Use cases
Goals — where it earns its place
On Goals —
A goal that lives only in your head is a wish with good posture. Goals gives each ambition three honest fields: what it is, how far along it is in percent, and when it's due by. Watching a number crawl from 40 to 45 is unglamorous, which is exactly what real progress looks like. On this page: three concrete ways someone who has tried the whole aisle and quietly wants less of it reaches for the Goals, and the signals that tell you it fits.
When the Goals earns its place
As a tracker, the Goals keeps goal, progress %, and by — no more, no less — so the record is small enough to actually read back.
Most tools in this category — Todoist, Things, Sunsama, focus-timer apps with premium tiers — solve a version of the same problem, then bill you monthly for the privilege of remembering it. The Goals takes the opposite bargain: one file, once, kept.
Three scenarios drawn from ambition, and growth
The everyday one: you open the Goals on a Tuesday morning, log what needs logging, and close it. Two minutes. The record is more honest than the app that pinged you to remind you.
The specific one: — the workflow it names is the record that most needs a home outside a subscription. Some people use only the Goals. Some fold it into a Swiss Knife next to five others. Both are correct.
The out-of-band one: months later, you want to look back. The Goals still opens because it is a file. There is no login lapsed, no export deadline missed. The record is where you left it.
Signals it fits someone who has tried the whole aisle and quietly wants less of it
You want a productivity tool that behaves like a document, not a service. You are comfortable typing your own numbers in. You would rather own the file than rent the log. Weight in the knife: 1. Manual: no manual — the tool is its own instructions.
Signals it fits
- You do this kind of record-keeping more than onceThe Goals pays back every time you don't have to reinvent the shape.
- You want it offline, on your own machineNo account, no cloud, no vendor between you and the record.
- You're comfortable with a hand-kept fileThe Goals is a document. It behaves like one.
Questions people ask
How does the Goals tracker measure progress?
You give each goal a progress percentage and update it yourself as you go, alongside a target date. You're the judge — the tool just keeps the score visible so the goal can't quietly evaporate.
Is this a full replacement for Todoist?
For the working core of what most people use it for — yes. For enterprise features (team seats, integrations, auto-import), no. The Goals is deliberately smaller and more honest about its scope.
Who is the Goals not for?
Someone who has tried the whole aisle and quietly wants less of it's opposite: a team that needs shared cloud state, or someone who wants automation over ownership. Use a SaaS for that; use this for the file.
A productivity tool that opens where you left it, on the machine you left it on.