We already have beeminder.com/faq but here’s where we’ll collect additional FAQs that come up here on the forum.
Can I beemind a one-off task?
There are ways to make one-off tasks work with Beeminder, like Nick Winter’s skydiving commitment contract from The Motivation Hacker where he had to enter a single “1” by a certain day when he went skydiving.
But I think GTBee and the Must-Do system are better:
- GTBee is an iOS app we made that’s a to-do list with penalties for not completing the tasks on time.
- Must-Do goals where you enter a “1” each day that you did yesterday’s must-do and simultaneously choose tomorrow’s must-do.
Often it suffices to just beemind your to-do list, and there are many ways to do that with Zapier, IFTTT, Trello, and HabitRPG. You can also email yourself tasks and count on an inbox or GmailZero goal.
See also:
Am I being realistic trying to beemind with small kids?
The Beeminder founders find this question super funny. Their response in this discussion explains why:
What happens when a goal is met earlier than planned?
From @jdspates: So I met my goal earlier than planned which is great and I owe my progress to Beeminder. I want to create another one but do I have to wait until my goal date is here?
And thanks to @tomjen for a thorough answer which I’ll summarize like so:
Option 1 is to change the deadline using the Road Dial under your graph. If it makes sense we encourage you to continue the existing goal rather than let it end and create a new one.
Option 2 is to hit Archive to get rid of the goal. That takes a week to take effect but you can just ignore the goal until then, since you’ve already done enough to keep it happy indefinitely.
How do I turn off email data entry for automated goals?
From @debergeracvat: I have an integration with Nike+ running set up, and I’d like it to be the sole source of entering data. Just avoiding temptation before it raises its ugly head. 
@olimay has one answer which is to turn off email reminders altogether in the reminder settings (click the sprocket icon above the graph and then go to the Reminders tab).
I’d recommend at least keeping emergency email reminders turned on though and just making sure the “data source” choice in Terrifyingly Advanced Settings is set to something other than “manual”. Then the bot won’t prompt you for data by email.
How do I set a specific date deadline?
(Thanks to @marios47 and @drtall and @philip for this question and answers.)
The simple answer is that you already have a specific deadline, adjustable with the Road Dial under your graph!