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Unlocking Unparalleled Productivity with Brian Moran: Mastering the 12-Week Year System

• Courtney Twiss • Episode 27

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Transform your productivity and get ready for an eye-opening discussion with Brian Moran, the mastermind behind "The 12-Week Year." On this week’s episode of the Now Podcast, Brian—an esteemed CEO, entrepreneur, consultant, coach, and New York Times bestselling author—shares how you can revolutionize your planning process and achieve more in just 12 weeks than others do in 12 months. We unpack the captivating journey of his book, initially self-published and now a global sensation, and delve into the core principles of his groundbreaking system. Discover how Brian’s focus on execution over mere knowledge can propel your personal and professional growth.

Gain actionable insights as we explore how to master the 12-Week Year system by honing in on key objectives and simplifying tasks. From tactical planning to time blocking, Brian reveals how to distinguish between essential tasks and less critical to-do items, offering a blueprint for unparalleled productivity. We also discuss the flexibility of starting the 12-week cycle at any time and the powerful benefits of leaders learning alongside their teams. Don't miss out on learning about the "Uncommon Accountability" book and exclusive training programs that further enhance the framework's effectiveness. This episode is your ticket to achieving excellence and transforming the way you and your team work.

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Speaker 1:

mention about yourself and or your business, and then we'll just dive in Probably about 20 to 30 minutes if that works for you.

Speaker 2:

That's great. Yeah, you don't need to turn it over after the intro. Just let's just dive in. Let's just do it. Yeah, whatever you say is fine. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So welcome to the Now Podcast, making Moves in Real Estate, episode 27. Courtney and I are super excited about our guest today. He has over 30 years of experience as a CEO, corporate executive, entrepreneur, consultant and a coach. His background as a corporate executive, combined with his experience as an entrepreneur, positions him with a unique skill set to help individuals and organizations grow and prosper. His corporate experience includes management and executive positions with UPS, pepsico and Northern Automotive. He is a recognized productivity and execution, which we know I love that word expert. Motivational keynote speaker, widely recognized leadership thought leader and New York Times bestselling author. Please help us welcome Brian Moran to the podcast. Widely recognized leadership thought leader and New York Times bestselling author. Please help us welcome Brian Moran to the podcast.

Speaker 3:

We are so excited to have you on here we are.

Speaker 1:

So this guy I heard about you from my financial coach, matt Plummer, and he is the co-author of this incredible book, the 12-Wing Gear. Buy it now, right now, before we even get into the nuts and bolts of this, but I want to know where this came from. Let's start with that.

Speaker 2:

You know that's an interesting story. So we had been working with clients, primarily in financial service, a little bit in real estate, and we were headed to a conference as a vendor for financial services, for leaders. And I said to my business partner I said you know what shiny shit are we going to hand out at the booth, kind of stuff, right, yeah? And so I pulled down this little book and was like, hey, let's just write a short format book. I'd been thinking about writing a book, talked to ghost authors, didn't like that process. I said let's just write a short format book.

Speaker 2:

So we had 12 weeks to write the book and so we worked on it. We wrote this book in 12 weeks. We went down to Kinko's and self-published, which is like, okay, so how many of these do we print? Do we print 50? Do we print a hundred? We didn't want to print a hundred and bring some back, right, but we did. We printed a hundred. We gambled if you would, went to the conference, we sold them for 10 bucks, gave a few out and in the next year we sold like a hundred thousand copies of that book. That was really the precursor to the book you're holding in your hand. And then Wiley, this big publisher, heard about it, wanted to publish it. We got a chance to expand it, but we literally wrote the book in 12 weeks and we just documented what we were doing with our clients. But it changed our business, changed our life. It's now it's like a million copies sold, 15 languages. It's been incredible.

Speaker 3:

Well, and on top of the book, obviously, just through your website, there's so many tools and workshops, and we're both signed up for the virtual, the virtual Nice, which we're very excited about.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, awesome, that would be awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so this book, I mean I read it. I want to say probably in three days, and I was about halfway through it and I was like I got to get this guy on our podcast and I sent a message and I got a response. I'm like I didn't even told her about the book. You bought me a book, yeah. I was like oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

Now that's a good friend.

