Figuring, 12 Week Years & Freelance Income
Every single time I try to define this newsletter, I write one or two issues, then get stuck because I’ve placed myself into a box that no longer has the allure that it initially promised.
And so, I’m here to report that I’ve given up on trying to fit this particular creative outlet, and by extension myself, into a box.
I shall no longer proclaim from the mountain tops a structure or an outline, a rhyme or a method. Intuition tells me that for this to become what it’s supposed to be, I need to get out of the way. What I am going to do is show up throughout the week and write. That's it.
In the first few pages of Figuring, Maria Popova writes:
We spend our lives trying to discern where we end and the rest of the world begins. We snatch our freeze-frame of life from the simultaneity of existence by holding on to illusions of permanence, congruence, and linearity; of static selves and lives that unfold in sensical narratives. All the while, we mistake chance for choice, our labels and models of things for the things themselves, our records for our history. History is not what happened, but what survives the shipwrecks of judgment and chance. Some truths, like beauty, are best illuminated by the sidewise gleam of figuring, of meaning-making.
Here's to figuring - may we continue to become ourselves.
If we're friends on Twitter, you probably saw that I finished reading The 12 Week Year and have since published my Notion template that facilitates the planning and tracking of 12 week year goals, weeks and tactics.
It's a very simple system that uses the shorter period of 12 weeks to make goal achievement more manageable. Here's a quick breakdown of the main points:
Envision your life in 12 months, 3 years and 5 years. The more compelling the better. Refer back to and refine your vision as much as you can.
Set your goal(s) for the next 12 weeks. Keep them simple and SMART.
Add tactics or the critical actions that you should do to move closer to achieving your goal(s) over the 12 week period.
At the end of your week, give yourself a score which is the percentage of tactics that you complete each week.
Participate in a WAM (Weekly Accountability Meeting) with a friend to share your progress, give feedback and to remain accountable.
My 12 week year began on Monday 4th March and I'm excited to say that this is my 4th week!
While this system may not be the best fit for everyone, these are a few reasons that I think it's been working for me:
I am highly motivated by visual cues like progress bars. As the week goes by, my mind remembers how far along the progress bar is and it keeps me on track with focusing my time towards the specific tactics that I've set for the week.
It keeps me focused. I tend to dive down multiple rabbit holes through reading and via YouTube videos on a daily basis. New ideas manifest and shiny objects vie for my attention. One thing I know about myself is that I have a tendency to jump ship QUICKLY but not since I started the 12 week year. Because my goals are few, specific and contribute to my vision, jumping ship would mean abandoning this vision. My vision is not trivial, this is quite literally my life and I refer to my vision board everyday. I also have a very vivid anti-vision that I would do anything to prevent from recurring. Focusing on the current week's plan keeps me grounded as I move closer to my vision becoming reality.
In the past, I had difficulty determining the critical tactics that would move me closer to specific goals. I didn't put enough research or contemplation into these actions and would instead just go along with the most obvious answers that came to mind. The 12 week year has made me think deeper about choosing the right tactics for my goals.
I like to see the full breakdown. With this system, I can see exactly what I did on both a weekly and big picture goal scale.
I'm also working on a template for fellow Tana users. While there are no progress bars, Tana makes it absolutely seamless to add new weeks, tactics and cycles while also being able to see an overview of everything on the same page.
Weekly Recap
12 Week Year Score: 84.6%
Reading: Slow Productivity, Agnes Martin Paintings, Writings, Remembrances, A Simpler Life
Rabbit holes: Agnes Martin, Anarchism
Published:
Taking the Non-Linear Path
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For most of my life, I’ve followed the rules. I’ve always coloured within the lines, checked the pre-determined boxes, and walked the path expected of me by family, teachers, friends, colleagues, and society at large. I assumed and hoped that walking a secure path laid out by those who came before me would lead to a life of abundance and fulfilment. Sur…
Launched:
Behind the scenes: Freelance journey
Transitioning from full-time employment to self-employment has come with its challenges and rewards. Consistent monthly income has been the biggest of these challenges, especially at the beginning of my journey. Whenever I can, I want to share updates that are as transparent as possible for anyone who is on a similar journey as I've found these insights invaluable from other freelancers.
This 12 week year cycle, I set a goal to increase my monthly income to $1500 USD. I thought that this would be manageable and optimistically set out to an excel sheet where I broke down my current offers and services, their prices and goal amounts of sales for each.
I'll share a screenshot of this at the end of the month when things are all tallied up but I cannot believe that I am close to surpassing my goal. I am truly in awe and wish that I did this from the start of my journey. Just the act of breaking down what I wanted to focus my energy towards this month made a huge impact on my mindset and overall approach to making income online. So, my freelance takeaway from the week is:
Make a list of your current offers and their prices. Set a ✨ realistic ✨ goal for the number of sales that you’d like to make in a given time period. Fill the gap to meet this goal. This may involve developing a new marketing plan for your offer, joining a platform like Upwork or even re-evaluating the pricing of your offer - maybe it’s too high or too low. Either way, there’s a time crunch so you need to figure out how to put this puzzle together quickly. This means that you should only be working on the most critical tasks to get you closer to your goal. Ask for help, speak to other freelancers and experiment to see what works. Even if you don’t hit your goal, I’m sure that what you learn from this exercise will be invaluable moving forward. It certainly was for me.
Excited to see what the future holds!
Speak soon,
Renée.
Love this newsletter packed with info and very relevant to me. Thank you for sharing all of that. You say that Tana doesn’t have progress bars yet your screenshot shows %. Did you just manually add it from what Notion was showing you?
Having a Northstar is so important. Something to refer back to on a daily basis: A strong why. Otherwise, as you put it, we are liable to stray. I enjoyed reading this.