Time Periods
The Lifegrid splits across four time periods: day, week, month, and year. Each is a tab, and each shows the same kind of data (tasks, plans, reflections) at its own resolution.
Day View
The tightest zoom. Shows:
- Tasks pinned to a specific date.
- The day's plan slot (empty or filled).
- The day's retrospection slot - appears late in the day.
- Your habits for the day (based on their schedules).
Best for - checking in the morning, logging completions throughout the day, writing an evening reflection.
The day tab swipes between dates - slide left or right to move between yesterday, today, and tomorrow (or further back/forward).
Week View
Zooms out to the calendar week. Shows:
- Tasks pinned to the week (not any specific day).
- The week's plan slot (typically written at the start).
- The week's retrospection slot - appears the last couple of days of the week.
- A summary of the week's habit consistency.
Best for - Monday planning, mid-week check-ins, end-of-week retrospection.
Month View
Monthly scale. Shows:
- Tasks pinned to the month - bigger items you want to accomplish this month without a specific date.
- The month's plan slot (start-of-month intent).
- The month's retrospection slot - appears in the last week.
- Month-wide habit and goal summaries.
Best for - setting monthly focus, checking mid-month progress on ambitions, writing an end-of-month review.
Year View
The broadest zoom. Shows:
- Tasks pinned to the year - themes or long-running items.
- The year's plan slot (New Year intentions).
- The year's retrospection slot - December only.
- Yearly rollups of achievements, goals completed, streaks.
Best for - New Year planning, annual retrospection, seeing the shape of the whole year at once.
Navigating Between Periods
At the bottom of each tab, a vertical pager lets you scroll through the period's specific instances:
- Day tab - swipe through individual dates.
- Week tab - swipe through calendar weeks.
- Month tab - swipe through months.
- Year tab - swipe between years.
At any time you can jump back to "today" with a single tap - no need to scroll back manually.
Why Four Periods?
The four-scale model
A single to-do list collapses every time scale into one big pile. An app with fifteen views fragments attention. The four-period model (day/week/month/year) is a compromise that works for most people - enough zoom levels to handle "what's today" vs "what's this year," but not so many that switching views feels like switching apps. The tabs are quick to move between, and the same underlying data shows up at each scale.
Plan and Retrospection Windows
Each period type has its own window for when retrospections are available:
| Period | Plan Available | Retrospection Available |
|---|---|---|
| Day | Anytime | Late in the day |
| Week | Anytime | Last 2 days of the week |
| Month | Anytime | Last week of the month |
| Year | Anytime | December |
Plans have no window constraint - you can write a plan for a past, present, or future period. Retrospections lock to the "end of the period" feel by only being available near the actual end.
See Plans & Reflections.
Moving Tasks Between Periods
A task lives in one period at a time, but you can move it between periods by editing its period field. Realized a weekly task is really a monthly thing? Change it to the month view; it'll now live there.
Completion history and links (projects, goals) are preserved across moves.