Thanks for being open to that mental reframing, even if it hasn’t stuck so far! We actually have a whole series of posts trying to make the case for that reframing. I’m working on yet another one and put together this rundown of the existing posts, in case anyone finds it useful:
The "derailing is good-actually" series
- "Bee Nice To Yourself" (2014) planted the seed for the rest of this list. It's our cofounder, Bee, pointing out that treating oneself to a derailment now and then is ok. It even helps clarify the value you have for various behaviors. Bee asks herself, for example, "how much do I want to not go for a run right now?" If it's less than $10, she'll run. If it's more, she'll pay. And if she gets up to $90 at stake and still does't want to go running, she'll re-evaluate why she's trying to get herself to run in the first place.
- "Derailing Is Not Failing" (2019) argues that Beeminder revenue is proportiional to user-awesomeness -- that pushing yourself hard enough that you sometimes derail is great for us and great for you. You don’t know how much more you could be accomplishing unless you sometimes find your limits!
- "Paying Is Not Punishment" (2022) is a prelude to the subsequent announcement of No-Excuses Mode and advocates for a generally less excuse-making and more results-oriented mentality with Bee minder.
- "Derailing It Is Nailing It" (2023) turns the concept up to eleven and gives it a positive spin.
- "Beeminder As Your Personal Pigouvian Tax" (2024) argues for a reframing from a punitive to a taxing mindset, where you treat Beeminder's stings as a behavior-shaping tax and accept that some derailments are inevitable. You can view that tax as the cost of the service Beeminder provides: nudges or rumble strips keeping you on track.
I don’t buy the logic here. The right metric is how often you derail per unit of time you’re on track. Quitting while you’re ahead is still quitting.
A lot of the other points here are great, like having milestones, points to reflect and reassess. I agree that Beeminder should have better support for that.
My best recommendations in the meantime include calendialing and, as you mentioned, the hashtag feature for displaying milestones on your graph. And of course just scheduling breaks as times to reflect and reassess.
I’m worried people underestimate Cranial Silicosis. If a goal ends, the path of least resistance is to leave it ended. If you just schedule a long break, the path of least resistance is for it to eventually start back up again
I do buy the use case of reading books though. That’s the one thing I beemind where I too set end dates on my goals. Though even there, I’m wondering if I may want to mostly go back to having an ongoing reading goal, using the odometer reset feature when I start each new book.
But recently, as one example, someone really wanted me to read a book (Bryan Caplan’s new graphic novel about YIMBYism) and offered to send me a copy. I’m always afraid to say yes to an offer like that in case I fail to actually read it. So it’s nice to able to point the person at a Beeminder graph:
https://www.beeminder.com/d/readcaplan
(If you’re curious: the book is correct. Preaching to the choir in my case.)
So that’s my one clear use case for goals that end. I strongly disagree with putting an end date on something like a 10k steps/day goal.
Technically speaking, a goal ending is like a mega flat spot!