Speaker 1:

They probably have one, yeah oh yeah, we're besties and business partners, but I got you on the podcast right away, which I'm thank you so much for your time, because this is incredible. So I immediately was like God, I'm coming on our podcast, read this book. I implemented this July 1. So it's pretty intense. Can you tell our listeners about the program?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so everything we do is designed to help our clients accomplish more of what they want faster, and our focus is on execution.

Speaker 2:

We figured out a long time ago it's not what you know, it's what you apply, and so most people have all kinds of great ideas, but they keep searching for new ideas, new techniques, new methods, new ways to get listings right All this stuff and the fact of the matter of the matter is, if you just did more of what you know more consistently, you'd be healthier, you'd have better relationship, you'd make a lot more money, and, and so our whole focus is how to implement, how to execute the 12-week year as an execution system, and one of the barriers we found to executing at a high level was the annual environment.

Speaker 2:

Yet no one had ever questioned it. But we started to work with the fundamentals that really drive execution, high performance, and we were getting good results. But it was still in that annual environment, and which means there were annual goals and annual plans broken down quarterly and monthly, that type of thing. But the problem was, you know, in January, everybody's excited, everybody's thinking best year ever, and you get to the end of January, though, most people are behind, and yet nobody's worried.

Speaker 3:

Oh, we have all this time ahead of us.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, we got 11 months in front of us. So and that and that mindset permeates the year, just because it's too long a timeframe. But no one had ever challenged it. And we came across a concept in athletics called periodization, and it had some fundamental tenets that we borrowed to move beyond athletics, to work in a business setting, to work in a personal setting, and that's really where the 12-week year was born. So we had been working with the fundamental disciplines of drive execution.

Speaker 2:

What the 12-week year did was it became like rocket fuel to it, because now, with 12 weeks, there's you know, that runway in front is not so long there's a clear line of sight to the deadline which causes us to behave differently. So we don't stress out at the end of the year, but we work with more consistent urgency, week in and week out, and that you know. 12 weeks is a long enough time to make incredible progress, but near enough where you don't lose sight of that deadline, and so that's a real key piece. It's a different mindset, right, it's a different way of thinking about how you work and live your life, but the more you can live it 12 weeks at a time, the more effective you are.

Speaker 3:

Isn't? It Just seems more attainable. I think, with Michelle and I, we have had independent brokerage and we were introduced to the EOS model with traction and it feels, although that's annual with quarterly goals, this is to me it feels like that on speed or like it's just like right up our alley, because it's. I like the structure of it, but I love that you're just focused on the 12 weeks and you're going to be on the next 12 weeks. I just think it's so brilliant.

Speaker 2:

So the mindset here is the 12 weeks is the year and people go well, that's cool planning. No, it's not a quarter's a fourth of a whole. The 12-week year is the whole, and there's just this one, followed by the next one, and the more you treat it as a year, the bigger impact it has on your actions, the bigger impact it has on your results. We're actually going to go deep in the webinar. You signed up for that workshop on that whole concept because you know 90% of life is between your ears. So how you think about time, how you think about your performance, really matters.

Speaker 3:

Can I one of the quotes that I literally just finished your book this morning because Michelle just got it for me. That's good, I'm fresh, I'm fresh, I'm really excited about it. I was traveling to a conference to speak at this weekend, and so I was filling out all my plans in the book on the airplane and I love it says that most of us have two lives the life we live and the life we're capable of. Never settle for anything less than what you're capable of, and that just resonated so much with me.

Speaker 2:

We all are. Yeah, that's what the 12-weekers are all about is really living that life you're capable of.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, your. What got me off the gate was 12 weeks represents one year, one month represents one week and one day represents one week.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, one week is like a quarter, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And so when I read all of that, I just and she can attest to my um like going into the month of July, I was like I mean, this level of like I have to get these things done every day, every week, and I've been measuring my I only had one good week, by the way, but it just compels me to this like fierce.

Speaker 2:

There's a, there's a uh a process to it and you have to learn the process. But one of the things that happens is the 12-week year if you're using it properly, should greatly improve your performance but lower your stress, and the reason is is because a lot of stress is created when we're not doing the things we feel like we should be doing, and most people are trying to do everything which you can't do. The 12-week year is going to focus you down to a few things and you're just going to be more consistent with those. But the person you know 10 times as successful as you isn't working 10 times as hard or 10 times as long. They're probably working less, but they're working different.

