to help you live a life of intentional imbalance. Many of our clients use the 12 Week Year to focus on a few key areas in their lives and gain new ground. Think about what could be different for you if every 12 weeks you focused on a few key areas in your life and made significant improvement. Think about your health and fitness. What might be different if for the next 12 weeks you made a commitment to improve in this area? One option is to set a 12 week goal in this area and build a 12 week plan. In this scenario, you would identify a handful of tactics that you would execute on a daily and weekly basis over the next 12 weeks. Your plan may include tactics like these: Do 20 minutes of cardio three times a week. Train with weights three times a week. Drink at least six glasses of water each day. Limit calorie intake to 1,200 daily. The other option is to again set a 12 week goal but, rather than building a tactical plan, you identify a keystone (or core) action and commit to completing it for the next 12 weeks. In certain instances a full plan works best, while in others a keystone commitment is most productive. What about your relationships—your spouse or significant other, family, and close friends? You can use the 12 Week Year to build better relationships or create more romance or intimacy with your mate. How might those relationships be different if you committed yourself to making real progress over the next 12 weeks? This can be as simple as making an action commitment like having one date night or family night a week and following through for the next 12 weeks. It truly is incredible what you can accomplish in just 12 weeks when you commit to a specific action. Consider other areas like your spiritual, financial, emotional, intellectual, and community life. Maybe it’s time to get out of debt, or finish that degree you put on hold. Perhaps you’ve been thinking about writing a book, starting a foundation, or learning a new language. You might not be able to
complete goals like these in 12 weeks, but you can sure make significant progress. Breaking your bigger goals into 12 week segments allows you to not only make consistent progress, but also to celebrate the milestones along the way. When you are making real progress you feel greater satisfaction, feel more fulfilled, and stay motivated to see the project through to completion. To decide what to focus on, start with your vision, then rate yourself in the seven areas of life balance (i.e., spiritual, spouse/partner, family, community, physical, personal, and business). I like to use a scale from 1 to 10 to rate my level of satisfaction. A score of 10 is the best that I can be in an area—in other words 10 is “great,” by my definition; conversely a score of 1 would be “terrible,” by my definition. Notice that I am using my definition of success and satisfaction as the basis for my assessment. If you are single, for example, and you are happy with that, you might score yourself a 10 under the key relationship category. Each of these areas is either a source of energy or a drain of it. Think about it: If your work life is stressful, full of uncertainty, and unfulfilling, it is bound to affect your personal life. However, if your career provides you a nice income and you enjoy what you do, that creates energy and momentum across the other areas, and will have a positive effect. The 12 Week Year has the power to increase your income and material wealth two-, three-, or even fourfold. It also has the power to help you experience the same magnitude of improvement in any area you choose. Apply the 12 Week Year to all areas of your life and be prepared for some amazing things to happen! Be encouraged!
Part II Putting It All Together Part II provides additional insights and captures more than a decade of learning about what it takes to consistently apply the fundamentals of execution. We provide proven tools, templates, and tips to help you apply the 12 Week Year in a powerful way and achieve your goals. “A year from now you’ll wish you had started today!”