David A. Fields Consulting Group You’re surrounded by opportunities to accelerate your success and to enjoy the rewards of leading a small consulting firm.
Think of those opportunities as journeys from your current state to a different, better place.
Unfortunately, most of us routinely ignore the flight announcements that signal the start of potential journeys. They crackle over our mental loudspeakers as personal admonitions that sound like, “Now boarding, flight I Know I Should…” or “Announcing immediate departure of I Wish I Would…”
Today let’s put you in a first-class seat on one of those flights to greater satisfaction.
Your flight is going to last 12 weeks. (Not coincidentally, that’s the number of weeks left in this year.)
I guarantee you’ll land in a different, better location than where you’re currently residing.
The steps to embark on your 12-Week Flight to Success are:
- Choose Your Destination – Select one of the “I know I should” or “I wish I would” statements floating around your brain. The only rule is it has to be within your control.
- Determine Your Flight Path – The exact behavior you engage in will determine where you land. What, specifically, are you going to do for the next 12 weeks to move from where you are to where you want to be?
- Set Your Flight Times – Achieving a long-desired goal is not a one-time non-stop flight. It’s the opposite: to reach your destination you’ll have to take consistent action week after week after week. So, set predictable, inviolable times for you to work on your goal every week.
- Announce Your Flight – Talk about your flight publicly. Let the world know your commitment.
- Hop on Board – Start this week.
- Celebrate at Touchdown – Reward yourself every time you complete one leg of your 12-week journey.
Next year, after you’ve completed your own successful 12-Week Flight to Success, ask your team or your consulting firm staff to take on their own 12-week flights too.
Examples of 12-Week Flight to Success
- Build an Outreach Habit – Every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m.—before eating lunch—complete 30 minutes of outreach to prospective consulting clients.
- Write Your Book – Every Monday morning, before looking at email or anything on your desk, write for 30 minutes.
- Exude Positivity – Every Wednesday at 8:00 a.m., review all the automatic personal notifications you received on LinkedIn (e.g., it’s Sally’s birthday), and send those people a congratulations message.
- Exemplify Gratefulness – Every Friday at 4:00 p.m., send at least 5 Thank You cards to people whom you appreciate. (What an uplifting way to head into the weekend!)
- Let Go – Every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. completely walk away from your consulting firm. No talking about any business-related topic at home. Try to dismiss your work-related thoughts until the next day.
- Get Fit – Every Monday and Friday at 7:00 a.m., ride the bike at the gym for 30 minutes.
- Eat Better – Every Saturday at midnight, start your 24-hour sugar Sabbath. Eat nothing that contains refined sugar that entire day.
Personally, I’m tackling a 12-week challenge to reduce my work hours (even more).
Hop a flight to a more successful consulting firm. What 12-week challenge will you take on?
Text and images are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
Perfect timing, as we had been discussing how best to use the rest of the year. We will definitely be following something similar at McKenny Consulting for the next 12 weeks. Our flight is a simple one: more of our own enquiries by the end of December, built on two fixed outreach sessions and one post from real project work every week. The diary slots are already booked, which I suspect is the part that matters most.
Outstanding, Aaron! You have a well-defined goals, a plan that you can control and execute, and commitments to specific dates and times. Those are the ingredients for a successful flight to a better destination. Very impressive.
I appreciate your sharing the example, Aaron, which I’m sure will inspire other readers.
Well-timed very practical advice for me too. I struggle to stay focused on one destination because I am constantly questioning if it is the right one :-). My 12-week destination is to have at least 3 people lined up as available contractors for new projects to replace those who have found full-time employment and are no longer freelancing. Over the next 12 weeks I need to see who in my network is still freelancing and has the specific experience I need on hand, and then agree to general terms and conditions for collaboration.
That’s an excellent destination, Jessica! Consider doubling the number of people you find—that way you’re ahead of the game rather than chasing new contractors when you need them most. Either way, it sounds like a very good focus for the 12 final weeks of the year.
Well done, and thanks for sharing!