This is a recipe book of the questions people actually ask. It is organized by what you want to do, not by app feature. Each recipe is short: the question, three to five steps, and a link to a deeper page if you want more.
Three reasonable entry points depending on what you have time for:
Have 90 minutes for a real first session. Open the app, unlock with the Beta password, and walk the 8 steps top to bottom. The Walkthrough page is the canonical guide for this path.
Have 10 minutes and want a feel for the app first. Unlock, open the More menu, tap Load demo data. Browse a fully-populated 3-year plan. Click Back to my data when ready. The Quick start walks this.
Just want to track habits, no planning. Unlock, on the welcome carousel tap Skip ahead to habits. You land in the Habit Garden. Define one habit. Use it daily. Add planning later when you have time.
I just unlocked the app. Now what?
A short welcome carousel introduces what the app does. Tap through the dots. The last slide gives you two paths: Start at the beginning (recommended for first-timers) or Skip ahead to habits (jumps straight to habit tracking).
If the carousel does not appear, you have already dismissed it. Open the More menu → Replay intro to see it again.
Do I need to do all 8 steps in order?
Recommended yes for your first session, because each step inherits from the one above it. You can skip Vision (step 4) if it feels fake on day one and come back to it after a month. Everything else matters: skipping Values or Life Areas leaves Summit Goals with nothing behind them. (A ninth destination, the Wall of Wins, joins the stepper on its own once you earn your first achievement; there is nothing to do there on day one.)
Once your plan is set up, you can jump to any step anytime via the stepper at the top or the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+K).
How long does the whole thing take?
First session: ~90 minutes (with breaks). One sitting, with a good coffee.
Daily after that: 5 minutes.
Weekly: 10 minutes on Sunday evening (or whichever day you pick).
Monthly: 30 minutes, end of month.
Quarterly: 60 minutes, end of every 12-week block.
Yearly: 2-3 hours, end of December (or early January).
Total time per year if you do all five cadences: ~75 hours. About 12 minutes of planning per day on average.
Can I just track habits without all this planning?
Yes, two ways in. The welcome carousel has a Skip ahead to habits button that jumps you to the Habit Garden (step T4A). And if you skipped that: the Habits step normally stays locked until your first week plan, but tapping it while locked offers Start with habits instead, which unlocks the Habit Garden right away. Either way you can define habits and track them daily without ever setting up values, vision, or Summit Goals.
The downside: habits without an outcome behind them are easier to drop. A 30-minute run habit is more sustainable when you know it is in service of a sub-2-hour half marathon Summit. But starting habits-only is a valid path. Add the planning side when you are ready.
Setting up your plan (values to annual goal)
How do I pick my values?
Open the Values step (T1A, first in the stepper). It opens on the Play your hand tab.
The app deals from a 28-card value deck (Growth, Adventure, Health, Connection, etc.). You hold five: swap any card you do not love for the next one off the deck until your final five feel right.
Switch to the Rank your five tab. Drag the 5 cards into rank order. Position 1 is your North Star.
Open Where this leads to see how the five feed later steps, then tap Continue to Purpose.
Tip
Pick the 5 you actually live by, not the 5 you think you should. Everything downstream is tested against these.
How do I write a purpose sentence?
The Purpose step (T1P) opens on the Craft your purpose tab, with two ways to write your sentence.
Option A: pick one of three starter sentences the app drafts from your Top 5 values.
Option B: build your own from three pieces, To <verb>, For <whom>, So that <change>; the app builds the sentence below as you type.
Use your top values. Aim for honest, not poetic. It does not need to sound like a mission statement.
Example: "This year I am here to be present for my family, ship one creative project I am proud of, and rebuild a body that can hike for hours without complaint."
How do I pick focus areas?
Open the Life Areas step (T1B). On the Rate your areas tab, ten areas appear (Physical Health, Emotional Wellbeing, Relationships, Career, Financial, Growth & Learning, Fun & Recreation, Purpose & Meaning, Environment, Contribution).
Each area has two 0-10 sliders: satisfaction (blue) and importance (pink). Score where you are today, not where you want to be. The map on the right flags your two biggest gaps.
Switch to Choose your focus and pick 2 or 3 to mark as focus this year. The cap is 3.
