Newsletter › #13
The 12 Week Year | Updates to the FIRE University Community
【What I've been up to】
Hi, Reader.
Happy New Year!
Did you go out for New Year's Eve?
Or did you stay home like me?
I meant to go out,
but by nine I just wanted to sleep.
Age catches up with us all, ha.
However you celebrated,
I hope you get to spend every special day with the people you love and the people who love you.
On January 1, I went with friends from the FIRE University community
to a screening of the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert at Weiwuying.
It was a bit chilly in Kaohsiung that night, but watching
the concert from far-off Vienna on the big screen
was still a wonderful experience.
Thank you to the friends who invited me.
【FIRE University book club | A big update】
To make learning and conversation more effective,
I've split FIRE University into three chat rooms.
Use them as you need; you can also join just the sub-rooms.
1. Main room: FIRE University | Lounge
For: chatting, sharing your life, announcements.
Purpose: getting to know fellow listeners.
2. Sub-room: Library | Book club
For: the book club, reflections, book recommendations, personal growth.
Purpose: building knowledge and mindset.
3. Sub-room: Business School | Investing
For: investing, money tips, financial planning questions.
Purpose: focusing on money and investing.
It used to be limited to the book club;
now there's a lounge where everyone can talk.
It will open to listeners and readers too,
and I hope it brings together more people who share our values.
I'd love you to join us
in the FIRE University Lounge (in Mandarin)
to learn and grow together.
【Book share】
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months
- Authors: Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington
Another book I wish I'd read years ago —
I really wish I'd known this idea ten years earlier.
The Chinese edition came out in 2023,
but the English edition was published back in 2013.
It strengthened my motivation to get better at English, yet again.
As 早安傑森 (Good Morning Jason) once said,
if you can read English,
you'll find that many topics that have recently taken off in the Chinese-speaking world
already took off in the English-speaking world years ago —
like funnel marketing, Atomic Habits,
and today's book.
Back to the topic.
As I write this, it's January 3, 2026.
Do you write down new goals each New Year?
I used to write new goals at New Year,
and by around March, after the Lunar New Year,
I'd have forgotten them.
The next year I'd do the same, year after year.
Why?
This book gave me a big insight.
Thinking of goals in terms of a year
makes you believe you have a whole year to reach them.
In January,
December seems a long way off.
In March,
you're not too worried — there are still nine months to catch up.
It's exactly this thinking
that lets us procrastinate until year-end.
We think we have plenty of time,
and lack any sense of urgency.
We don't realize that every week matters,
every day matters,
even every moment.
So effective execution
happens every week, every day, every hour.
“The 12 Week Year”
means setting goals to be achieved within 12 weeks.
A year has four 12-week cycles.
Then in week 13 you take a long break
and prepare for the next 12 weeks.
When I interviewed Will Huang, he mentioned this too:
his annual plan works in 12-week units.
The book uses the example of Olympic athletes.
For top Olympians,
the moment that decides whether they win gold
isn't on the field of competition.
It's the training years and months before
that has already decided their level on the day.
Benjamin Franklin said:
“Take care of your minutes, and the years will take care of themselves.”
The gold medal is just a result — a lagging indicator.
The leading indicator
is the training every day.
So from this year,
I've switched my annual plan to 12-week cycles.
My three goals for the first 12 weeks of 2026:
1. Earn the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) certification
2. Create a podcasting course
3. Redesign the FIRE University website
Every goal should start with a verb.
You don't need many goals in each 12 weeks —
one to three is enough.
And for each goal,
set its own leading and lagging indicators.
For how to put it into practice in detail,
see this video by 薑餅資:
Try a new way of planning — The 12 Week Year (in Mandarin)
Or just go read the book.
This week's episode
#59 | Why a high income doesn't guarantee financial freedom: The Psychology of Money #1
A janitor who left US$8 million and a Harvard MBA who went bankrupt. What limits your freedom is not what you lack but what you have to keep paying for.
Read the full show notes in English › (the episode is in Mandarin Chinese)
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That's it for this issue of the FIRE Life Weekly.
If you have any questions about the show or the newsletter,
just write to me at doug@firetw.com.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Have a lovely day,
and see you next time.
Doug