Not a new year…a new quarter
Well, we’ve reached that time of year again. When we look forward to another trip around the sun and begin to think about what we’re going to do with this time to make the best of it. But what if we didn’t think about it in the traditional sense, and started to think about it as a new quarter?
Side Note: I will be sharing my 2022 plans next week with races and goals!
But let’s rewind to the question I just posed. A number of years back I was introduced to the concept of “periodization” to break up my year and allows me to approach the time ahead in a much different way.
So What is PERIODIZATION?
When we look at a year and start to think about a timeframe that is as long as 365 days, we’re likely to do a number of things. One might be making a plan that is just too big and too far out to actually accomplish. Another is having so much time on our hands that we begin to procrastinate and put things off, before we know it our plan is just put to the side YET AGAIN.
Periodization is something completely different and a great part about it, we can celebrate four New Years every single year. I know, you might be thinking what is Brian talking about yet again. But let me explain how this works.
In a year many businesses have four quarters. Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 are periods of time they break their plans and financials down allowing them to have shorter periods of time they can not only look at to figure out what’s working and what’s not, but also truly go after their goals.
This might sound foreign and if it does, I recommend the book a 12 Week Year. It changed my life and view point. In short you break your life up into four quarters as well, once again being the CEO of YOUR life.
Each quarter consists of 13 weeks…13 weeks x 4 quarters = 52 weeks in the year
Now we take our ultimate goals and break them down into more manageable goals that we can actually complete in a 12 week period, not allowing us to procrastinate and push them off to the side anymore. Week 13 is then a 7 day period to relax, reflect on the 12 weeks of work you just put in, and celebrate your accomplishments as well.
Here is an example that comes to mind. Let’s say right now you’re not very strong and your health is a problem, but you have a goal of completing a 13.1 mile half marathon by the end of the year.
Q1 - Start to walk more and build up to longer distances with power walks to get your heart rate up and blood flowing more.
Q2 - Jog a little bit and build your way up to completing a 5k (3.1 miles) in your area. Don’t rush this, just do it to cross the finish line and gain some confidence.
Q3 - Begin to jog more and even run a little bit as well. Sign up and complete a 10k (6.2 miles) race in your area.
Q4 - Work your way up to jogging and running 11 miles during your training runs and complete a 13.1 mile half marathon to show your chronic illness who’s boss!
Now this is just a very quick example, but a blueprint that we can all use to break down our plans more and figure out how we can reach our ultimate goal. Now we don’t have time to put things off because we only have 12 weeks to complete them. All of a sudden we build up and Q1, Q2, and Q3 are completed. Now we’re ready to take on our Q4 plan without thinking “how am I going to do this?”
Why Not try out periodization?
So try out periodization and don’t let the “New Year” bring your mindset down. Don’t think about what am I going to do over the next 365 days, think about what you’re going to do over the next 12 weeks. Before you know it, you’ll be making great strides in so many areas of your life.
Want to talk about periodization more? Have some thoughts you’d like to share? Please comment on this blog post and let’s connect. I’d love to hear and help with your 2022 plan quarter by quarter.