How to pick smart
Do not pick all low-scoring areas. Picking Health (3), Finance (3), and Creative (3) means rebuilding three weak areas at once. Pick at least one focus area where you are already strong (to protect it through the focus year) and one or two to grow.
How do I sketch a Vision?
The Vision step (T2A) opens on the Three futures tab (Three Futures technique). Plan A (the best of your current path) is there; tap Compare three futures to sketch Plan B and Plan C beside it. Write each as a short paragraph describing a plausible 5-year version of your life, in present tense, as if you are already there.
Plan A usually compounds what is already working.
Plan B is different but reachable.
Plan C is the deliberate stretch: the one you would never pick if you were playing safe.
Then tap Make Plan X my active vision on the one you want to walk toward. The other two stay so you can compare them later.
How do I set up an annual goal based on my values?
This is the most important part of the cascade. Values do not become annual goals directly; they flow through Life Areas, Vision, and Summit Goals. Walk it top to bottom:
Read your top 5 values (Values step). Note: which value did you rank #1 and why? Your North Star value counts most.
Read your purpose sentence (Purpose step). Which values show up explicitly? Those are the ones your annual plan should serve most.
Pick the focus area (Life Areas step) most aligned with your top value. Example: if Family is #1, Family is probably a focus area. If Creative work is #1 and Career is #2, Creative is the obvious focus.
Read your active vision (Vision step). What does the 5-year picture look like in that focus area? Imagine the version of you who got there. What did they do in year 1?
Open the Summit Goals step (T2B). For the focus area, write one Summit Goal that:
Is outcome-shaped (describes the destination, not the activity)
Has a target date (year and month, usually 12-36 months out)
Is defensible (if a friend asked "how will you know you got there," you have an answer)
Sanity-check against the values: if a friend asked "which of your top 5 values is this Summit serving?" you should be able to point to one or two. If not, the Summit is disconnected from your foundation.
Repeat for each focus area (2 or 3 Summits total).
Filled example
Values: 1. Family, 2. Health, 3. Creative work. Purpose: "be present for my family, rebuild a body that hikes, ship one creative project." Focus areas: Family (preserve), Health (rebuild), Creative (ship). Active vision: Plan B (present parent, a body that hikes, one creative project shipped). Annual Summit for Health, anchored to value #2: "Run a 10k in under 55 minutes by Sept 2027 with no injury setbacks longer than 2 weeks." Dated, measurable, defensible, and clearly serves value #2.
The app drafted an annual goal and some checkpoints for me. What are those?
If a life area has a Summit Goal and the year has no annual goal yet, the app writes a first draft so you are not staring at a blank plan. It is a starting point, not a decision, and you can change or delete every part of it.
What gets drafted:
The annual goal, with its objective pre-filled from your Summit Goal wording.
A checkpoint at the end of each remaining quarter, named "Q1 checkpoint", "Q2 checkpoint" and so on.
Anything still in the app's words is shown in muted grey, and a note above the checkpoint list tells you how many are still drafts. As soon as you edit something it becomes yours, the grey goes, and it stops being counted as a draft.
How to make them yours. Open Execute → Year and find the annual goal card for that life area:
On the card's first tab, type over the Objective so it says what you actually mean, in your words rather than your Summit's.
On the Milestones tab, give each checkpoint a real name and, if you want, a success measure. Change the date if the quarter end is not the moment that matters. Use the trash icon to drop one, or "Add milestone" to write your own.
Why you might have no checkpoints at all. The app only drafts a checkpoint when at least two months of the year are still ahead, because a target six weeks out is not enough time to move an annual goal. It also never sets one for the end of December, since the Annual wrap-up already closes the year. So a January start gets three checkpoints and a September start gets none. When you get none, the Milestones tab explains why and invites you to add your own.
If you would rather start from a blank page, switch off "Draft annual goals from my Summit Goals" in Settings → Cadence, or on the Where this leads tab of the Summit Goals step. Switching it off leaves anything already drafted exactly where it is.
How do I cascade from year down to today?
Once Summits are set, the Execute step (T3X) is where the cascade lives. Five cadence chips run across the top: Year, Quarter, Month, Week, Day.
