Tracking goals
To track a goal in Planye, write it as a milestone on the year's or the month's Plan page, put the next step on your week, and turn anything that repeats into a habit. Bigger goals get a project, and the Life wheel shows where each part of your life stands against where you'd like it.
- Write the outcomeA milestone on the year's or the month's Plan page.
- Put the next step on the weekOne line in a category, for the week you are in.
- Make the repeating part a habitOn the Habits page. A missed day is a gap, nothing more.
- Give a big one a projectStages, checklists and a bar you move yourself.
- Drop oneClear its cell. Nothing asks why.
How to track a goal
Most goals are not dropped because they were wrong. They are dropped because they were too vague to act on, too many to keep in view, or tracked in a way that made one bad week feel like the end of them.
- Write it as an outcome you would recognize. "Run a 10k in the spring" tells you what to do on a Tuesday, and "get fitter" does not.
- Keep a few. One to three for a year is plenty, and a short list is one you actually look at.
- Plan the next step, not every step. Decide what moves it forward this week, and decide again next week.
- Turn the part that repeats into a habit. Running three times a week is a habit; the 10k is the goal it serves.
- Look at it at the same moment each week. Sunday evening or Monday morning, five minutes, with the week in front of you.
- Judge progress yourself. A count of ticked boxes says how busy you were, not how close you are.
Where goals go in Planye
Planye has no single goals page, because goals are not one kind of thing. Each kind goes where it is easiest to act on.
| Kind of goal | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| A result for the year or the month | Milestones, on Plan |
| What the year is for, in one line | The name at the top of Plan |
| A part of your life you want to improve | The Life wheel, on Plan |
| Something you do often | Habits |
| Something you are making over months | Projects |
| Saving towards something | Put away, on Money |
| This week's step | A line on your week |
Seeing progress without being scored
Planye shows how far you have come, and never grades it. Each place a goal lives draws progress in the way that suits it:
- **The Life wheel draws the gap.** Each area has two readings out of ten, where it stands and where you'd like it, and the distance between them is the picture. Nothing is averaged or totalled.
- **A habit draws a chain.** Every day you keep it joins the run, and a day you miss is a gap in it rather than a broken streak.
- **A project has a bar you slide yourself**, because three-quarters of the boxes ticked is often a quarter of the work done.
- **A milestone is written or it isn't.** Seven cells, no due date, nothing overdue.
There are no red counts, no percentages of goals met and no reminder that you are behind. A goal you stop caring about can simply be cleared.
Questions about goals
The details, for when you want them. Nothing here is required reading.Is Planye a goal tracker?
Yes, as part of a planner rather than as a separate app. Goals sit on the same pages as your week, month and year, so the outcome and this week's step to it are a tap apart.
Is there a free app to track goals?
Planye's core is free with no time limit and no card. Plan, with its milestones and Life wheel, has no limit on the free plan; free keeps five habits and five projects at a time, and Planye+ makes those unlimited.
What is the difference between a goal and a task?
A goal is the result you want, and a task is something you do on the way to it. "Book the venue" is a task; "Married in June" is the goal. In Planye the goal is a milestone on Plan and the task is a line on the week.
How many goals should I set?
Fewer than you think. One to three for a year, and a handful for a month. Plan gives you seven milestone cells and no more, and leaving some empty is normal.
Does Planye show my goals as a percentage?
No. The only progress bar a goal gets is on a project, and you set it yourself. A goal score turns a bad week into a number that follows you, which is the kind of tracking people give up on.
What happens to a goal I don't reach?
It stays on the page of the month or year it was written for, exactly as you left it. Milestones don't carry into the next period, so the next one starts clean, and you can write it again there if it still matters.