Achieve more in 12 weeks than most do in 12 months (in your career)

Because when I first started in business and I started in 12-week blocks or 90-day blocks because when I first started in business and I started in network marketing one thing they recommended was using these 90-day game plans and I found it gave me structure , created , I guess , an end goal and something to follow every day .

But recently I've started diving deeper into how the academy works and all the programs that I offer , which has now been completely stripped back , and I guess that may even be a separate episode to talk about some of the changes that I'm excited about moving forward for this quarter . But I started thinking okay , why is it so powerful ?

And I stumbled across an incredible book called the 12-Week Year and if you haven't read it , I would highly recommend reading it .

But I'm going to share some of my biggest takeaways , but also some other things that have helped me radically transform my life by using these 12-week efforts or these 12-week sprints , so that I can achieve more in 12 weeks than most people do in 12 months . So let me ask you a question have you ever felt stuck ?

You're setting out goals , but somehow you're not making progress . At the start of every year , a large percentage of the world set a New Year's resolution okay , a goal to make their life better , and the meaning of that is unique to the individual . But throughout the holiday season , people start feeling super optimistic . Right , we've all been there .

The weight of last year's goals gets lighter and the idea that this is my year sinks in . It's incredible what a holiday can do for your mood and your mindset . The problem with optimism is it doesn't guarantee success . It just helps you expect a better outcome . Roughly 72% of workers are not happy .

Their workload is too high , they don't get on with colleagues , work hours are too long , work is monotonous and lack of control over schedule . I can relate to all of those things . That's why I decided to work for myself and I was in that boat for ages .

But the reality is that the price that I paid for a stable salary and , I guess , potential job security was that there was a trade-off . There is always a trade-off , just like there is working for yourself . But that's what works for most people Actually , 28% they like that . Right ? You look at the numbers . The numbers don't lie .

The pain isn't enough for most people to change . I know it took me to hit rock bottom to make a change . And if you're part of that 72% , be aware that you spend 40 hours a week at work , roughly 25% of your time . We have 168 hours a week and 40 of those , for most people , are spent at work .

So if you're unhappy at work , there is a high chance that it's influencing your home life and your social life . This isn't a newsletter about why you should work for yourself , because I don't believe everybody should .

It's about how you can achieve more in 12 weeks than most people do in 12 months , whether it's in your career , your relationship or your lifestyle . I want you to stand out , just like I wanted the younger me to stand out . You will need to be patient , consistent and to make this process your own . This is a process . It's easy .

The challenge you will face is personalizing it , problem solving , adapting and embracing failure . Right , you're going to have failure on this journey . If you can commit to that , then continue to listen on . The first real challenge I encountered with goal setting was not being realistic .

I set goals like I want to make a million dollars in a year , and this was back when I was coming from like a $40,000 a year salary , so pretty big difference . Right , I will squat 160 kilos and be 8% body fat . I wrote a newsletter on this a couple of weeks back , if you'd like to read about that , and I will fly my family overseas .

I've budgeted what that looks like and it's around $22,000 for what I want to achieve with that . Reading them out , they are huge goals , but every goal I set required me to level up .

You can either look at goals and miss them and adopt the belief that you're a failure , or give the meaning that you're a failure , or you can do what I did and if you miss the mark , you just go . Okay . What did I not do or what do I need to do more of in order to continue making progress to the life that I want to live ? Right ?

Life is a journey . It's not about constantly hitting outcomes . It's the process of understanding things better , learning to become efficient , developing your identity and building your identity . Sorry , so every year I was failing and I guess the big thing was I actually never truly started .

Within a few weeks I was often overwhelmed , I'd lost focus and I'd moved back to my day-to-day grind . I wasn't happy , but it was easy , it was comfortable , it's what I knew . It was around that time , sorry , year after year went by until I was fed up , I was broke , I was hated my life and I didn't see a future that I enjoyed .

And I know that I'm not alone in this . I know there are many people who listen to this show who can relate to that .

It was around that time that my buddy presented me with a quote unquote opportunity , and I took a while to think about it and I realized hey , there's not too much to think about , lockie , I hate my life , so any opportunity you're getting right now is probably worth trying . Right , do something different .

And it was the act of doing something different that radically transformed my life . It was during this experience , as I mentioned , that I started learning about these 90-day game plans , or , as I call it in the Small Academy , the 12-week game plan .

I like to change the name up , make it my own , but the focus of achieving 12 months progress in 12 weeks , one goal , one plan , 100% focus . I won't lie . It took me , I would say , around seven game plans before I finally completed one .

Life would always find a way to get in the way , and over time I built out my focus success system , which has helped me complete around 31 game plans since , and I'm very excited to have opened up the waitlist for the focus success system Now with that one . It's my system .

