Setting Goals
This page covers how to create a goal, what to fill in, how to update it as things change, and how to manage goals that stall or get dropped.
Creating a goal
Tap the + button (bottom right on mobile) or the Establish New Vision button on the Goals page.
Step 1 — The Essence:
- Title — the goal in plain terms (required). Be specific enough that it means something when you look at it six months from now.
- Description — a sentence or two of context. Why does this goal matter? What does success look like?
Step 2 — Parameters:
- Target date — when you want to reach this goal (optional but recommended)
- Priority — Low, Medium, or High
Submit to create the goal. You'll land on the goal editor where you can add more detail.
Filling in a goal
After creating a goal, the editor has three tabs:
Details tab
- Update the title, description, status, priority, target date, and tags
- Add a checklist of top-level tasks for this goal
- Link habits, tasks, or journal entries that support the goal (see Linking items)
- Toggle visibility: publish to your public profile or feature on your homepage
Milestones tab
Add milestones to break the goal into stages. Each milestone can have its own target date and its own checklist. See Milestones & Checklists for details.
Notes tab
A full markdown editor for longer-form writing — plans, reflections, updates, whatever is useful. Switch between Edit and Preview modes.
Priority and tags
Priority signals importance relative to your other goals. Use it to filter your view when you have many active goals and need to focus on what matters most.
Tags are freeform labels you create. They organize your goals into categories (Health, Career, Finance, Learning, etc.) and power the By Category chart on the Progress page. Add as many tags as are useful.
Updating a goal's status
Change the status as your goal moves through its lifecycle. Status changes are immediate — the goal moves between sections on the Goals page automatically.
Practical status use:
- Not Started → In Progress: when you begin active work
- In Progress → On Hold: when something blocks you temporarily — this is better than abandoning, since it's honest and reversible
- In Progress → Completed: when you've achieved what you set out to do
- Completed → Archived: if you want to keep it visible in filtered views for reference
- Any → Abandoned: when you've decided not to pursue it — no shame, and it's retrievable if you change your mind
Linking habits, tasks, and journals
From the Details tab of any goal, use the Linked Items section to connect:
- Habits — recurring behaviors that support the goal (e.g., link your "Daily reading" habit to a "Read 24 books this year" goal)
- Tasks — specific one-off actions tied to this goal
- Journals — reflections or progress entries that relate to this goal
Links are bidirectional in context — the goal shows the linked items, and the habit/task/journal stays unchanged. Removing a link doesn't delete the linked item.
Editing and deleting
To edit: Open a goal and tap Edit. All fields are editable at any time.
To delete: Use the delete option on any goal. Deleting a goal removes all its milestones, checklists, and links permanently. This can't be undone.
Common questions
Should I create one big goal or several smaller ones? Either works. A single goal with many milestones is useful when everything is part of one coherent project. Separate goals work better when the pursuits are genuinely independent — you want to filter, prioritize, and track them separately.
What's the difference between Archived and Abandoned? Archived is for goals you completed and want to keep visible for reference. Abandoned is for goals you've decided to stop pursuing — it's honest about the outcome without deleting the history.
Can I recover an Abandoned goal? Yes. Use the Status filter to show Abandoned goals, open the goal, and change the status back to In Progress or Not Started.