The 13-Week Fallacy?

We have entered into the monotonous "keep at it," phase of this performance, where the brand new shiny layer of excitement that always coats a new project has sloughed away to reveal the underlying excrement comprising the daily grind. Have I mentioned that it's the middle of the 13-week quarter? The slumps are consistent if nothing else.

It's fascinating when you think about it. 90 days, 13 weeks, a quarter of a year. Both productivity planners I own divide progress tracking for goals into these same quarterly segments. Why? Is it to align with the fiscal work year? To make that sweet, sweet moolah selling 4 journals, which factors perfectly into 52? To align with seasonal changes...which differs depending on where you live? To truly build up consistency and discipline? Or is there another reason for this specific division versus, for example 60 days, 8.5 weeks, a sixth of a year?

"And if you're wondering why 13 weeks? A three-month horizon is short enough to curb procrastination yet long enough to reach real performance gains." - The Self Journal Guidebook

Is it though? Where's the research and data behind this statement? It's true that 3-ish months isn't a terribly long time, and oftentimes we say, "Wow, is it ___ already?" but it can also feel impossibly long, especially when we're in a slump. Why put greater emphasis on completing goals within a rigid timeframe instead of working to complete goals while helping an individual measure their rhythms and cycles? Is it because it's difficult to design a product to the latter, or does desgning such a product require too much effort?

I've noticed that, at least for me, the time frame doesn't matter so much as the size of the project. Writing almost every day to get caught up on journals, transcribing most days to get caught up on sessions...when I was lagging behind on these tasks, they still took me over a year each to complete. One of my three main objectives in every productivity journal I've kept has been dedicated to, "Get caught up on ____," and each time I tried and failed to complete the objective within those 13 weeks. It was irksome repeating this goal each and every quarter because it was a reminder of how I failed last time, and it felt like I wasn't accomplishing enough.

What exacerbated those feelings is that the daily pages are divided into 7 per week, which has had me quirking my head since the first journal I ever purchased. Are people supposed to be productive in some way every single day for the 90 days they're filling out these planners? I certainly tried to until the last journal of 2024, which only served to further enflame my frustrations.

"If you set the right 13-week outcome goal and then use your journal consistently to help you take the right actions--every day... you have a strong chance of achieving any realistic 13-week target that you set." - The Self Journal Guidebook

Yup. Every day.

On a base level, I understand the logic. Maybe someone is new to combating procrastination and actually finishing anything they've ever started. A 90 day journal could be great for that, to really hone a person's focus and get them to start building the necessary habits to complete the dream projects they've been putting off.

But it's neither efficient nor sustainable. Filling out 4 of these journals year after year without built-in rest periods or breaks does not account for the human condition. We aren't machines. Athletes, weight-lifters, the everyday gym-goer will tell you how important rest days are for muscle recovery and for preventing burnout. Even within the C25K app every week is divided between 3 jog days. The other 4 days are assumed to be rest days. Sabbaticals, school vacations, even the week I take off from blogging every so often are meant to give the mind a chance to rest and recover, but these journals don't account for that.

One of the pluses of the BestSelf journals, however, is that you can date each individual daily page and circle what day it is, making it marginally more fluid than the Intelligent Change planner. I say marginally because the pages are still separated into specific weeks between 1 and 13, but again, they're rigid in the sense that if you want to go from January through December, you're either filling out 4 journals back to back or filling out 3 and finding another way to track between the weeks you take off to rest.

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, if I've filled the appropriate date and day but little else because it was my day off, I feel as though I failed somehow that day, which chips away at my overall motivation. It's why for my days off I altogether didn't touch my last journal, reserving it for working days only, which resulted in a surplus of daily pages that kept me going long after the 13 weeks were finished. Honestly, at a better rate, too, I'd argue.

I didn't want to look back at half-filled pages and see nothing written for the "Today's Targets" and "Today's Goal" sections because it was my day off! I knew better! Heck, even leaving the "Notes" pages blank in previous journals discouraged me, which is why I began filling them with the sticky notes of my day's accomplishments!

Considering I'm in my slump week, I think there's an experiment I would like to try during my next "quarter" or so with myself as the guinea pig. Which is more productive, working through the week that has consistently proven to be a lower karat of "productivity"? Or to take that week to rest so that I'm re-energized for the following half of the quarter? An 11-week work frame with a 1-week break after every 5 weeks for a total of 44 weeks on and 8 weeks off.

What are your hypotheses regarding this experiment?

Other Notable Accomplishments:

• I'm getting closer and closer to double digits for band-assisted pull-ups using my blue band! It's only one step up from the orange, and it's taken forever to get this far, but 4 sets of 7-9 reps isn't bad considering how impossible it felt in the beginning. Woot, woot!

• I'm ~90% through Arc 2 of Act one for "Teyr'loch Delter Pach" I'd say. Last Friday I wrote and mapped and entire scene to Ludovico Einaudi's "Choros" that is pretty much good to go and will require very little editing. The 2nd half of Arc 2 has been giving me difficulties, but I think I may have gotten it figured out. Apparently I'm on an Einaudi kick, but his pieces are just so good for the emotion behind Cael's performance.

• My knee no longer hurts! However, I haven't the courage to do lunges or similar exercises yet.

What's Left to Write of the Performance?

Act I

• Arc 2: Present (almost finished???)

• Arc 3: Future

Interlude

Act II

• Arc 1: Past

• Arc 2: Present

• Arc 3: Future

Questions for Contemplation & Discussion:

• My only other question for this week is this: what are some statements that are touted as true and that you may have perceived as true at a first glance that may be covering up a logical fallacy? Again, thinking back to the reason BestSelf gave for, "Why 13 weeks?"

  • Another couple of examples would be the debunked ideas of, "it only takes 21 days to form a new habit!" or, "we only use 10% of our brains!"

This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Mura

"This is my box, y'hear? Get your own."