Open Execute → Year. On the Annual goals tab, break each Summit into up to three annual goals. Each goal card opens into The goal, Friction Map, and Milestones tabs, where you name the milestones and their dates.
Open Quarter. On Slice the year, name a quarter theme and tick the milestones you commit to. On Monthly priorities, place what you committed from the Unplaced tray into each month.
Open Week. Turn the month into 3-5 priority tasks for the coming week.
Open Day. Pick three priority tasks for today from the week list.
On your first session, fill Year + Quarter + Week. Month and Day fill in as the cadence runs.
Setting up and tracking habits
How do I set up a habit?
Open the Habits step, the Habit Garden (T4A in the stepper).
In the input bar, type the action and hit Enter (or tap Add). Example: "10 min walk".
The new habit row appears. Tap it to expand the editor and fill the five fields:
Action: the smallest version of the behavior ("lace up and step outside" not "go for a 10k").
Identity statement: the "I am someone who…" version of the habit ("…runs three times a week" / "…writes every morning"). This is the BJ Fogg / James Clear identity-based-habit pattern.
Habit stack: the trigger sentence in the form "after I [existing routine], I will…" ("after my morning coffee, I will…"). The "after" anchor is what makes the habit reliable.
Lazy day version: the smallest acceptable version when the full habit is not feasible.
Reward: the good feeling that closes the loop. Often just marking the habit done in the Garden is enough.
Set the cadence (daily / weekdays / Mon-Wed-Fri / weekly / custom days).
Optionally link the habit to a Summit Goal so the Insights view can show the connection.
Save.
Aim for one or two habits per Summit, not five. Consistency beats variety.
How do I track habits daily?
Open the app. It lands on Today by default.
The Habits row shows each scheduled habit with a checkbox.
Tap to mark done. Tap again to undo.
Done is the full action. Lazy day is the smaller version (a separate "lazy" toggle). Both count as a kept day.
If you forget for a day or two, the next time you open the app you can backfill (tap any past day in the date strip).
What's a lazy-day version and why does it matter?
Every habit has a "lazy day" field: the smallest acceptable action when the full habit is not feasible.
Full habit: 30-minute run. Lazy day: 10-min walk + 5 push-ups.
Full habit: 1,000-word writing session. Lazy day: 200-word voice memo.
Full habit: meditate 20 min. Lazy day: 3 conscious breaths.
The lazy day exists so a bad day does not break the streak. It makes the two-day rule actually possible: you can almost always do the lazy version, even when sick or busy.
Set the lazy day embarrassingly low. If your "lazy" version is still hard, it is not lazy enough.
How do I change a habit's cadence or action?
Open the Habit Garden (T4A).
Tap the habit row to expand the editor.
Change any field (action, trigger, cadence, lazy day version).
Save.
The change applies from today forward. Past completions are not affected.
How do I remove a habit that isn't working?
Do not delete it; archive it. Archiving preserves the history (streaks, completions, related insights) but stops showing the habit on Today. This is important for an honest year wrap-up: you should be able to see which habits you tried and dropped, not just the ones you kept.
Open the Habit Garden.
Tap the habit row.
Tap the Archive action.
Confirm.
If you change your mind: Settings → Danger zone → Show archived habits to unarchive.
How do I add a habit later?
Same flow as the original setup. The new habit slots into the Garden alongside existing ones. If it serves a specific Summit, link it during creation so the Insights view can show the connection.
When to add vs not: after at least 4 weeks of consistent execution on your current habits. Adding habits before the existing ones are automatic is how people overwhelm themselves and drop everything.
My habit feels too ambitious. How do I shrink it?
Two options:
Edit the action permanently. A 1,000-word writing habit becomes a 500-word habit. Less ambitious, more sustainable. Adjust the lazy-day version proportionally.
Split into "minimum" + "stretch". Keep the 1,000-word habit but rename it "stretch goal" and add a new "minimum 200 words daily" habit. Track both. The minimum is what keeps the streak; the stretch is the bonus.
Shrinking a habit is not failure. It is calibration. The two-day rule + the lazy version exist exactly because consistency at a lower bar beats inconsistency at a higher one.
The daily and weekly rhythm
How do I do my daily reflection?
Open the app. It lands on Today.