However , what I help you do is design your own success system , because we are all unique . We need to develop our own systems , but I'm going to help you see some key things , think for yourself and understand how you're going to build that for your life and for your goals .

So the wait list the link will be in the bio there or , if you subscribe to my newsletter , make sure you get on board that there . So , since completing those 31 , I don't recognize my life now .

People often ask about why I use a 12-week game plan and I want to break it down for you . It has truly been one of the keys of my success over the last decade and it's something that you can implement . By the end of this episode , you will have a better understanding of why and how it has set me up for success .

I want to show you how you can achieve more in 12 weeks than most people do in 12 months . I thought to make it more interesting and for me to hold myself accountable . I can use examples for my next goal , which is kicking off on Monday .

I'm going to be documenting it over on X , aka formerly known as Twitter , if you want to follow along , and the reason why I'm using that platform .

I've recently really enjoyed it a lot more , just because I feel like on Instagram at the moment , there's a lot of people posting nice videos and photos , but you're not really getting to the essence of the individual , of how they're thinking , etc .

And I'm in a period in my life where I want to understand things more rather than just seeing everyone talking about the same shit on a surface level . And I found a good community over there where people break things down well and complex ideas in a way that I can understand .

So that's why I'm doing that over there , if you'd like to come over there , same as my Instagram handle at Lachlan Stewart . So there are a few key points we're going to run through . First one use a 12-week timeframe . Okay , I had never , as I mentioned at the beginning , really thought about the power of a time frame .

I just adopted it because I was doing it when I was in sales , and when I read the 12-week year , it helped me understand it better . Setting a 12-week goal creates a sense of urgency , but it also allows you to make enough real progress to gain feedback on .

The most common goal-set is a smart formula , which we all know it's specific , measurable , achievable , relevant and time-bound . We have that in our game plan and we use that within the Strongman of Value Academy there as well . But , for example , my goal is to earn $20,000 in 12 weeks by selling or through sales of the Focus Success System .

Okay , so the specific is earn $20,000 selling my online course . I know how many units I do based off the price . How is it measurable ? Well , through the KPIs that help market it for one . But then I track sales and I track revenue to see if the KPIs that I'm doing are working well or they're not . Is it achievable ?

Yes , based on my pricing strategy and marketing plan . I think it's extremely valuable for the investment on it and the way that I'm marketing it . I truly believe in that plan . Is it relevant ? Well , yeah , it really aligns with my business growth objectives and I shared this on the call this morning with our Academy members .

The reason why I am driving this course for the next 12 weeks , as opposed to one-on-one coaching or things like that . While I was on the road with my wife's band , we had a lot of late nights and quite often when we're driving around the United States , we had black spots of no Wi-Fi and no signal .

So it made it very hard for me to always be on time for my calls and I don't want to be unreliable . So , rather than obviously just not taking on any more clients at all , I can just batch them to a time where I know I have a day off .

Or , alternatively , because I want to continue growing my income and growing my business , I've created this and I'm going to test that out for 12 weeks because , once again , I have a lot more travel coming up over the next couple of months , so it's really relevant to me right now .

It's probably the biggest pain point in my life right now and the time bound deadline . That's it . It's a 12-week deadline Monday , september 23rd so a key part to making a timeframe work is scheduling weekly check-ins and monthly reviews and sticking to them . So obviously , for those of you who are in the academy , we do that . We have our weekly calls .

But to hold yourself accountable right To accept responsibility for your own accountability set things in your reminder on your phone . So what I look at is utilizing the note section in my iPhone .

I utilize the calendar section , so that's how I map out time to achieve the tasks that need to be done , and then I use the reminders to schedule the things that I need to do . So if I know every Friday that's when I would like to do my weekly check-in .

I do that , and it's important to have in some check-in questions , which I'll share with you in a moment . But the most important thing is I could not tell you how many times that I've scheduled things in my calendar and I would skip them because I thought I had more important things to do . Reviews keep your goals in sight , right .

There's no veering off track for a few weeks or adding additional tasks to distract yourself . It helps you keep the main thing , the main thing , and that was game changing for me .

So when you if you're like I was and you do start listening and scheduling these things in , but then it comes time to do it and you get a better opportunity or a better offer that you feel . Make sure you reschedule to do that , because the reviewing part has been one of the , if not the most powerful thing in my week .

So here are my weekly review questions that I'll share with you and , once again , this is what's working well for me at the moment . They have changed and if you feel there are better questions for you , use those instead . So question number one what feedback can I take from achieving my one thing this week ? Question two how was my mindset this week ?

Question two how was my mindset this week ? Question three how am I using my time ? Can I use it better ? So they're the review questions . Often this will lead to me becoming more efficient , because I'm reviewing and seeing what's lagging or not right . So you don't really have a goal if you don't have a structured plan to follow .

