The Importance of a Planning Week Each Quarter

Welcome back to day 1211 of my journey in the diary of a Runpreneur. Today, I want to delve into the significance of setting aside a planning week at the end of each quarter. If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe, share, like, and comment - every engagement helps us get closer to our ultimate goal of raising funds to save the lives of children through my upcoming ultimate ultramarathon challenge. You can find all the details and how you can get involved via the link below.

As I prepare for my meeting tomorrow with my business partner, Jack Wicks from the Social Housing Group, it struck me how vital planning week is for our operations. We, like many businesses, operate in quarters throughout the year. Each quarter is made up of 13 weeks, and we use the first 12 weeks to focus on performance and project execution. The 13th week is where the magic happens: planning week.

During planning week, we take a step back to prepare for the transition between quarters. Right now, we’re on the cusp of quarter four, which kicks off in the first week of October. This week is especially crucial as it helps us get ready for the next set of challenges and opportunities.

In the business world, and even in personal life, distractions are a constant challenge.

Opportunities, relationships, and various other elements can easily divert your focus from your ultimate goal. This is where having a structured approach like the twelve-week year model becomes invaluable. This model encourages you to break down your long-term goals, whether they span five, ten years, or just one year, into manageable quarterly chunks. Then, you break these quarterly goals down into weekly tasks.

For example, when setting up our twelve-week model, we start by looking at where we want to be at the end of the year. From there, we reverse-engineer our goals, factoring in exponential growth as we progress. This method involves assessing our achievements each quarter and making the necessary adjustments for the upcoming one.

Our twelve-week year model hasn't been fully in place this year, but from 2024, it certainly will be. Despite this, we still evaluate our goals and projects during planning week. We assess what we’ve achieved in the last quarter, determine whether we’re on track for our end-year goals, and plan our projects for the remaining quarter.

An essential part of this process is the "parking lot" – a space where we store all ideas, opportunities, and projects we don't have the capacity to tackle immediately. This list is reviewed every quarter, allowing us to prioritize and decide which items to implement next based on our workload and progress from the previous quarter.

Working with Jack, who excels in building relationships and business development, means I often get bombarded with new opportunities daily. To manage this, we have a process where he fills out a form for each new idea or relationship he wants to explore. This information is then stored in our operating system's project's parking lot, which we revisit during our planning meetings.

The beauty of planning week is that it allows you to dump all your ideas in one place, so nothing gets forgotten. It provides a structured approach to evaluating and prioritizing tasks, helping you stay on track with your long-term goals.

From my perspective, structured goal setting and progress tracking, such as the twelve-week year process by Brian Moran, have revolutionized my approach to achieving goals. The model has significantly enhanced my productivity both personally and professionally. It instills a system where my team and I can collaborate, leveraging each other's strengths and keeping us all focused on our shared objectives.

Remember, everyone has a limited capacity for what they can handle in life. Without a process to store and review opportunities, you risk forgetting valuable ideas. Implementing a structured goal-setting and progress evaluation model can exponentially increase your productivity and help you achieve your long-term goals.

I hope you found these insights helpful. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line – I respond to everyone. Don't forget to give this post a like, share, and subscribe. Every bit of engagement brings us closer to raising more funds for our cause.

Thank you for your continued support. Stay positive, stay happy, and I'll see you again tomorrow.