Speaker 2:

So some people hear the 12-week year, they think I'm going to cram everything I do in a year into 12 weeks. No, no, no, no. You're going to accomplish potentially what you did in a year in 12 weeks, but it's not by doing more. It's probably by doing less, but it's being more consistent with the things that really matter. So that intensity you're feeling is not a bad thing, but as you get into the rhythm of the 12-week year, that's going to calm down. That's going to become this kind of calm piece of how you operate, where you're more in flow. But right now it's all new for you and you know that 12-week year concept isn't like flipping a switch, because everything you've done is annualized, everything around you is annualized, the whole world's annualized. It's going to stay annualized. But when you can we talk about? Don't be so annual right. Don't be so annual redundant, be a 12, right. The more you can live your life in 12 week years, the more the richer life is.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't agree more. I mean, I know she can attest to my laser focus on two things instead of like six. Right, it's two things and the tactics for those two things are pretty clear. And you're right that it has made it very simplified, in the manner of like what I need to be doing. But it's a work in progress because she can attest to my measurement. It's a little messy.

Speaker 2:

That's all right. Well, it's smart of you. Yeah, you're learning it. Yeah, I mean it's part of the learning process, but there's a cadence to the 12-week year and how we work and how it operates. That's all right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there you go. It's a combination of manual and technical.

Speaker 2:

We have some software. We'll get you on the software. It'll make it easier to track it. But you know, when you're trying to do six things, we all have limited capacity and you don't have the capacity to do six things. Well, I mean, we were with companies that have a hundred thousand employees. They, they, don't have the capacity to do six, six things. Well, um and and so what happens is you're mediocre at all of it, you're overwhelmed, you're stressed out. There's no momentum, there's no fulfillment. In that, the 12-week year is like let's be great at a few things versus mediocre at many, and 12 weeks goes by pretty fast. So it's not that we're saying no to that stuff. Yeah, we're just saying not now. And then, at the end of those 12 weeks, we'll celebrate the progress, we'll reassess and regroup and we'll lock and load for the next 12.

Speaker 3:

Well, and I like also having that scorecard where you're measuring the execution to achieve those three goals I think is so critical. You can come up with a plan as all you want, but if you're not measuring it every week and saying, hmm, am I hitting at least 85% of what I need to be doing?

Speaker 1:

But it's also not having 18 tactics for one goal right.

Speaker 2:

Right. Right, it's the least number. We call it the critical few. Now, some goals require that many, but if you get it done in five, you don't need six. If it takes a dozen, don't make it 13, right? So it's really thinking through what are the highest payoff activities that I'm going to focus on that are going to get me to the goal and then, just as I said earlier, being more consistent with those.

Speaker 1:

What would you say? What is your biggest piece of advice for the? I know for us and a lot of real estate agents specifically, allowing distractions to steal our time is awful. I mean, it's probably, in my opinion, the number one hurdle that we have to overcome. What is your advice on trying to overcome that?

Speaker 2:

I think that's true for most people, and so part of that is why you need to have a very specific goal and a tactical plan. Most people's plans are tactical. They're conceptual Concepts, don't execute. So you mentioned score in your execution. That's worthless unless you have a tactical plan.

Speaker 2:

Distractions is understanding what matters most, and then we use tight blocking system to carve out time for that, because if you're getting that stuff done, it doesn't matter if you get distracted at other times, it doesn't matter what you do times, as long as the important stuff's getting done. Each, each and every week you're going to be where you want to be, and so you know we don't stress over that. But there is a. You've got to train yourself to work on the stuff that's most important, because it's uncomfortable and so getting your getting yourself to do those things consistently. And then and then what happens is the marketplace shifts right. All of a sudden you don't get a commission for for bringing a buyer right. I mean the whole marketplace shifts and you start over again, but that's why. That's why having a plan that's different from a to-do list is so important for bringing a buyer right. I mean, the whole marketplace shifts and you start over again, but that's why having a plan that's different from a to-do list is so important.

Speaker 2:

I got all kinds of stuff on my to-do list. I don't care if I get to it or not. What I care about is did my plan get executed this week? Because if that happened, I had a great week and all that other crap. If I get to it, fine. If I don't, it's fine.

Speaker 1:

The to-do list is always going to be there. That's the thing about the to-do list. It keeps growing, it grows and grows and grows. It's relentless. So that's this past month of me really trying to be specific on the tactics, and the time I've seen how it will pay off. It's just a matter of refining it and getting better. So I'm really excited to join the virtual training. Can you tell us about what we can expect?

