# Whittle down goal is confusing **URL:** \ **Category:** Newbee\ **Created:** [December 14, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/whittle-down-goal-is-confusing/1737 "2015-12-14T23:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![geo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/geo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/whittle-down-goal-is-confusing/1737/1 "2015-12-14T23:58:24Z")
Trying a whittle down goal. Set it up to complete reports I’m behind on. I’m behind by 11. So when I set it up in “today’s value” I entered “11”. Underneath that box it says “Your yellow brick road will start (almost) flat. Dial it down when ready with the road dial below your graph!”. I hit “create goal” and I have a straight horizontal line (yellow brick road" going through “11” with a target at the date of the goal. It doesn’t seem to make much sense, so I went to the “dial road” and changed the “goal value” to “0” since that’s where I want to be in on the goal date. Now I have a straight line for a week that drops off sharply to 0 representing the yellow brick road. I would think I’d want a nice smooth line representing steady progress to 0. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![drtall](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/drtall/32/1341_2.png) [@drtall](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/drtall)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/whittle-down-goal-is-confusing/1737/2 "2015-12-15T00:06:35Z")
The steepness is also a function of what goal date you set. If you set a date that is, say, 11 weeks away you’ll only have to do 1 thing per week. Alternatively you can set the weekly rate and Beeminder will calculate the effective end date for you. I’m referring to the “Dial Road” thingy: [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/x48l4bcsk557j8j/Screenshot%202015-12-14%2016.06.32.png?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/x48l4bcsk557j8j/Screenshot%202015-12-14%2016.06.32.png?dl=0) ---
**Author:** ![geo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/geo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/whittle-down-goal-is-confusing/1737/3 "2015-12-15T00:13:28Z")
![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/beeminder/original/1X/d1e2272075e5a56bf6b8f41f5e4d37e1baf6bc84.png) Thanks for the quick reply. Maybe I’m just not giving the graph time to settle in or maybe my goal is too short. I want to finish 11 reports by Dec 22. It appears that I have too much of a leeway before I derail (goal date passes). But if I use retrorachet it sets the goal value to 0. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![drtall](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/drtall/32/1341_2.png) [@drtall](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/drtall)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/whittle-down-goal-is-confusing/1737/4 "2015-12-15T00:45:04Z")
Oh, if it is really that much of a short-term thing I would email [support@beeminder.com](mailto:support@beeminder.com). Ideally you would be allowed to edit the road within the Akrasia Horizon to make it harder, but as-is you need to email them to make any edits to the road between now and a week from today. ---
**Author:** ![geo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/geo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/whittle-down-goal-is-confusing/1737/5 "2015-12-15T00:55:45Z")
I suspected that was the case. So I created a “do more” goal and calculated the number of reports I’d have to do to get caught up by the date when I want to get caught up (circled below). Now I am getting the metrics I want (also circled below). Once I’m caught up I can dial back my goal to stay on track. Thanks again for the feedback. ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/beeminder/original/1X/5a99c1f5a0fe7f0acfd5c0bb25348fad588bc92c.png)