Annual Goals Are Broken

Most people set ambitious goals on January 1st and abandon them by February. The problem is not willpower. The problem is that twelve months is too long a horizon for the human brain to maintain urgency.

Brian Moran formalized this insight in The 12 Week Year. His core argument: redefine your "year" as 12 weeks instead of 12 months. Compress your most important priorities into a 90-day sprint. The urgency changes everything because the deadline is always visible on the horizon.