Speaker 2:

yeah. So we're gonna, we're gonna unwrap the whole system, each discipline and the mindset that goes with it so you get a real good feel for how it functions as a system. Because the tendency, honestly, is to pick pieces of it that you like, and you know, I like the vision stuff. I don't like the measurement or I love the analytics. I think the vision's fluff. When you apply it as a system, you get better. We've worked in virtually every industry, every walk of life. If you apply it as a system, you get better. And so we want you to really understand why it works so well as a system. So the tendency isn't just to pick the pieces you like. I mean, you pick the pieces you like, you'll get some benefit. But the real benefit comes, you know, when you install it as a system.

Speaker 2:

Because the one system that everyone needs that nobody has and this is including these mega billion dollar companies we work with is the execution system. You have a selling system, you have a marketing system, you have a servicing system. We have a marketing system, we have a servicing system, we have a technology system. You don't have the execution system which drives everything else. So everything by default is sub-optimized. And so when you really understand the 12-year as the execution system it's kind of the foundational system Then as you install that and you lean on that as the marketplace changes, that change becomes easier. I'm never going to say change is easy becomes easier because now you've got a platform to just plug and play right, we build it into the plan, we've got the system to execute the plan and measure it and know what's working, know what's not working, know where to make adjustments, and so now we're able to move as the marketplace shifts and we move quickly and we profit from it sooner. So we'll throw a milkshake.

Speaker 1:

You mentioned the part of business and specifically change, and that was one of the things that I put on my notes to ask you about the five stages that people move through emotionally when changing their behavior. So that's another part that when you said, pick pieces that you liked and didn't like, I did not. I did not pick this piece Because it was emotional the five stages. So it's obviously really important.

Speaker 2:

Whether you pick it or not, you experience it. So I think it's helpful to understand. You know, because we all go through that, how deep the valley is depends on how big the change is. And you know whether you go through it once or whether you go through it three or four times in 12 weeks. But if you're going to grow, you're going to go through discomfort because you're going to have to do things you haven't done before, which every time you do that, there's a level of uncertainty, there's discomfort, there's anxiety.

Speaker 2:

That's why you got to apply it as a system, because there's pieces in that that, in spite of that, the system will help you take the action, and not perfectly, but take the action more consistently. And what happens is is now you start to see some of the, some of the results come online, which comes, becomes self-reinforcing, Whereas otherwise what's happening is you know results are an instant, so you do these activities, the results don't come, and now you go well, I need to do something else. And so people jump from activity to activity, activity, never sticking with it long enough to produce any fruit.

Speaker 3:

I could definitely see myself being one of those people, a little bit of a restless spirit, which is why we part you know, partnered up over the years. We kind of balance each other out. But I want to touch on this system a little bit, because we have a team and many of our realtors that listen have a team or a brokerage. Would you recommend that you learn how to do this yourself first before you try to sign up for the package that you have on your website where you can train your team or do what I would be learning with our team, like what's the best approach when you're trying to help others do it as well?

Speaker 2:

The first thing I'd recommend is you get personally trained in it. You know versus, you can try and read the book and you can get online tools. You know less than 5% actually complete an online program, let alone apply it. So if you're serious about it, you know, get trained by us. We have two tracks. One is for individuals, the other is for someone that has a team, because as a team you have two roles. You have you go and apply it as a practitioner and then you also have to train it and coach it.

Speaker 2:

You learning it first. You can do it that way. It doesn't have to be done that way. Sometimes, when the entire team's learning it, as a leader, you're more on the hook to learn it because you can't bail, because the team's right, the whole team's going to pull, and the day you don't feel like doing it, the team's still doing it. So it isn't one way is better than the other. We've had groups where the leader does it first and then we bring the team on. We've had other groups where the leader learns right along with the team. I prefer the latter because some of the dynamics that I just spoke about, but either way I'd say you know, do yourself a favor make the investment, get trained properly so that you can really leverage it Okay.

Speaker 1:

We've been real successful on. You know, like Ramsey, we, you know we we became financial peace university. You know we used to be coaches for that Profit First. We were relatively good at that. So this I feel like I'm 100% a fan of. And I'm only one month in, so we'll see.

Speaker 3:

Now that's what gets harder, I imagine, later on, when you start going. Oh no, I'm on week 11.