Mark off any habits you completed.
Write one line in the reflection field. Anything: a win, a worry, a noticing.
Pick or confirm tomorrow's three priority tasks.
5 minutes max. If you only have 30 seconds, just check off the habits and close the tab. Better to do something small daily than nothing on a busy day.
What is the daily value anchor, and what is the tick for?
Your values shape your life areas, your vision and your Summit Goals, and after that they usually disappear from view. The anchor is the one place your values appear in an ordinary day.
What you see in the morning. One line on the Day screen names one of your top five values and suggests a way to bring it into what you actually planned today. It rotates, so it is a different value each day rather than always your number one, and the wording comes from twenty prompts so you do not stop reading it.
What you do in the evening. The day's reflection asks one thing about it: did you bring that value into the day. It is a single tick and there is nothing to write.
Blank is not a no. A day you never answered is counted as unanswered, not as a failure. A blank day never counts against you.
The value is stored with the day. If you re-rank your values in three months, tomorrow's anchor changes and yesterday's does not, so your history stays a record of what happened rather than a recalculation.
What it is actually for. After a few months the ticks show which of your values you are living and which ones you keep leaving out. A value you ranked in your top five and almost never tick is worth a closer look, and it usually points back at your Life Areas rather than at the value itself.
To switch it off: Settings → Cadence → Daily value anchor. No line on the day, no tick at the reflection. Anything already recorded is kept, not deleted.
When should I plan tomorrow vs reflect on today?
Both happen on the daily Day card, but the timing is up to you. Two valid patterns:
Evening reflect + plan (default): at the end of today, mark today's habits, write a one-line reflection, and pick tomorrow's three priorities. Done before bed. Morning is clear.
Morning reflect on yesterday + plan today: same activity, shifted to morning. Better if you are usually too tired in the evening.
Switch via Settings → Cadence → Reflect timing / Plan timing. Both can be set independently.
How do I do my weekly reflection?
On Sunday (or your configured day), open Execute → Week and switch to the Reflection tab (it opens once the week's plan is locked).
Name one win from the week.
Name one challenge or thing that slipped.
Draft 3-5 priority tasks for the coming week (the app pre-fills suggestions from your month focus).
Save and close.
10 minutes on the couch, with tea and your phone on silent.
What's the minimum I can do on a really busy day?
30 seconds: open the app, tap the habits you did. Close it. The streak holds; the reflection field stays blank; tomorrow's priorities can wait.
On a day you cannot even open the app: do nothing. The app does not count it against you. The two-day rule only applies after you miss two consecutive scheduled days for a single habit. One miss is human.
How do I traffic-light my milestones?
Open the Execute step → Year or Quarter sub-tab.
Each milestone row has a small dot. Tap to cycle Green → Amber → Red.
Green: on track, no intervention needed. Amber: at risk, a small correction now prevents Red later. Red: off track. Needs a decision (rescue, reschedule, or retire).
Be honest about Amber. The temptation is to leave everything Green until the deadline hits. Honest Ambers catch drift two weeks before the missed deadline.
How do I grade a milestone Achieved, Partial, or Abandoned without navigating?
The fastest way is the milestone-peek modal:
Open Execute → Year, or open any cadence step that has the milestones timeline dropdown.
Tap a milestone pill in the timeline (or in the Plan-Review panel on the year overview).
The peek modal opens. You see the milestone title, KPI target, current value, dates, area, and notes.
Three big buttons under How did it land?: Achieved, Partial, Abandoned. Tap one. The grade saves immediately and the modal closes.
If you need more context first, the modal has two secondary links: "Open the month plan" and "Edit on the goal card." Both navigate away. The grading buttons keep you where you are.
For mid-progress milestones with a numeric KPI, the modal also shows the current value with a small input next to it. Update the number, then grade. No need to open the goal card just to change the value.
Catching up after a gap
I missed yesterday. What do I do?
Open the app. Tap yesterday in the date strip. The Day card for yesterday opens. Check off any habits you actually did. Skip the reflection if you do not remember the day clearly.
One missed day is normal. The two-day rule only triggers on two consecutive missed scheduled days.
I missed a week. What do I do?
Do not backfill the whole week. Doing a fake reflection across 7 forgotten days is worse than not doing it.
