1/ Last week, I showed how knowledge workers can borrow the concept of periodization from weightlifters. Instead of trying to improve everything at once and failing, we can spend periods of focused time developing new skills or creating new things.
2/ If ordered properly, each period can build on the last, resulting in an incredible progression of skill.
3/ In the article I used 12 weeks for a cycle. It's long enough to entrain new behavior and get serious work done, but short enough that you can't put off your goals. It's also a common choice for weightlifters, so makes for easy comparison.
4/ 12 weeks is a convenient time period, but periodization can be applied to both larger and shorter timescales. It's fractals all the way down (and all the way up?).
5/ Most people set some sort of New Years Resolution, or pick a theme for their year.
7/ @sivers argues for splitting your life into decade long periods. If you're 25 you still have time to dive deep and master 6 or 7 fields!
sivers.org/donkey
sivers.org/donkey
8/ Even the status quo "invisible script" life is periodized. 2 decades of education. 1 decade of career exploration and relationship building. 2 decades of settling and raising children. Another decade or two of work. Florida retirement home. Coffin.
9/ It's impossible to predict how things will turn out years down the line, but having some idea of a 'North Star' to guide you is extremely powerful. Think @TaylorPearsonMe's "25 Year Vision"
taylorpearson.me/planning/
taylorpearson.me/planning/
10/ Historians, economists, and anthropologists like to organize human history into periods: agricultural, industrial, knowledge, entrepreneurial?, skynet? What's next? 
11/ What about periods shorter than 12 weeks?
12/ @sebastmarsh uses "monthly themes" to organize his year. He's one of the most productive people alive today.
lesserwrong.com/posts/Abfyno2j…
lesserwrong.com/posts/Abfyno2j…
13/ Many weightlifting programs are broken down into weekly periods: a common pattern is 3 weeks of increasing volume/intensity followed by a back-off week. We can do something similar in the office / at our laptops. (Image from @strongerbysci) 
14/ Even our days can be setup in periods. A good night of sleep set us up for focused immersive work in the mornings. Lunch break and a walk can lead to a solid afternoon of meetings and discussion. We use the time after work to socialize and wind down.
15/ On an hourly time scale we can use periodization too. Think @TeamUfYH 's 20/10's and 45/15's, Work Cycles, Pomodoros. 
END/ Periodization is a powerful tool, at all time scales. Can you incorporate periodization into your life? Think daily, weekly, quarterly, decennially. Where does periodization succeed? Where does it fail?
