13 Week Roadmaps

Now it’s time to map out the year. Don’t get intimidated, this will be easy.

There are 52 weeks in a year. Divide 52 by 4 and you get 13. Hence, the 13 week roadmaps. But there’s more to it than just math. Research has shown humans aren’t very good about planning far into the future but by breaking things a whole year down into quarters, we are much more capable of visualizing and executing our plans.

As you can see, we are starting to focus on the goals we want to achieve this year. To keep us accountable, we need to be sure we’re staying on track throughout the year, and that our tasks are bite-sized enough that we can actually complete them.

Let’s say this year you want to start an online business from scratch. Your four 13 week roadmaps could look something like this:

13 week map #1: decide on business name, website url, branding, and get an LLC
13 week map #2: begin website development, research seo, create social media pages
13 week map #3: launch website, publish content, share with friends & family, grow social media to 1k followers, set up payment processing
13 week map#4: finalize pricing of items, determine shipping costs, launch online store, create ads, start making a profit
As you can see, the big goal of creating an online business from scratch is simply broken down into 4 sections that will allow the person to achieve the goal by the end of the year. Again, this process not only keeps us on track, but makes us feel as though our goals are achievable.

Just make sure when you look at each 13 week roadmap, you feel as though you can complete the listed tasks. And keep in mind, you may want to leave yourself a little buffer room. If you find you need more or less time, just schedule accordingly.

Now that we have an idea what the year looks like, it’s time to get specific on what the next 13 weeks look like.

Here is where the Best Self Journal really comes in handy. The journal is literally built for 13 week roadmaps and it does a really good job providing you with the tools you need to stay on track.

Having it on paper every day helps fuel more motivation to achieve your goals.)

Essentially, you need to identify what big goal you want to tackle by the time the 13 weeks is over. Then, you will write down 3 progress goals that if reached, you will hit your goal. From there, you will break each progress goal down into 3 daily actions that will enable you to reach your progress goals.

If it sounds confusing, it’s not. You can do it on a simple sheet of paper , or you can purchase the Best Self Journal to really keep you on track.

Here’s an example of what this step looks like based on an example from Best Self. Let’s say the goal is to make $25k for your product launch by the end of the 13 weeks. The first thing you need to do is identify 3 progress goals that will help you get there.

Progress Goals:

I will increase my website traffic by 20%
I will increase my sales conversion by 15%
I will increase my email list by 5,000 subscribers
Now you’d curate 3 daily actions based on each progress goal.

Actions for progress goal #1:

Create an editorial and social media calendar
Create outreach process & contact 10 bloggers/week
Hire a part-time content creator/writer
Repeat this for progress goals #2 & #3