Speaker 1:

And if you're not there yet, you've got to keep going I've been beating myself up because I'm like oh, I went on vacation last week and I'm behind and I haven't hit. You know it's, it's it I mean.

Speaker 2:

So that's where you get trained, because if you're taking a vacation, nothing comes to. I mean, life isn't about work. You're working so you can take vacations and enjoy things and you get fulfillment from work. So what you'll learn is how to plan for that.

Speaker 1:

We take a ton of time. It's built into our and implemented it July 1. I love it.

Speaker 2:

I love it. That's great. That's what the 12-week year is about. Let's start now. Let's not wait around. Because, the marketplace isn't waiting.

Speaker 3:

No, the marketplace is definitely not waiting. We have had quite an interesting marketplace this last couple of years and it's looking like it will continue to be interesting. So I think something that I believe our listeners should know what the beauty of this is. We no longer have to wait till the fall, or even January, for many realt to make our, our strategic planning Now.

Speaker 2:

Your 12 weeks can start today, and I think that quarterly, people feel like, well, I got to get a start to being in a. No, you can start in the middle of the month. In fact, the more you do that, the easier it is to get out of that annualized thinking. There's a quarter book. We didn't write it, but it's quarter book in our book. We didn't write it, but it's a quote in our book that I love.

Speaker 1:

It says a year from now. Your wish to start is today. I could see that. Oh, 100%. I mean, I wish I would have started it at the beginning of the year, but I'm like, well, at least I didn't wait until next year. Now's the right time, yeah, yeah, I don't actually that's time to start is now.

Speaker 2:

So the great thing about the 12-year it doesn't matter, right? You don't need to wait.

Speaker 1:

That's the whole key. I don't think that I'll go back to the annualized thinking for sure. So that's also a win. But there's another book Periodization 12 Weeks to Breakthrough. Is that the second book?

Speaker 2:

No, that was the precursor to this book. That's the book that we wrote self-ublished. You can't even buy. You might be able to buy that on ebay. You know people try and sell them still, but you've got. You've got the right book.

Speaker 1:

It's the 12-week year oh okay, because I was like I saw that somewhere and I was like where does that fit in?

Speaker 2:

so yeah, I know that's the first. If you notice this book's in two, the first part is very much like the original book we wrote. Yeah. And then we do have a second book called Uncommon Accountability.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that one. So when I signed up for the virtual training, there was an option to get this one or that one, and I got that one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, great, you're going to love that. Yeah, especially as a listener.

Speaker 1:

How many copies of this book have you sold?

Speaker 2:

A million. It's in 15 languages, it's crazy.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you have a podcast. What else A?

Speaker 2:

million, one with you. How about that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there you go. A million two, two books.

Speaker 2:

There we go. You each got your own.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah. So what else? You have the, the book. You've got the website with the programs. You have a podcast, anything we're missing?

Speaker 2:

I don't do like that. So we have all kinds of resources, from online to live workshops and trainings. We do a 12-week year training. That is really, if you're serious, you want to get into it. It's called accelerators. We have one for individuals, one for leaders, and then, you know, we do some live events here and there and mastermind that kind of thing. But those are the starting points really, the accelerator workshops.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I have to ask and you can turn me down, but if we ever had an event, which we had one this past summer in Fresno, we plan on doing it every single year. Would you ever entertain speaking at an event of ours?

Speaker 2:

I do it a lot. Yeah, in fact, I'm leaving town tomorrow to speak at one in Atlanta.

Speaker 3:

Perfect.

Speaker 2:

Reach out to Judy figure it out, that's right, wow.

Speaker 3:

Well, I think you're fantastic. Where, where can our listeners find you? Are you on social media?

Speaker 2:

12weekyearcom. Yeah, 12weekyearcom is the easiest place you can find us on social media on all the platforms. Don't ask me. They is the easiest place you can find us on social media on all the platforms. Don't ask me. They're all different though, you know. So you can either search Brian Moran or Brian Moran 12weekyear, 12weekyear you'll find us.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Congratulations, man. Like that's all I got to say. Huge success. We appreciate you helping us.

Speaker 2:

All right, so we'll see you in the upcoming workshop. That sounds like.

Speaker 3:

The 13th, I think Is it the 13th, it is.

Speaker 1:

August. Yeah, we'll see you soon, Thanks.

Speaker 3:

Brian. All right, yeah, thanks, brian, appreciate it. Bye, bye, bye Bye.