A lot of people and it was actually something that I recognized today , which I'm going to put into our game plan was there wasn't space for the main tasks within the plan , in our game plan .

So it's something that I'm updating and we've had this game plan for like four or five years and when I went through it today and I was talking about it , I was like man , I don't even have space for the dude's plans .

Like , obviously we have the calendar part , but how do I help them identify what those key tasks are , so that way you can build the plan ? So while I'm writing this , I'm spending this whole week , as I was writing this newsletter , to fine tune my plan for the goal above , and it requires planning ahead .

So I'm thinking about things like upcoming travel as I said , I've got a lot of that coming up . Upcoming events I've got a workshop in Australia and a few other functions coming up . Potential obstacles that can get in the way and , for me , a lot of the time that is having committed to too many things . So I've pre-done 15 weeks of podcasts .

I have cut down on a lot of things that I'm doing and I'm focusing solely on the academy , the men who are in there , but also , from a sales standpoint , the focus success system . So this helps me with setting that realistic plan and breaking it down into manageable steps .

So , for instance , my plan to reach $20,000 in sales involves incrementally increasing the price of the course , with starts at five sales each . The reason why I've done that and not everyone has to do that but I did that because I had a minimal , viable product , meaning something that I believe is good enough to get out into the market .

That I have planned to update every couple of weeks and , as I add the upcoming modules , the people who have already purchased . So there's a little hint if you get in early , why it's at the price it's at Now , you're going to get immense value because it's going to triple in price and you'll get access to all of those modules as well .

So I had the timeframe to do that , so it'll be fully completed within the next six weeks and it will be at full price within the next six weeks . So that is all scheduled out . So I know how I'm going to track that KPI and I have already covered that part . But finally , it's really important to set those realistic goals .

Changing too many things at once leads to the feeling of overwhelm and so many people quitting Focus on one or two key changes and build from there . Build until it becomes a habit and don't , I guess , believe the bullshit around . It's 21 days or whatever it is . Everyone's different , everyone's discipline is different .

Their focus , attention , chaos in life is different . So do what works for you until it becomes something that you just naturally do . And , sorry as well , add a little bonus point here which isn't in the newsletter .

But if you don't feel like you're going to stick to that habit for a long period of time , it's probably not even a habit worthwhile developing , okay . So let's go to the second key point . Focus on the behavior , not the outcome . Sorry , I've got to keep drinking as well .

I was having a conversation with Hazley Cush , if anyone knows him , and he was talking about his vocals and how he does warm-ups before talking and obviously drinking a lot of water . And , um , my brother-in-law had vocal surgery from not warming up and hurting his throat .

And I'm like man , I always have a sore throat , uh , and if those of you have listened to enough episode , you might notice I do a lot of like because my throat gets really dry and sore . So I've started introducing a warm-up and I've got my drink bottle here just so it stops doing that , I guess , and I'm learning from the masters .

But anyway , back , focus on the behaviors , not the outcome . That's probably a good example . Don't allow motivation or inspiration to fool you into thinking the deal is done . So building your 12-week game plan is the first thing , but it's not the only thing . Backing it up with action is a whole different thing .

I couldn't tell you how many people tell me what they're going to do and then the next time I catch up with them , I'm like hey , how are you going with learning the guitar ? Oh , I haven't got around to it . I haven't had time . I go hey , man , how's the running going ? Oh man , I've been working long hours . I haven't managed to get it in .

Yet I'm like okay , interesting , a lot of people love to talk the talk , but they don't back it up . There's a great quote by Aristotle we are what we sorry . We are what we repeatedly do . Excellence , then , is not an act but a habit . So build those excellent habits .

Identify the key behaviors that will help you achieve your goals . For example , to sell my online course , I need to consistently engage with my audience and provide value . This includes and this is what I've written down and I'll get feedback right . If I fall short , I'm going to know hey , those actions aren't the right actions .

But if I achieve it , I'm like cool , let's double down on that .

The actions are meeting 10 new people a day , whether it's face-to-face or social media , posting social content regularly and I have the numbers , I'm not going to bore you with the numbers Writing newsletters et cetera , getting those out weekly and doing these podcasts and making one call to action every day , inviting people to join my newsletter , inviting people to

purchase a program , simple things like that . So it's organic , not paid marketing for any of you who are sitting there going man , just spend some money on ads . No , I'm not doing that . I know what my goal is , I know what my goal is , I know what my vision is and I know how I'm getting there . So this is what we're doing .

This doesn't guarantee me to achieve my goal , as I said , but it will give me feedback , massive feedback , and , as long as I'm , I guess I'm making progress regardless , because I'm either working out what actions don't deliver or if my content needs to be better . My call to action , my hook , whatever it may be , but they're all needle moving actions right .

