# New user very lost: Deadlines, daily vs weekly, yellow line sloping up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Newbee\ **Created:** [March 31, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642 "2015-03-31T05:14:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lakercat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lakercat](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/lakercat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642/1 "2015-03-31T05:14:40Z")
I am a newbie here, and I am interested in using beeminder. However, I find the interface a bit complex and difficult to use due to its various customization features, and I can’t find any specific guides anywhere. So I was wondering if anyone knows any _specific_ newbie guides that will teach me how to use beeminder. I’ve read the new user guide on the blog, but it is not really specific enough for me. For example, is there any way for me to set a deadline for my goal? How do I change my goal rate from daily to weekly? Also, I don’t necessarily want to increase what I’m doing for my goal, (but that’s what the steep yellow line shows right?) so how do I set beeminder at a constant rate every week? Any way, I’m just super confused and a little intimidated by beeminder right now. I would appreciate it If anyone can point me in the right direction or provide any suggestion/help on how to use this. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 6:33am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642/2 "2015-03-31T06:33:48Z")
Welcome! I can’t tell you how valuable it is to answer questions like this (or, even better, see veterans’ answers – I don’t want to make others shy to jump in on such questions) because we learn so much about how to make Beeminder less confusing and off-putting to newbees (which our business very much depends on). So, let me take initial stabs at answers, and please keep asking! 1. Deadlines and end dates. You can set the end date of the goal with the Road Dial right under the graph. And what we refer to as the deadline is the time of day that you have to have your datapoint on the Yellow Brick Road each day. There’s a link to change that next to the countdown timer above the graph. 2. Daily vs weekly. First thing to clarify is that this is just cosmetic – “3 per day” is equivalent to “21 per week”. But if it’s easier to think in terms of daily instead of weekly, the option is in Terrifyingly Advanced Settings (and shouldn’t be; thank you for the reminder that [settings need to be reorganized](http://forum.beeminder.com/t/rearranging-settings/330/2?u=dreev "Forum post with a wiki for rearranging settings")!). 3. Yellow Brick Road sloping up. This is a common point of confusion and I’m failing to find a concise explanation in [the Newbees post](http://blog.beeminder.com/newbees "Beeminder: A User's Guide for New Bees") or [the FAQ](http://beeminder.com/faq "Oy, too many places to find information!") so thank you again for asking about this! Wait, here it is, [in the Glossary entry for “Do More”](http://blog.beeminder.com/glossary/#domore "I can never decide whether to be proud or embarrassed that we have a glossary. I guess both. Proud because Beeminder is in fact pretty deep and the glossary is in fact awesome; but embarrassing that it's necessary because I know it's possible to have the full depth of Beeminder without so much confusion."). Short answer is that, no, an upward-sloping Yellow Brick Road doesn’t mean that the rate – the amount you’re doing per day or per week – is increasing. What’s plotted on the y-axis is (for standard Do More and Do Less goals) your cumulative total. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![tomjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tomjen](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/tomjen)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642/3 "2015-03-31T11:22:02Z")
There really should be a step-by-step guide in the official Beeminder wiki. We do have a wiki, right? (somewhere not [wikia.com](http://wikia.com), please). ---
**Author:** ![lakercat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lakercat](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/lakercat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642/4 "2015-03-31T17:33:51Z")
Thank you for clearing some ideas up! I found the glossary helpful! ---
**Author:** ![dollarflipper](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dollarflipper/32/109_2.png) [@dollarflipper](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dollarflipper)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642/5 "2015-04-07T20:25:33Z")
> so, I don’t necessarily want to increase what I’m doing for my goal, (but that’s what the steep yellow line shows right?) so how do I set beeminder at a constant rate every week? You either set the total you want to reach by date X (this fixes your weekly rate) or set a weekly rate by date X (this fixes the total). ---
**Author:** ![philip](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/philip/32/1505_2.png) [@philip](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/philip)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/new-user-very-lost-deadlines-daily-vs-weekly-yellow-line-sloping-up/642/6 "2015-04-08T06:53:50Z")
> [@lakercat](#): > > I don’t necessarily want to increase what I’m doing for my goal, (but that’s what the steep yellow line shows right?) The steep yellow line actually represents a constant rate, because your graph shows the cumulative total amount you’ve done so far. And it may not be as difficult as it seems steep. (Though you can change that using the road dial, as @dollarflipper described.) For a new goal, the road looks just as steep for something that’s easy as it does for something that’s challenging. That can be disorienting.