Goals & Progress
Turn your five values into one sentence
Your purpose sentence is one line on why you do what you do. The Goals & Progress Life Goals App drafts three versions of it from your five ranked values. You edit words instead of facing an empty field, and the step takes about 5 minutes.
Where you are in the journey
You have five values in rank order. That was the guide before this one, Find your five values. The sentence you write here sits one step under them in the Goals and Progress method. After this one you score your ten life areas and mark two or three of them, in Score your life areas and pick your focus.
What you will learn
- Where the three starter sentences come from.
- How to build your own sentence from three pieces.
- How to change the wording later.
- Which later screens use your sentence.
Open the Purpose step
On a computer, open Purpose in the row of steps. On the phone, open Purpose from the Home list.
Two tabs run across the top of the step. Craft your purpose is where you write. Where it shows up lists the later screens that use your sentence.
Under the first tab you choose a path: Pick a starter sentence or Build your own. A computer puts both paths side by side, so you can read them before you pick one.
On the left you read three ready drafts. On the right you fill in three fields yourself. One path is enough.
On a phone both panels stay folded. You tap one to open it, and the other one closes.
Either way you end up in the same place: one sentence you can edit in Refine the wording.
Pick one of the three drafts
The Life Goals App builds the drafts from your top five values, so a re-rank changes them. In Full Mode you get three drafts, in Essentials Mode one. Essentials Mode is the shorter version of the app, and Settings, Profile is where you switch. The five values in the example plan belong to Maya Chen, a bank branch manager: Connection, Discipline, Security, Growth and Fun.
- On Craft your purpose, tap Pick a starter sentence.
- Read the three drafts and their labels: Built on your top value, Top three woven, Daily voice.
- Tap the draft closest to what you mean.
All three of Maya’s drafts build on Connection, her top value. Two of them also use Discipline, her second.
Maya’s first draft: “I exist to stay close to the people who matter most, guided every day by connection and discipline.”
One tap saves a draft and opens Refine the wording with the sentence in it.
In Essentials Mode you see one draft and a Show me a different draft button that moves to the next of the three.
Build your own from three pieces
Say you coach a youth football team on Saturdays. The builder gives you three fields and assembles the line while you type.
- On Craft your purpose, tap Build your own.
- In To (action verb), write one verb, such as coach.
- In For (whom this serves), write who it serves, such as the kids in my Saturday team.
- In So that (the change you want), write the change you want.
- Check the line under Live preview.
- Tap Use this sentence.
Maya used the same three fields, with one word in the first one.
Use this sentence stays greyed out until you write something in the first field. The other two fields can stay empty, and the line still works.
One tap saves your line. The step then shows Purpose set, with a Where your purpose shows up button next to it.
Change the wording until it sounds like you
Open Refine the wording and edit the text in Your purpose statement. The Life Goals App saves while you type, so there is no second button to press. On the phone the row opens into a card with your sentence in it.
Maya filled all three pieces first: finish, what I started for my family, my team, and myself, and I do it inside the workweek. She then rewrote the line by hand. Her saved sentence starts: “This year I want to finish what I started.” Four things she wants this year come after it.
Nothing in the app counts your sentences, so hers runs to two. The step counts as done once your text reaches eight characters. Clear purpose empties the sentence and the three fields, asks you to confirm first, and leaves your five values alone.
Write it for this year, not for your whole life
The app’s walkthrough gives one rule for the content: write the sentence for this year. A year of recovery has a different purpose from a year of building, and both are fine. Our values list sets the same test on its Purpose card: a purpose is a why you can write down and check against your week.
See where your sentence shows up
Open Where it shows up to get three rows, one for each screen that uses your sentence later.
- In Vision, the interview asks what your why looks like on an ordinary Tuesday five years out.
- In Summit Goals, each goal has to earn its place against this line. Goal cascading from vision to daily tasks walks that chain down to today.
- On the day screen, as a short quote over the day plan.
The day screen has room for one small line over the plan. A habit streak fills it first, then the day’s value line, then yesterday’s note. Your purpose quote shows on the days when the other three are empty.
The last row of the step is Continue to Life Areas, which opens the next step of the plan.
Your sentence also prints under your five values. The card at the end of the step has a View and save button, which keeps it as a picture.
Try these tips and tricks
- Rank all five values first. With fewer than five ranked, the step has no drafts to show and sends you back to Values. The core values finder on this site is a second way to cut a list down to five.
- Bring a draft over from Values. Its Rank your five tab shows Your draft purpose sentence, and one tap moves it into Purpose.
- Do the Strengths Profile first, the three minute check on how you work best. A line over the two paths then gives your strengths, so you can work them into the sentence. Maya’s three: Follow-through, Trust builder, Level head.
- Press the question mark next to the step title for the app’s own notes on the sentence.
- Re-read your sentence at the month check-in. The second and the fourth quarter check-in add a short pause with it. It has an Edit purpose link.
- Hide the quote on the day screen with its small cross. To bring it back, open Settings, Reminders, Hidden messages, then Show them again.
Key takeaways
- Your purpose sentence is one line on why, drawn from your ranked top five values.
- Pick a starter sentence gives you three drafts, Build your own gives you three fields.
- Use this sentence works once you fill the first field.
- Edits in Refine the wording save while you type, and Clear purpose empties the step.
- Write the sentence for this year, and change it when it no longer fits.
Open Purpose, tap Pick a starter sentence, and read the three drafts built from your values. Tap the one that comes closest and leave it there for today. You can rewrite it at your next month check-in. The app’s own recipe, write your purpose sentence, has the same steps with pictures.
