The Powerful Nature of Ever-Present Number 12

Whether you’ve noticed it or not, all our lives revolve around omnipresent number 12. Moreover, despite the fact you can choose to ignore it or know zilch about the power of that mysterious number, the truth is that it may already be having an effect on you anyways.

And believe us, there’s more to it than the very convenient dozen.

Evidence Everywhere Around Us

In many previous 12-Minute Articles, we’ve listed examples and reasons why twelve is so omnipresent in our lives. Even if the phenomena can appear strange, it may not only be a mere coincidence. Here’s a couple additional ones.

For starters, you must realize you only dispose of 12 seconds to make a first impression. Furthermore, any respectable teacher or speaker must take into account that, even for adults, the optimal attention span is only 12 minutes. It’s even less for young children.

In written communication, you have to get your point across within 12 words, especially with nowadays instant digital media like twits or brief emails. Elaborate messages should still consist of 12 lines or less to avoid recipients missing relevant information.

Plenty of illustrations of the power of 12 come to us from the world of sports. Like the importance of the 12^th player, their fans, that cannot be overlooked for NFL or international football (soccer) teams. Or the fact that, each season, exactly 12 teams make the NFL playoffs. In hockey, except in penalty situations, there’s 12 players on the ice (not only 10 because often neglected goalies also count).

Even golf can be related to 12 as the yard, the predilected measure of that sport, is exactly 3x12 or 36 inches long. Likewise, the foot, commonly used to determine putt-length, measures precisely 12 inches.

Golf balls typically are packed by dozen and have 336 dimples on them (28 times 12). For those who don’t already know, dimples are small cavities carved on golf balls that allow them to fly and stay in the air longer.

Also note that standard 9-hole courses are par 36 or 3x12. Similarly, regular full-length 18-hole courses ordinarily are par 72 or 6 times 12.

All those twelve-golf multiples can be conveniently transposed in what we call Par-12 Golf. This amusing technique can trick your mind into focusing on more attainable goals. You just have to divide the par-72 traditional 18 holes into six 3-hole par-12 segments. Set and aim for objectives only 3 holes at a time.

For instance, trying to break 80, an ultimate exploit for many golfers, will be much easier if you first start by trying to play one over par-12 for 3 holes. Gaining confidence, you’ll soon be able to translate those smaller par-12 3-hole victories into the full 18. You’ll even break the infamous 80 with a shot to spare (6 times 1 over par-12 = 6 over par-72 = 78). The same technique can be applied to target many other objectives like playing under 100, under 90…playing par or even, breaking par.     

The presence of 12 in a completely different yet universal sphere really demonstrates how that ubiquitous number truly surrounds us. Here’s the explanation about that astonishing number-12 fact related to circles. The smallest easily distinguishable angle in a circle is 30°. Oddly enough, 12 x 30° = 360° or a full circle. Hence, the 12 hours on a clock are derived from that surprising fact. You could say that twelve really goes round the clock in all our lives.

Laws of Natural Number 12

Even though it has not been formally demonstrated yet, twelve seems to be related to nature, to essential life cycles on planet earth. And even if they are a creation of men, many time concepts related to twelve play a major role in our society. You could quickly think about the 12 months of the year or, as we just mentioned, the 12 hours of the clock.

If we push it a couple steps further, we will notice than there 5x12 seconds in a minute, 5x12 minutes in an hour and 2x12 hours in a day.

In that sense, adopting another key 12-Minute concept could be very beneficial to you. It consists of balancing your 24-hour day, evenly splitting it between your needs and activities, devoting approximately 12 hours to each category. Keeping that kind of healthy balance can be very helpful to ensure you lasting success.

In fact, you can manage to cheat for short periods, but you will eventually suffer the consequences if you disregard this fundamental balance principle in the long run. For instance, at work, a short rush on a particular week may not be that damageable. But in all probability, people always working long busy hours, sooner or later, will experience stress and health problems.

In the same fashion, many retirees get sick and depressed after they stop full-time work if they don’t replace that vital life-long activity.

Side note: Blackjack is probably utterly against nature and the complete opposite of number 12. I won a lot of money at that devilish game…the catch is surely that I lost quite more.

Perfect Twelve Provides Just the Right Touch

Twelve or a dozen often seems like just the correct proportion and will, most of the time, give you just the right touch. Enough to get something significant done but not too much to leave you exhausted.

We’re certain it’s not the first time you’ve heard about the secrets of a balanced life to ensure you success. But most talks about balance don’t usually involve specific guidelines.

That’s how the 12-Minute Approach is different. It offers a unique perspective that provides a guiding light to remain balanced and make noteworthy progress over an extended period of time. In that sense, an important ingredient to the 12-Minute recipe is providing quantifiable boundaries. Quantifying your effort with the help of magical number 12 will point you in the right direction to keep improving and allow you to maintain a healthy steady pace.

Guided that way by unparalleled 12-Minute wisdom and unorthodox arithmetic, you’ll always know if you have done enough without working too much. 

Just think of simple measures like taking 12 minutes to get the ball rolling or allowing about 12 days for important change to start taking form,12 weeks for the whole process to mature and 12 months for the project to finalise.

Trying to accomplish about 12 noteworthy tasks each day is also a relatively easy technique to implement that should give you interesting results.

In the same sense, taking 12-Minute each day for adjustments and trying to tend towards the infamous 12-hour equivalent allotment between your needs and activities, should help keep pace.

Personally, I try to write at least 12 lines each weekday. That simple technique keeps my mind and writing process flowing.

At first glance, the 12-Minute Method may appear restrictive, but after using it for a while, you’ll realize its guidelines are not too rigid. In fact, it’s similar to simple techniques like writing down a note, making a list or filing an email. Employing it will free up your mind for more fulfilling endeavours. So, let the 12-Minute beacon give you a sense of what and how much you should be doing!

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