Open the app today.
Do the next weekly reflection fresh (this Sunday's). Acknowledge the gap in the win/challenge fields ("Challenge: skipped last week, here's why").
For habits, mark the days you remember (if any). The rest stay unmarked. The two-day rule will show a flag on the Insights view; that is fine.
Reset tomorrow with the lazy-day version of each habit. Lazy days for a week, then back to full.
A gap is information, not a verdict. The Insights view will show a dip, and that dip tells you what conditions broke the rhythm.
I missed a month. What do I do?
Skip the monthly check-in for that month. There is nothing useful to check on data that mostly does not exist.
Do a small reflection on the gap: what was happening that made you stop using the app? Travel? Stress? A specific event? Write a one-paragraph note in the next weekly reflection card.
If a Summit Goal slipped a meaningful amount, traffic-light it Amber or Red and decide at the next quarterly check-in (rescue, reschedule, or retire).
Resume daily with just one habit on lazy mode. Add the others back one per week.
What not to do
Do not try to "catch up" by doubling-down for two weeks. That is how people burn out, then drop the app entirely. Re-enter slowly.
I missed 90+ days. What do I do?
The app fires the abandonment-recovery modal automatically when you reopen after 90+ days of inactivity. It is not there to make you feel bad. It is three honest questions that treat the gap as information.
The three questions:
What changed in your life that broke the rhythm? One line. Travel, illness, work crunch, breakup, new baby, depression spell, project crisis. The diagnostic matters more than the apology.
What would have to be different for the rhythm to work this time? Smaller habits? Different reflection time? Mobile-only? Calendar reminders on? Be specific.
What is the smallest commitment you can sustain right now? If you cannot commit to anything, the answer is "open the app once a week." That is enough.
After you answer, the modal offers three paths:
Resume the existing plan as-is. Sometimes the plan was fine; life just got in the way. The streak counters reset to zero, the longest-streak counters survive, the Wall of Wins is intact.
Light reset. Keep the plan, but reset all habits to lazy-day versions for the next 30 days. The two-day rule pauses for 14 days while you ramp.
Full reset. Archive the old plan, start over with a new Vision + new Summits. Your data is preserved (you can browse the old plan in the archive), and you start clean.
Once dismissed the modal does not fire again until another 90-day gap. You can re-invoke it from More menu → Reset / abandonment check if you want to start over sooner.
My streak is broken. Do I start over?
No. The streak is a number, not your identity.
The Insights view shows two numbers for each habit: current streak and longest streak. The longest streak is permanent (it preserves the proof you can do it). The current streak resets when you miss two days. That is fine. Start a new current streak tomorrow.
Habits you have kept through a few streak resets are more durable than habits that have never been broken. The reset shows you what conditions break the rhythm.
Managing goals mid-year
How do I change a Summit Goal mid-year?
Open the Summit Goals step (T2B).
Tap the Summit card to edit.
Change the outcome text, target date, or evidence definition.
Save.
The quarterly check-in is the natural moment to do this (it walks every Summit and asks whether it is still the one you want). Mid-quarter changes are fine, but they unsettle the cascade for a while.
How do I retire a goal that's not working?
Retiring is not failing. It is calibration. Three steps:
Open Summit Goals (T2B). Tap the goal to retire.
Tap the Retire action (in the editor footer).
Write a one-line reason (preserved for the year wrap-up).
The retired goal moves to the Wall of Wins under the "Retired" category. It is not deleted; the history stays. If you reactivate later, the original target dates and evidence remain.
How do I add a new focus area mid-year?
Open the Life Areas step (T1B).
Score the area (if not already scored).
Toggle the focus this year flag.
The Summit Goals step will prompt you to add a Summit for the new focus area.
The cap is still 3 focus areas. If you are already at 3, you need to demote one before promoting another. The demoted area stays tracked but loses its Summit slot.
What do I do when a milestone is Red?
Red means "off track and needs a decision." Three options, picked at the monthly or quarterly check-in:
Rescue: identify what went wrong (an obstacle in the Goal Plan that became real), revise the plan, set a recovery milestone.
Reschedule: the timeline was unrealistic. Push the target date out.
