Goal review

Goals I don’t look at are just wishes with a deadline. So I look at them: every Sunday evening for the week, and on the last day of the month or quarter for the bigger ones.

It takes 15 minutes. Most weeks the answer is “half of it happened, and the other half was too optimistic.” That’s fine. The point is knowing.

Kombine tells you when

On the last day of a period, Today shows a Period ending nudge, and every goal card counts the days left, green to orange to red. I don’t need a calendar reminder for the monthly review. The red card is the reminder.

The review

Open the week (or month, or quarter) that’s ending on Goals.

Android

Tap Details on the card: goals, tasks done, focus time, and linked tasks for that period.

iOS

Tap Details on the card: goals, tasks done, focus time, and linked tasks for that period.

Web

The card shows the period’s goals. For tasks and focus time, open Stats for the same period.

1. Tick what came true. Be strict. “Mostly done” isn’t done.
2. Check where the time went. Statistics for the same period: By activity and the Goals numbers. If a goal had zero focus time behind it, it wasn’t a goal, it was a mood.
3. Write the period note. Two or three lines: what worked, what didn’t, what to change. Future You reads these. Future You is surprisingly grateful.

The new period

4. Carry over or let go. When the new period starts, Kombine lists last period’s unfinished goals. Untick the ones that don’t matter anymore and carry the rest. Dropping a goal on purpose is a decision. Letting it rot is not.
5. Write the new goals. A few short lines per card: what has to be true by the end of the period. I keep it to two or three per week. More than that and I’m writing a wishlist again.
6. Link a task or two. If a goal needs a specific task to move, link it. The goal then shows how many of its tasks are done. Most tasks never need a link, and that’s fine.
7. Pick Monday’s toad. One task that moves this week’s goal. Monday morning then starts with a decision already made. See Daily planning.

Bigger periods

Month and quarter reviews are the same steps, just on a different card. I do them on the last day of the period instead of Sunday. The quarterly one is where I’m honest about whether the year goal is still the year goal.

Ended periods are locked, so you can’t quietly rewrite what you aimed for. You can still edit the note afterwards. Hindsight sometimes needs a day.

A review isn’t a report card. It’s the part where the plan meets what actually happened.