So it's keeping that main thing . The main thing Distractions are going to be the enemy of progress . Identify the potential distractions and do whatever you can to avoid them .

I'm noticing some spelling mistakes as I'm reading this Put strategies in place , and so a few things that I've put in place is activate do not disturb on your phone or computer while working . Another thing is have a small private room to work in . So that has been game changing , to be honest , out of all the things that I do right now .

For those of you who know me well , you'll know that my phone is always on do not disturb and I'll just check my messages or return phone calls when I feel like it , rather than having people interrupt , and that works well for me . It may not work well for you . You've got to do what works for you .

As I said , people , you can figure that out for yourself , but it's been absolutely game changing . Having the small private room removes a lot of the distractions , so one people aren't coming in and annoying me , but also being able to look right across the room and see a book and go oh , maybe I should read .

Or look at my guitar and go , maybe I should play , and you're constantly talking yourself out of doing the main thing . Right , and it's very easy to do . And to add to that is like dedicate time for the emails , for the social media and for the distractions and you can go back to managing your time properly and that works really well .

So I find , using the Pomodoro I don't even know how to pronounce that , but it's like 25 minutes on , five minutes off and you can do that on your Apple computer or your phone . Just set that up but it creates that sense of urgency , even with tasks .

Okay , consistency is king and it's better to do a little bit every day than try and do everything at once . Set a routine and stick to it . For example , I've committed to engaging with my audience at the same time every day . I'm training at the same time every day . It removes overwhelm and keeps me more consistent .

Okay , so I want you to track progress to see what's working and what's not working . Use tools like Apple Notes . I'm going to do some more videos at some point around how I've integrated . I was on Microsoft Teams but now I'm moving over Apple just because I like Apple a lot more .

It's a lot easier to use To write your keynotes or create templates for things like systems and emails . So all my outreach emails etc are labeled there and they're put into the notes section . So it'll work really well with that . Use the Apple calendar to schedule your time and reminders to prompt you for those important daily tasks .

It's been absolutely game-changing Reminders keep you focused on the key tasks , set reminders for the daily action and other to-do lists . For example , you can set a reminder to reach out to new potential customers every day , to go exercise every day , whatever it is . I essentially just idiot-proofed my process .

I get distracted , I lose focus and I fail goals all the time . So having that there to focus on the task has massively improved my outcomes . The final main step is to be accountable . So I'm always investing in new coaches for a number of reasons right , the accountability they have , the results that I desire , or their network .

I want to meet the people that they are connected with . And recently I recognized that you can't outsource your accountability To achieve your goal . You must own it . You must accept responsibility . Coach can be used as a reminder , but it doesn't impact them . If you're not doing what you said you would do , right , it falls back onto you .

So you can have them there to prompt a reminder , but you're still the one who has to be getting up and doing the thing that you know you need to do every single day , as you can tell by this episode and also social media , et cetera . I document a lot of what I do .

It helps me build the memories , to look back on for one , see where I was to where I'm at . That's a great way to be grateful and practice gratitude , but it also puts my goals out to the public . As a man who likes to keep his word , this puts an incredible amount of pressure on me to do the things that I said I would do .

But I love that , and not only do I share it with social media , but I share it with some of my closest mates , so I want people to know what I'm working on . It allows people to check in on me and ask questions that keep me focused on the task at hand , and by following this approach over the years , I've drastically changed my life .

10 years ago , I had under $800 to my name , I was in a job that I hated and I had just been broken up with . Today , I own multiple six figures , travel the world and am happily married . So I still use this 12-week game plan today , as I said , I'm starting one on Monday . If you're hearing this today , there's still 24 hours before the intake starts .

Thank you , guys , for reading this week or listening on YouTube wherever you're listening . If you did get value from the newsletter , make sure you drop me a note on social media or emails and share this , because sharing these ones , a voice , sharing these ones will help other men who are looking to improve their quality of life get value from this as well .

So just a quick update personal progress 19th of June to the 27th of June what happened ? So , personally started learning . I had some help by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen on guitar workshop . We've got three spots remaining for the August workshop .

Running last week was around 52 kilometers , which was cool , and have made massive progress on the Focus success system . What's coming up ? As I said , batching all the podcasts for the next 15 weeks , which is going to be awesome .

Give me some downtime to really once again focus on doing the main things that I need to do to achieve the goal that I've shared with you guys here . As I said , we're going on that cruise as well . That's next Thursday , so really pumped about heading to Miami , bahamas , dominican Republic , of course to do all those things .

Once again , thank you guys for tuning in . If you got value , make sure you share it with someone who will also get value .