Scope RPG

Creating a Goal ​

Designing a custom goal walks through a short wizard - name, motivation, outcome, time horizon, and optional milestones. At the end, you've got a structured objective with a progress bar and a space for reflection.

Designing a goal

The Creation Wizard ​

The wizard steps:

  1. Goal idea - name the goal.
  2. Motivation - why does this matter to you?
  3. Desired outcome - what does "done" look like?
  4. Time horizon - week, month, quarter, or year.
  5. Milestones - optional sub-goals with their own sub-horizons.
  6. Reflection settings - whether you want weekly/monthly reflection prompts.
  7. Review - confirm and create.

Naming Your Goal ​

Pick a name that captures the destination:

Works wellLess helpful
"Run my first 5k""Fitness"
"Ship the app MVP by Q2""Project"
"Read 12 books this year""Reading"

Action-oriented, outcome-oriented, and specific. You can edit the name later, so a rough version is fine at creation time.

Writing a Clear Outcome ​

The "desired outcome" field is where you describe what success looks like in concrete terms:

  • Not: "Get healthier."
  • But: "Run 5k in under 30 minutes."

Concrete outcomes make the goal completable. If you can't tell whether you've achieved it, the goal will drift indefinitely. Spend a minute on this step - it pays off later.

Adding Motivation ​

Optional but recommended - a short paragraph explaining why this goal matters to you. The motivation shows up on the goal detail page and is there for you to re-read on the mornings you're not feeling it.

Write the motivation for future you

You're motivated now, which is why you're creating the goal. The motivation field exists for the day you wake up and don't feel like working on it. What would you want to say to that version of yourself?

Setting a Time Horizon ​

Pick how long the goal should span:

  • Week - short, focused objectives. Great for testing out a new habit or pushing through a specific project sprint.
  • Month - the most common horizon. Long enough to build momentum, short enough to stay urgent.
  • Quarter / 3 months - for multi-phase work.
  • Year - annual ambitions, often decomposed into quarterly sub-goals.

Longer horizons auto-split into smaller sub-goals if you want (weekly inside a month, monthly inside a quarter, quarterly inside a year). See Sub-Goals & Milestones.

Choosing Required Habits ​

Custom goals don't have required habits in the strict sense (that's a premade-goal concept). You can link any habits you want to a custom goal to associate them with the objective, and linked habits appear on the goal's detail page - but there's no gate saying "you must keep this habit alive to complete the goal."

If you want the "required habit" discipline, adopt a premade goal instead.

Adding Sub-Goals ​

If your horizon is longer than a week, you can add sub-goals - smaller milestones with their own outcomes and deadlines. The wizard nudges you toward sensible splits (weekly under a month, monthly under a quarter). You can also add custom sub-goals with arbitrary names.

See Sub-Goals & Milestones.

Reflection Settings ​

Scope can remind you to write a reflection at the end of each period - a guided journal entry that asks you to look back on the week or month. The wizard lets you opt in or out per goal.

If you enable reflection, the goal's detail page will show reflection slots when each period's reflection window opens (the last few days of the period).

Saving ​

Once you confirm, the goal is created and appears on your goals list. You can edit almost everything afterward - name, description, motivation, outcome, sub-goals, reflection settings - so don't worry about getting every field perfect on the first pass.

What You Can't Change Later ​

A couple of things are locked after creation:

  • The goal type (custom vs premade). A custom goal can't be converted into a premade one, and vice versa.
  • The time horizon can be extended but not shortened below the current sub-goal structure.