The premise is simple but powerful where it shares that you can 4x your results not by working harder, but by thinking differently about time. The authors argue that most people fail not because they lack knowledge or motivation, but because they fall into “annualized thinking.”

And this is so real!!! We tell ourselves we have plenty of time to achieve our goals… until December hits and we realize the year’s almost over. So their solution is we should stop planning in years and start planning in 12-week cycles.

Because when every week counts, so does every action.

(Listen to the episode HERE)

The book emphasizes that knowledge alone doesn’t drive progress because it’s your actions that does.

You can have all the information in the world, but if you don’t use it, it’s wasted potential!

When you focus on 12 weeks instead of 12 months, you create:

If you can’t produce meaningful results in a week, what makes you think you’ll do it in a year? This shift helps you trade vague “someday” goals for focused, weekly execution because that’s where real progress happens.

In this system:

This naturally forces you to narrow your focus and act with intensity.

It’s perfect for big goals like:
🏠 Saving for a down payment
💼 Building a business
💰 Paying off debt

For me, my 12-week focus is on growing Spicy Sunday Finance, scaling my content, and continuing to build my dream career in personal finance. Your “breakthrough vision” (as the book calls it) is the foundation. It keeps you grounded when things get tough.

One part of the book that stuck with me:

Your thoughts shape your actions. Your actions shape your results. It even dives into the neuroscience behind this by going into how we can literally rewire our brain (thanks to neuroplasticity) by repeatedly visualizing the life we want. The more you believe your vision is achievable, the more your brain aligns with the habits that make it real.

Here’s my current 12-week “year” leading into 2026:

I track everything on my Notion template, which looks like below but essentially I’m checkmarking my gym days, when I ate out, my reading days, and the days I posted. Each week, I total my score out of 14 and calculate my completion percentage.

If I fall short, I know exactly where to improve next week. Oh I’m also not selling or having this Notion template available, unless you want one! Just message me on Instagram and I will send it to you!

Now that I’m not in school anymore… I feel like I don’t read as much anymore. To keep my mind sharper, I’m trying to read more pieces of writing on either growth or personal finance info. 😉

My current book read that falls with my book goal for my 12 Week Year plan is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. Sleep is really important for me to understand because I’ve also been diagnosed with narcolepsy so working my life around it has been difficult. This means, trying to understand the concept of sleep so that I can do more to enhance my life, allows me to balance my life and work. Can’t wait to share what I learn from this book soon!

If you’ve been feeling stuck or overwhelmed by long-term goals, try thinking in 12-week cycles. It’s short enough to feel urgent, but long enough to make real progress. There are just under 11 weeks left until 2026 — but who care if it goes into the first month of January! I suggest think about some goals you want to achieve and then either time it for 2026 or just start NOW.

If this newsletter got you motivated, I’d love for you to:

Until next time — keep spending intentionally & living richly. ✨

Cheers,
Jane