Qeap is a thirteen-week program designed to help you achieve a year’s worth of goals in a quarter of the time. Whether you want to make more money at work, become a healthier person, or pursue a creative project, Qeap can help you achieve your desired outcomes. 

Qeap isn’t an easy solution. You have to put in the work to achieve your goals, and you have to have the right mindset to work hard throughout Qeap’s 91-day program. The structure of Qeap can only take a person so far. If you want to set ambitious goals, you have to live by a set of principles that will carry you to the finish line. Qeap’s seven principles were chosen because they work. They put the power in your hands to set appropriate goals, take action, and celebrate all you have achieved. 

Live by these seven principles, and you can achieve any goal. 

Bias for Action

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. — Zig Ziglar

The United States has a problem. Since the 1950s, the percentage of adult women who wanted to lose weight grew 10%. The percentage of adult men who wanted to lose weight doubled. Surely, if adults were successful at achieving their goal weight, the number of people who wanted to lose weight would plummet. We know what it takes to lose weight: eat healthier, exercise more, and maintain healthy habits. So why aren’t people in the United States losing weight?  

The hardest part of achieving a goal is not setting a goal. It is not planning a schedule around the goal. The hardest part of achieving a goal is action. We know what we need to do, but we do not always act on it. 

That’s why Qeap’s program is designed to ruthlessly prioritize action. While Week 0 is reserved for planning and identifying high-impact actions, Weeks 1-12 are all about action. Qeapers are encouraged to spend more time acting and moving forward toward their goals. 

Extreme Ownership

Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation.― Jocko Willink

At the beginning of every week, Qeapers choose five to ten actions that will help them achieve their goals. At the end of every week, Qeapers take ownership of what they did and did not do that week. They calculate an “Action Score,” or “AScore,” by dividing the number of completed actions by the number of total actions. For example, if a Qeaper set to complete ten actions but only completed eight, they would divide eight by ten and get .8, or 80%. 

Qeapers should aim for 80% or higher each week. Whether they achieve this AScore or fall behind, they are responsible for adjusting for the next week. If you start a Qeap, recognize that this is your program. Take ownership of it. 

When we reflect on a failure, pointing fingers outward is an easy, short-term solution. After a while, if nothing changes, this finger-pointing just becomes exhausting. We may find ourselves waiting around for other people to change or hand us the solutions to our problems, but we cannot control the actions of others. The sooner you take ownership and look for solutions, the sooner you will find them. 

In Qeap, you will identify solutions. Set goals. Act. Reflect. Then, repeat. This is all your responsibility.

Resilience 

It isn't suffering that leads to hopelessness. It's suffering you think you can't control.― Angela Duckworth

Thirteen weeks is 91 days. That is a long time to raise the bar and move toward your goals. Not every day will be as productive as the day before. Not every day will be easy. But there is no quitting in Qeap. There is no turning around. Qeapers must wake up every day and continue acting. 

One year is worth four Qeaps. That is four opportunities to complete a year’s worth of goals. When Qeapers take extreme ownership over their actions and goals, they give themselves the chance to move on to the next Qeap stronger than they were before. Each new Qeap is not a “clean slate,” but a slate filled with lessons learned. 

Every challenge is an opportunity to grow stronger and smarter. Every outcome, whether a “failure” or “success,” is an opportunity to learn. At the beginning of your first, second, and every following Qeap, you will have one week (Week 0) to reflect on past outcomes and seize the opportunity to improve over the next Qeap. What did you do well? What could you have done better? How can you apply your skills and knowledge to this new set of goals? Instead of wasting time blaming others, invest your time in growth and improvement. 

Focus on What Matters

Instead of saying “I don’t have time” try saying “it’s not a priority,” and see how that feels. — Laura Vanderkam

Qeap’s timeframe is condensed for a reason. With only thirteen weeks, Qeapers must choose the most important two or three goals to achieve. There is no time to do anything but focus on what matters. 

Ten big goals for your Qeap is too much. Any Qeaper, no matter how skilled or experienced they are, will burn out quickly if they put too much on their plate. If you have more than three goals that you would like to achieve in thirteen weeks, you will have to choose the ones that will make the most impact on your life. Two goals, completed to the best of your ability, will be more effective than ten goals left unfinished. 

Economist Vilfredo Pareto is best known for his connection to the “Pareto Principle,” which states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of actions. If you have a long list of goals or actions, identify the 20% that will make the biggest impact. Focus on what matters.

Raise the Bar

What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. — Timothy Ferriss

You’re already raising the bar by starting Qeap. This program packs twelve month’s worth of hard work and goals into twelve weeks. If you set goals for the key program that are the same as your quarterly goals, you're not pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. You're still the same. You're going to achieve the same, you have to raise the bar.

When we try something new, we learn something new. We know this, but we don’t always live it. It is easy to fall into the same routine day in and day out because it is safe. We stick to what we know because we know it. But what we know and feel comfortable with does not make us grow.

If you push yourself out of your comfort zone, you give yourself the chance to learn something new. New neuron connections can form in our brains when we encounter new experiences. (And you are never too old to start forming new connections!) The more new experiences you have, the more you learn and grow. 

With so many opportunities to track progress and completed actions, you can raise the bar week after week. No matter what your AScore is every week you will end your Qeap stronger than when you started. How much stronger? That is up to you. 

Don’t Mistake Motion for Progress

Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. ―C.S. Lewis

Busy work is not the same as meaningful work. Getting up, taking the same route to work, and going through the motions for 40 hours a week doesn’t automatically lead to growth. Showing up is just the first step. To make progress, have to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Progress requires intentionality. Progress requires that you make time to try something new, even when it feels uncomfortable or different. This is why it is important to focus on what matters. When choosing a goal, eliminate anything that feels too comfortable. Qeap is not about being the same person you were yesterday. It is about being a stronger, smarter, and more successful person. If you want that for yourself, don’t mistake motion for progress. 

Celebrate Wins

In my research, I’ve found that adults have many ways to tell themselves, “I did a bad job,” and very few ways of saying, “I did a good job.” We rarely recognize our successes and feel good about what we’ve done.― Dr. B.J. Fogg 

After all is said and done, you must celebrate your wins. This isn’t an excuse to backslide. Celebration is still productive. It is up to you to reflect on the goals you have set and the actions you have taken. No one else will do it for you. 

When you take the time to celebrate your wins, you are going to start trusting yourself more. Then, you will start respecting yourself more. When you start respecting yourself, it’s going to be harder to break a commitment to yourself. That is progress. When you achieve more for yourself, you can achieve more for everyone. This is when you start to make a positive impact on the world. 

Take that time to celebrate what you have achieved for yourself and the world. 

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