Retire: the milestone was the wrong target. Archive it.
The wrong answer is "leave it Red and hope." A Red milestone left for two months makes the levels above and below it wrong too.
I think the Summit Goal I picked is wrong. What do I do?
Trust the signal. If you have spent 4 weeks working toward it and your gut says it is wrong, it probably is. Two paths:
Reframe: keep the underlying outcome but rewrite the Summit to focus on what you actually care about. (Example: "Run a sub-2:00 half marathon" might become "Finish a sub-2:30 trail half marathon with no injury" if the road-race target felt joyless.)
Retire and replace: archive the wrong Summit. Open the Vision step, reread your active vision, and write a new Summit anchored to it.
The Goal Plan obstacles section is also a good signal. If the obstacles you wrote feel like "I do not actually want this," that is data.
Customization and data
How do I put one of the small friendly lines away, and get it back?
The planning screens carry a few short lines nobody asked for: a greeting, your purpose quote, the daily value anchor, and a weekly line drawn from your Strengths Profile. They are there because they help most people. If one of them stops helping you, it should go away and stay away.
Hover the line. A small cross appears at its right-hand end.
Click the cross. The line disappears for good, not just for this session, and a short message tells you where to find it again.
To bring anything back: Settings → Cadence → Hidden messages. It lists what you have hidden and restores the lot with one button.
The Hidden messages section only exists while something is hidden, so it will not sit in your settings as clutter.
What has no cross, deliberately. Overdue milestones, the coming-up list and the break notice. Those are not messages, they are the state of your plan, and a plan that can be told to stop mentioning a missed deadline is how deadlines get missed twice. If an overdue milestone is wrong, the fix is to open it and change the date, not to silence the notice.
How do I change how much sits above the work on a planning screen?
Settings → Cadence → Header density, with three choices:
Compact. States in one line what this level feeds and keeps the detail behind a toggle you can open when you want it.
Full. Shows the connection to the level above straight away.
Follow my mode (the default). Stays compact while you are in the reduced view and switches to full once you unlock the whole system, which is usually what you want.
The change applies immediately, with no reload.
How do I change the theme?
Open the More menu (top right) → Settings → Appearance tab.
Tap any of the 33 palette swatches. The whole app changes look immediately.
Toggle Light or Dark mode at the top of the same tab.
Faster way: tap the small theme swatch in the topbar (next to Save/Load) for a quick-picker.
How do I set up Dropbox sync?
Open More menu → Connect Dropbox.
A Dropbox OAuth window opens. Sign in and approve.
The app creates Apps/Life Goals Program in your Dropbox.
Saves now go there automatically. Loads pull from there on a new device.
To disconnect: Settings → Sync → Disconnect. The folder stays in your Dropbox; the app just stops syncing.
Note: Dropbox sync works from goalsandprogress.com. On any other origin (a local copy, for example) the Dropbox consent screen will refuse the connection.
How do I export to my calendar?
Settings → Reminders tab.
Set times for daily plan + reflection, weekly reflection, monthly check-in, quarterly check-in, annual wrap-up.
Tap Download .ics.
Open the downloaded file. It imports into Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook automatically.
The events recur indefinitely. If you change the schedule later, re-download and re-import; the new events replace the old ones.
How do I print my plan (or save it as a PDF)?
Open the view you want on paper (a day, week, quarter or year plan, the Habit Garden, the Wall of Wins, or Values).
Tap the Print / PDF button in the top right of the step.
The app builds a clean paper layout from your data (not a screenshot of the screen) and opens the print dialog. Pick a printer, or choose "Save as PDF".
Each view has its own purpose-made layout: plan sheets with checkbox squares for daily and weekly, a 12x31 year grid per habit, a chronological Wall of Wins keepsake, and a frameable Values card with your purpose statement. Every page carries a small Goals & Progress watermark.
How do I install on my phone?
iPhone (Safari): Share button → Add to Home Screen.
Android (Chrome): Three-dot menu → Install app (or Add to Home screen).
Desktop (Chrome / Edge): Install icon in the address bar (a small monitor with a download arrow).
Once installed, the app runs full-screen without the browser's address bar and toolbars. It caches the shell offline; you only need network for Dropbox sync.
