Before you begin

What you will put into practice

  • Open Settings → Goals to create the canonical Goal Loop.
  • Manual Goal Loops work on every tier and offline.
  • Choose an available intent set as the loop’s Direction.
  • Save a draft or activate deliberately; no session starts automatically.
  • Treat the separate Pro AI option as an editable draft only.

Begin in Settings → Goals

Open Settings, choose Goals, and select Create Goal Loop. Manual setup is available on every tier and works offline because the goal, plan, sessions, and reflections are kept locally.

The loop has a simple shape: Direction → Protected session → Evidence. Direction keeps the goal’s language available during work; a protected session creates a boundary; evidence informs the next action.

Try this

  1. Open Settings → Goals.
  2. Select Create Goal Loop.
  3. Use manual setup; AI is not required.

Define the outcome and time you can protect

Enter what you want to accomplish and what done looks like. Why it matters and a target date are optional. Then choose time to protect each week, session length, sessions each week, preferred days, and a preferred window.

Specific success language makes later evidence easier to interpret. Research on mental contrasting and implementation intentions suggests that pairing a desired result with foreseeable obstacles and concrete responses may support follow-through, but no planning format guarantees completion.

Try this

  1. Name one outcome in plain language.
  2. Describe visible evidence of done.
  3. Choose a cadence that fits the week you actually have.
  4. If a predictable obstacle exists, capture a practical response in a milestone or reflection prompt.
Sources [2][1]

Choose the loop’s Direction

Select an intent set available on your plan. That set becomes the Goal Loop’s Direction and supplies the supporting intent you can carry into each protected session.

You can also add milestones and reflection prompts. Pro adds custom supporting intents, but a manual Goal Loop does not depend on them: an included intent set is enough to complete setup.

Try this

  1. Choose an available intent set.
  2. Add milestones as visible intermediate outcomes.
  3. Add short reflection prompts only when they will help you read the evidence.

Review, then save or activate

The Review step shows the goal, success definition, intent direction, focus cadence, and the fact that the first reminder is calculated locally only after activation.

Save draft keeps the loop unscheduled. Activate Goal Loop creates future local planned sessions and reminders. Activation never starts a focus session for you; you still choose when to begin.

Try this

  1. Read the complete review.
  2. Choose Save draft if the direction or cadence still needs work.
  3. Choose Activate Goal Loop only when you want local plans and reminders created.

Keep AI as a separate Pro enhancement

Draft with AI is a separate Pro enhancement, not the Goal Loop itself. It can propose outcome language, milestones, reflection prompts, supporting intents, and a session recommendation.

AI output remains editable. Review or replace every line. Generating output never activates the Goal Loop and never schedules sessions; only your later Activate Goal Loop choice creates local plans and reminders.

Try this

  1. Use Draft with AI only if you want a starting point.
  2. Edit the proposed language and cadence before Review.
  3. Save as a draft or activate explicitly—AI never makes that choice.

Put it into Intent Tab

A 8-minute setup

Create one Goal Loop with clear Direction and a realistic local cadence.

Included

Settings → Goals

Create, edit, save, and activate manual Goal Loops offline.

Included

Intent set Direction

Link an intent set available on your plan to the loop.

Pro

Draft with AI

Generate an editable setup draft without activation or scheduling.

Review promptIs the outcome clear enough to recognize, and is the protected cadence realistic before I activate it?

Worked example

See the pattern in practice

Goal
Publish the first course module
Success Definition
Lessons one through three are edited and uploaded for review.
Direction
Choose the intent set that best supports finishing visible drafts.
Cadence
Three 45-minute local planned sessions each week.

Research notes

Sources behind this guide

  1. 01
    Implementation Intentions and Effective Goal Pursuit

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; PDF hosted by Stanford SPARQ

    Cautious context on connecting foreseeable cues with concrete responses.
  2. 02
    A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment

    Frontiers in Psychology via PubMed Central

    Cautious context on desired outcomes, obstacles, and implementation plans.

Content was rephrased for compliance with licensing restrictions. Research findings describe average effects, not guaranteed individual outcomes.