Goals & Progress
Start one habit and mark it every day
A habit in the Goals & Progress Life Goals App is one small action you repeat and tick off. You write it once, mark each day, and make it smaller when it grows too big for your week.
Where you are in the journey
You have a week plan, and you close each day with a reflection. That was “Close your day and your week in the Life Goals App”. Habits are the part you touch every day. Next comes “Check in on the month and the quarter, close the year“.
What you will learn
- Where to add a habit, and what the Habit Library gives you.
- What to write in the five fields of one habit.
- What Done, Lazy day and Not yet do to your streak.
- How to make a habit smaller, and how to start again after a long break.
Open the Habit Garden
Habits unlock after your first week plan. To start here instead, press Habits while it is locked and take Start with habits instead.
On the computer the step is called the Habit Garden and shows one habit per page. On the phone it is the third tab, Habits, with three views: Today, Week and Year.
Add your first habit
- On the phone, tap Habits, then New habit.
- On the computer, open the Habit Garden and press New habit.
- In the New habit window, press Pick from the Library or press Start blank.
- In the Habit Library, press a card to fill the form.
- In Habit, write the smallest version of the action.
- Fill in Identity statement, Habit stack and Lazy day version.
- Open Reason why and reward and fill in both fields.
You open the Habit Library at step 3. It holds 250 cards, 25 for each of the ten life areas, and your focus areas come first.
The card you press fills in every field for you, and you rewrite any of them. The search box matches the habit name or its keywords.
100 cards come in three sizes. Press Getting started, Consistent or Ambitious on the card. That size sets the habit name and the lazy day version. A blank habit starts with its name alone.
The example plan belongs to Maya Chen, a bank branch manager. She runs three habits: “30-min diploma study block”, “20-min run or strength · M/W/F” and “Phones away at family dinner”.
Write the trigger into Habit stack
The Habit stack field is your trigger, and it is the only trigger inside the habit. A habit has no reminder time of its own. To get a nudge, give the habit a time in Reminder calendar and add the file to your calendar.
On the computer you fill in the five fields under Habit definition. Habit stack is the third one.
Write the routine you have, then the new thing: after I make coffee, I will study for 30 minutes. Maya wrote “Weekday mornings, 6:30 to 7:00, before the branch opens.”
Pick a routine that happens whether you feel like it or not. Habit stacking helps you find one.
Write the lazy day version before you need it
The Lazy day version is the two-minute version for a hard day. Write it on a good day, when being generous is easy. Maya’s run habit has this one: “10-min walk around the block, shoes on still counts.”
A Lazy day mark keeps your streak going, in amber instead of green. On the phone you see the whole year of one habit in colour.
An empty day at or before yesterday ends the run. The app’s lazy day version page gives the size: ten minutes of walking instead of a thirty minute run.
Mark a day Done, Lazy day or Not yet
- On the phone, open Habits and stay on Today.
- Tap the circle next to a habit. One tap for Done, two for Lazy day, three for Not yet.
- On the computer, open the Habit Garden and press a square under Year tracker.
- On the computer’s day screen, press Set today’s plan, open Review and use Tick your habits.
- Step back with the day arrows to mark a day you forgot.
On the phone you mark your habits on Today, each one with its own circle.
All three states have words on the phone, so you never decode a colour. Not yet means the day is still open, not a miss.
What the streak counts
One habit shows you four numbers. The Current streak comes first, then seven dots for the last week. The other two are your longest run and your total days.
On the phone you read the same four numbers on Year.
A Lazy day counts like a Done for the streak and for the kept count on Habits. The consistency percent on a week or month screen reads the same day differently.
| What you marked | Your streak | The consistency percent | |—|—|—| | Done | keeps going | one full day | | Lazy day | keeps going | half a day | | Nothing yet, today | keeps going | today is already in the sum | | Nothing, an earlier day | ends | zero for that day | | Nothing, on a day you marked with Mark as a break | untouched | that day is left out |
A mark you make on a break day still counts for you.
Two badges come out of habits. You earn First 3-day streak when any habit reaches three days, and The comeback when you mark Done the day after a Lazy day. You earn each once, and both become cards on your Wall of Wins.
Make the habit smaller when you keep missing it
Three lazy days in a row mean the full habit is too big. Rewrite the Habit field smaller, 500 words instead of 1,000, and shrink the Lazy day version with it. Your streak and your grid stay when you edit in place.
The other way costs you the streak. Rename the big version as your stretch goal, then add a smaller habit at zero.
Come back after a break
Mark Lazy day on a day you cannot do the full thing. Mark Done the next day and you earn The comeback. The two day rule covers the day after a day you missed.
After 90 days with nothing marked, a Start again button turns up on that habit, under a line such as “Nothing marked for 96 days. Your last streak was 12 days.” Press it, and the app marks today and counts the streak from 1. Your old marks and your record stay.
How many habits should you have?
One to three. Add a fourth when the first ones need no thought. Nothing in the app ties a habit to a goal. You pick the habit that makes one Summit Goal almost certain, then write that reason into Reason why. How a habit tracker survives bad days works the same count on paper.
A habit has a trigger, then an action, then a reward, and each gets a field here. The trigger, action, reward loop explains why the reward matters.
Try these tips and tricks
- After a Library pick you get one “Pairs well with” note. Add it or dismiss it.
- Type a habit into Add a habit under Tick your habits. It gets a name only, so open Manage in Habit Garden for the other fields.
- Change the wording whenever you want. It counts from today, and older days keep what you ticked.
- Delete habit is permanent and the grid goes with it. Keep a stopped habit with an empty grid instead.
Key takeaways
- One to three habits at a time. Add more once the first ones run by themselves.
- The five fields are Habit, Identity statement, Habit stack, Lazy day version and Reason why and reward.
- A Done mark and a Lazy day mark both keep a streak alive. An empty day before today ends it.
- Rewrite the wording in place to keep your streak and your grid.
- Start again turns up after 90 days with nothing marked.
Mark today before you close this page
Open Habits and tap the circle beside one habit. If today was hard, tap it twice for Lazy day. One mark is the whole job for today. The app’s own recipe, start a habit, mark it, and change it later, walks the same steps with pictures.
