56 days out of 84, and the results… Drum Roll please

Hello Sirrrrr,

I know what you're thinking.

Vision boards suck.

56 days ago I knew what I wanted to do in 2024.

but I didn't know what to do first.

"I have all these goals, but I don't know which to choose so I try to do all of them." (and do none of them.)

Man that's frustrating.

It doesn't need to be that way.

create a vision board they said, it'll be fun they said.

Try this concept of the 12 week year.

it creates daily urgency.

it's almost April.

Most people aren't living as urgently as in January, but you are. And that's why I'm writing this to you, because I know you care. I know the next 12 weeks do matter to you. You have vision, you have goals. Now it's time to prioritize and plan what you'll do on a daily basis to be closer to them by the end of this year (June 23rd) time's ticking... What are you doing today that's getting you closer to where you say you want to be?

You know what I hate about college?

After 9 years it never taught me how to organize my life.

I'm a competitive person

I love to win.

In college I had tons of external structure that helped me do what I needed to do. I also knew how to "win the game" of college. (Good grades)

What college didn't do for me was give me a structure to win the game of business and life. Here’s how I failed over the last year. My hope is that by sharing this with you, my friend, you can get from floundering to structure faster than I did.

The Big Problem:

I had so much structure being in college:

The times I needed to be at school: Set

How to win: Grades A = Success

I love learning so it was fun for me.

Doing what was required (plus a little) and I'd increase the value of my experience, so I did that too.

I knew I wanted to start a business rather than get a job after I finished college. but It took me till the summer before graduating to start something.

Now I had a business, (success!) which meant I went from all the structure to none. (boooo)

I could schedule my detailing clients for whenever in the week, but what would I do the rest of the time?

I began with having the first half of the day be scheduling (calling and texting people) the second half was learning about SEO, and building my website. (using coursera to educate myself on that concept)

After a month of that I realized that I wasn't very good at keeping to that schedule. I started doing Jui-jitsu. I recognized a part of what I was missing, (and I needed) was a schedule to live within. My total freedom was actually making me unproductive.

"Total freedom is false freedom, true freedom has healthy boundaries" - Accidental Creative

Doing 3-5 classes a week gave me deadlines even if I was home all day. It also gave me an outlet for my physical energy, and got me into flow state frequently. It was like playing chess with your body. Taking tremendous thought, strategy, and physicality to be able to execute the strategy.

This freedom allowed me to invest in my own growth. So I said yes to a lot of things:

January: I flew to LA for Chinese new year to be with my sister in law and her family.

February: I went on a weekend trip to Santa Cruise.

March: I flew to LA for a Personal development seminar called Reveal with GAP community. then flew to Florida to visit my brother and sister in law for a baby shower. (2 week trip)

April: Mens retreat, which was a weekend trip.

April: Invested in a 2-day course in mobile detailing and ceramic coating installation.

May: Day trip to bodega bay with friends.

June: Flew to LA for Awaken with GAP Community (about 10 days)

July: Flew down to LA for a weekend for the final Seminar of the series.

August: Weekend retreat with Bridgeway Young Adults.

September: Missions trip to Spain walking the Camino.

October: Went to Florida for two weeks. (exploring Miami)

November: LA for Thanksgiving

December: Drove to LA for Christmas

Every "yes" has a cost.

In July of 2023 year was when I started recognizing the cost of saying yes to almost everything. My lack of focus on one thing was my weakness. It was my dad saying to me what I had always thought. "you have so much potential, but you're so unfocused it won't let you go anywhere. Focus on one thing first, then do all the other things."

It hurt to hear in the moment, yet I needed to hear that.

I started to list out my priorities and see them for what they were. Everything I said yes to meant I was saying no to things in northern California. and to my business and to my friendships up here.

I quit.

July 2023 I quit doing jiu-jitsu. recognizing that although it was good it wasn't my highest priority. (it was number 10 on my list) But I had been investing in it like it was 3 or 4 on my list.

In September 2023 (while in Spain) I recognized how fast a pace I was keeping. And chose to:

• Slow down a bit this next year. (2024)

• Focus on my business

• Travel for a weekend every other month.

Try that out for this next year, and see how that work for me.

What I learned in Spain in 106 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-_kntYVPtA&ab_channel=DanielBaarns

In November I was invited to join BNI. (which is a business networking group) by joining this group I formalized many things in my business.

• formed an LLC,

• opened business bank accounts

• business insurance

• business license

All things I'd wanted to do, but being in this environment gave me the push to formalize all these things.

It also gave me the structure that I needed to thrive. It gamified it's metrics, which helped me realize, something about me...

I LOVE gamifying things. If I can measure something and say "I was successful" I love that.

This Structure of a weekly meeting, also means that I'm grounded to be here almost every Thursday that I can be. I meet with other business owners on a weekly basis. I have a community of people who are in the same position I am. We're figuring this game of business out together and get to learn from and help each other.

This Group also introduced me to my business coach Hooman Ghazanfari with Ghaz Coaching. https://www.ghazcoaching.com/

Three things made a huge difference over the last 63 days

1. Working with a business coach

2. Joining BNI (business networking

3. Executing the 12 week year

Why Should you use this system?

Why is the last quarter of the year so productive?

Most people will measure the success or failure of their year on December 31st.

What if that date was march 23rd? (like it was for me)

Or now June 23rd. That's only 12 weeks away. 85 days away.

This system gives you daily and weekly feedback.

It gives you self accountability.

The only form of accountability that actually works.