How do I back up my data?
Two ways:
Manual: Topbar → Save button. A .save file downloads. Drop it in a cloud folder, email it to yourself, or stash it on a USB drive.
Automatic: Connect Dropbox sync (see above). The app saves your plan to Dropbox after every change.
If you have not saved in 7+ days and your plan has data, the app surfaces a soft save-reminder banner.
How do I switch devices (laptop to phone, say)?
Two paths:
With Dropbox sync: Connect Dropbox on device A. On device B, unlock the app and connect Dropbox. The plan auto-syncs.
Without Dropbox: On device A, tap Save in the topbar. Email the .save file to yourself. On device B, unlock the app, tap Load, pick the file from your email. Confirm overwrite.
Either way, your plan now lives on both devices. Future changes on either device need to be re-synced (manually via Save/Load, or automatically via Dropbox).
Troubleshooting
The app won't load.
Hard-refresh: Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows / Linux).
Check the browser console (F12 → Console tab) for errors. Screenshot the first red line.
Try a different browser. If it works elsewhere, the issue is in the first browser's cache.
If still broken, email support@goalsandprogress.com with the screenshot.
I forgot my password.
There is no in-app reset (the password is hashed in your browser). Check the welcome email from Goals and Progress first; otherwise email support@goalsandprogress.com and the password will be re-sent to you. Once you have it back, paste it and unlock.
I lost my data (cleared cache, switched browsers, etc.)
If you have a .save file: topbar → Load → pick it.
If you have Dropbox sync: open the app, connect Dropbox. The plan auto-restores.
If neither: unfortunately the data is gone. Set up Dropbox sync now so it does not happen again.
The theme looks broken (colors off, text unreadable).
Open Settings → Appearance.
Switch to Classic Glass (the default). The app should render cleanly.
Switch to Light or Dark mode explicitly. Sometimes the auto-detection from your OS gets confused.
Re-pick your preferred palette. The visual reset usually fixes it.
If a specific palette is broken in dark mode, email support with the palette name. It might be a contrast bug.
If that fails, Dropbox itself may be down; check status.dropbox.com.
The manual .save file path always works regardless of Dropbox status.
Privacy, cost, and how this is different
Where does my data live?
Your plan lives in your browser's localStorage. Nothing leaves your device unless you explicitly turn on Dropbox sync.
No account, no sign-up. The Beta password unlocks the app; it does not create a server-side profile.
No telemetry on your goals. Plausible Analytics tracks anonymous page views (cookieless, no IP retention). It cannot see what you wrote.
Dropbox sync (optional): writes a single .save file to Apps/Life Goals Program/ in your own Dropbox. The app cannot read anything else in your Dropbox; the app-folder scope is enforced by Dropbox.
If you clear browsing data, the plan is gone. Save a .save file weekly, or turn on Dropbox sync.
During Beta 1 (closes 31 August 2026): free for workbook owners, and free for the first 100 testers who fill in feedback.
After beta, the plan is to offer the app at a price that sits comfortably below most goal-and-habit apps you have already paid for. The workbook itself is $39.99 (one-time) at gumroad.com. The final app price is not set yet; beta testers will be the first to know and will get the final version free as the thank-you.
How is this different from Notion, Sunsama, Todoist, Streaks?
These are a different category of tool, not better or worse.
Notion goal templates are a blank canvas. You build the cascade yourself. This app ships the cascade. Use Notion if you like designing your own system. Use this app if you want the system pre-built.
Sunsama / Akiflow are daily-planning apps focused on calendar + tasks. They do not reach up to values, vision, or annual goals. Use Sunsama for the day, this app for the year, or both, linked through the ICS export.
Todoist / Things are task managers. They hold backlogs of hundreds of items. This app holds the three priorities for today, drawn from the cascade. Complementary, not competitive.
Streaks / Productive / Habitica are habit trackers with gamification. This app's Habit Garden tracks habits without points or leaderboards, and anchors each habit to a Summit Goal. Use Streaks if you want points and rewards. Use this app if you want each habit tied to a long-term goal.
Paper planners have no cascade enforcement and no reminders. They are excellent for the daily ritual of writing by hand. The app is excellent for the bookkeeping. There is no reason not to use both.