Goals

Goals is where you write down what you are working toward and keep it next to the people it depends on. Groupthink already remembers your people and what matters to them. A goal adds the other half: what you are trying to do, and who it runs through.

Where to Find It

Open Goals in the left sidebar, under More. The page lists everything you are working toward, newest first. If you have not added one yet, it starts empty with a prompt to add your first.

Your open goals also show under Goals on Today. Click one there to come back to this page. Completed goals and suggestions you have not confirmed are left out of Today.

Add a Goal

1. Click Add goal. Before you have any goals, it is in the prompt on the empty page. After your first goal, it is at the top right of the Goals page.
2. Fill in:
   • Goal - what you are trying to do, in a sentence. For example, "Become the person my top clients call first."
   • Category - Career, Relationship, or Personal. Optional. A goal you add from a person's page starts as Relationship.
   • What does done look like? - how you will know you got there. Optional.
   • Target date - when you want to check in on it. Optional. On a one-time goal it is display only (see below). On a repeating goal it sets the first next date.
   • Repeat - whether this is a one-time goal or something that comes back around. Defaults to One-time (no repeat). See Goals That Repeat.
3. Click Add goal to save. It appears at the top of your list.

On the Goals page, each goal's row has buttons to mark it complete and to edit it. The delete button shows when you hover over the row. A completed one-time goal stays on the list, crossed out and marked Completed, with a Reopen button in place of mark complete. On a person's page, a goal's row has mark complete and delete only, and delete also shows on hover; to edit the goal, open it from the Goals page.

Tie a Goal to a Person

Most of what you are working toward runs through someone. You can set a goal from a person's relationship page, and it lives on that page: the next time you open them, you see your history with them and the goal you are working on together, in one place.

A goal tied to a person shows up in that person's Goals section. A goal you add from the main Goals page stands on its own. To tie a goal to someone, add it from their page: open the person and click Add goal in their Goals section.

Goals That Repeat

Not everything you are working toward is a one-time thing you finish. Some of it is a standing commitment - "check in with my mentor every quarter," "call my parents every week," "remember our anniversary." Those are goals you want to keep, not goals you want to close.

Set Repeat on the goal to make it recur. Your options:

• One-time (no repeat) - the default. The goal behaves as it always has: you mark it complete and it is done.
• Daily, Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Every 6 months, Yearly - the goal comes back around on that rhythm.
• Custom (every N days) - pick your own interval. An Every field appears; enter the number of days, for example 90 to repeat every 90 days.

What happens when you complete a repeating goal

It does not disappear. Marking a repeating goal complete rolls it forward to its next occurrence and it stays on your list, ready for next time.

The next date is measured from the day you mark it complete, not from a fixed calendar slot. If your quarterly check-in slips by three weeks and you mark it complete the day you have it, the next one is three months from that day - so the rhythm follows your life instead of drifting out of reach.

A goal with no repeat is unaffected. Complete it and it is complete, exactly as before.

Yearly goals with a fixed date

Some things happen on the same date every year regardless of when you last did them. Choose Yearly and an optional Anchor date field appears - the fixed date this recurs on each year, like an anniversary or a birthday.

With an anchor date set, the next occurrence is always the next time that date comes around, rather than a year from your last completion.

How repeating goals appear in the list

A repeating goal shows its repeat rhythm and its next date - for example, "Next Sep 1, 2026" - in place of the static Target line a one-time goal shows.

For a goal that repeats on an interval, the first Next date is the Target date you set. If you leave Target date blank, the first Next date is one interval from the day you saved the goal.

On a person's page, a repeating goal shows the same repeat rhythm and Next date. A one-time goal there shows its Target line.

Suggested Goals

Groupthink can suggest a goal for you when it sees a pattern in your calendar: someone you have met in at least three different weeks over the last twelve. The suggestion is a goal to stay closely connected with that person, tied to them.

A suggestion is not one of your goals until you say so. It is marked with a Suggested chip and has two buttons:

• Confirm keeps it. It becomes an ordinary goal on your list, and on that person's page.
• Dismiss takes it off your list. Groupthink keeps a note that it suggested that goal, so it doesn't suggest it again for the same person.

A suggested goal stays out of your Today brief and meeting prep until you confirm it.

On the web

• On the Goals page, a suggestion shows in a softer card with the Suggested chip and how sure Groupthink is: Fairly confident, Possible, or Just a hunch.
• On a person's page, a suggestion shows in their Goals section with the same chip. Hover over the chip to see how sure Groupthink is.

On iPhone

• On a person's page, suggestions sit in their own Suggested group in the Goals section.
• In the People tab, tap the target button at the top left to open Goals. Suggestions sit in a Suggested section above Your goals.

Each suggestion shows the Suggested chip and how sure Groupthink is, in the same words as the web.

What Goals Does Not Do

Goals is a place to state intent, not a task manager.

• Groupthink uses your goals when it writes your Today brief and meeting prep.
• It does not send a reminder for a single goal, but your daily email lists your open goals under Goals, the same as Today.
• The target date is a note to yourself, not a deadline that triggers anything.

Repeating goals are the one place a goal carries a real date that Groupthink acts on: a repeating goal's next date is used to keep the goal on your list and roll it forward. Even then, Groupthink does not send a reminder for a single goal, but your daily email lists your open goals under Goals, the same as Today. The goal simply stays current instead of going stale.

The value is that what you are working toward is written down where your relationships already live, so it is context you see in the moment rather than a note you lose track of.

Goal Repeat Is Not Contact Frequency

These are two different clocks and it is worth keeping them straight:

• A goal's repeat is about you and something you intend to keep doing. It lives on the goal.
• A relationship's Cadence is a target for how often you want to be in touch with a particular person. You set it from the Cadence dropdown on their page, and the Relationships table shows it in the Frequency column. It drives the Going Cold filter. See Staying in Touch.

You can have both on the same person, and they do not have to match. A goal of "prep properly before every board meeting" repeats quarterly whether or not you are also trying to talk to that person monthly.

Getting Help

Questions about Goals? Email support@groupthink.com.