12 week blocks > whole year plans

you get to celebrate 4 times this year, not once at the end of the year. (way more fun)

I finished my first 12 weeks and here are a few of the things I accomplished:

Business - I detailed 86 vehicles in the last 90 days

Mental - Listened to 16 Audiobooks

Spiritual - Memorized romans 8:1-20

Family/Relationships - Flew to LA and to Florida to visit my family.

Personal - Published 7 newsletters (8 with this one)

What's measured Gets done.

For the first time I knew what my most important priorities were on a daily basis.

If something is important then you'll find a way to look at it, and keep it top of mind on a daily basis.

Business (three things) - 20 conversations a day, post on Instagram, create offers

Faith: Invest 15 minutes praying every day (then evolved to reading the bible instead)

Writing: write for 30 minutes each day (to publish a newsletter each week)

What's amazing too is now that I did these things for 8 weeks, I've realized what I need to adjust for the next 12 weeks. this whole structure is not set in stone, but is a framework to help me become all I'm capable of becoming. And I LOVE that about it.

I also just did my first day of reflection after doing the 12 weeks, and although I thought I was aware of what I'd done.

I had no idea.

Writing all the things I did over the last 12 weeks was insane.

It gives me so much energy for the next 12 weeks to see what else I can do as I make small adjustments to my priorities. now I can adjust and do something a bit different, and by doing that I'll be even better in the future.

The law of 12’s and 13’s. (newsletter coming soon)

Structure is necessary for growth.

This the end of my first year, now I have a second. And to say I'm excited about it is an understatement.

I've learned to say no to good things that weren't what I wanted. and I'm finding more and more of the person I am and the interests I have, and that has been such a joy.

A significant aspect to this is focus. I had developed a vision board for this year:

I know what you're thinking.

Vision boards are stupid.

Hear me out.

They are stupid if you can't see how your daily activity are helping you create the life you've put on that board. If you are taking daily and weekly action towards what you put on there, then it is motivating to see.

What the 12 week year forced me to focus on the things that were most important and actually write out, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO. (today)

I couldn't lie to myself anymore: "I felt like I did a bunch for my business." did I make 20 phone calls, post on instagram, and create an offer? Y / N (circle one)

It's that simple

It's that hard.

It's made me recognize that it's the daily activity that matters most. that's tough especially on days that I don't want to do anything. Yet seeing how much I accomplished this last year, while there were multiple weeks where I was only at 70% of my goal activity. (the idea is to stay above 85%) yet to still have SO much traction was incredible.

I failed. (hitting my goal)

Yet it was still so helpful.

It helped me see that 20 conversations a day, wasn't always realistic.

I detailed 15 vehicles in one week. But I had 20 conversations about my business only 1 day that week. It was ironic to be detailing, yet still feel like I was "failing" because the measurement was accounting for calls, not vehicles detailed.

I've now adjusted to 100 phone calls per week, 10 minimum per day (usually doable in about 30 minutes if I get through to 2-4 people which I often do) with the goal being 100 conversations in the week. And yesterday even though I detailed 2 vehicles inside and out and was physically working from 8-12 and 1-6 on the two vehicles I was still able to make 10 phone calls after wards. (in 35 minutes)

It feels so much more managable, and I can make progress even if I can't make more than that. Calling is also a muscle for me, and I want to keep training myself to get better and better. that's only done through repitition.

what are your top three priorities over the next 12 weeks?

If you don't know of the top of your head, the chances of you accomplishing them are very low. If you don't have a plan and a way to measure your results the likelyhood drops even more.

What I'd recommend is to try this concept of the 12 week year. it creates daily urgency. and it's almost April, most people aren't living as urgently as in January, but you are. and that's why I'm writing this to you, because I know you care. I know the next 12 weeks do matter to you. You have vision, you have goals. Now it's time to prioritize and plan what you'll do on a daily basis to be closer to them by the end of this year (June 23rd) time's ticking... What are you doing today that's getting you closer to where you say you want to be?

"if you can't identify today something you're doing to create a better tomorrow, you won't have a tomorrow, just a longer today" - Keith Kochner

Where to start:

1. See your daily actions as levers.

2. Watch this Youtube video explaining The 12 Week Year (and apply it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wQhRRWPqFE&feature=youtu.be

3. Download the notion template for The 12 Week Year and fill it out. https://digitalmakers.club/products/12-week-year-notion-template

4. Join a weekly Weekly Accountability Meeting. (if you’d like to join one with me DM me: https://www.instagram.com/danielbaarns/)

5. Schedule your daily priorities for this next week. (if it’s not in your calendar it probably won’t happen)

6. Execute the plan even when you don't feel like it. (there not that much time till jun 23rd)

Bonus: Read the book/listen to the audio (there is a free version available on Spotify & Youtube)

Develop a vision for this year:

https://danielbaarns.beehiiv.com/p/created-compelling-vision-board-2024-even-youve-never-made-one

Monday is the start of the 2nd year.

I have 4 goals for this next 12 weeks: Romans Writing Revenue Russian. (june 23rd is the deadline)

IF you join a weekly WAM you’ll know exactly what those mean.

As I'm writing this I am going to be laying out exactly what the plan is to make these things happen over the next 12 weeks. They all take effort and thought and energy. But the life I want to live takes these things. So does the life you want to live. You're goals are different, but the ideas I've shared here if applied could have this year be so different from last year.

My challenge is this. Act as though this will work if you implement every part of the system. And do it. do the system. It won't be perfect, it will help you progress. See you in 12 weeks.

P.S. None of this is a life sentence. As you take action you will gain more clarity. Take the action and adjust.

P.P.S. Need a vehicle detailed in the Sacramento area? Click here to follow my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarnsdetailing/

Click here to reserve a time to have your vehicle detailed: https://calendly.com/danielbaarns/detail-appointment