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A goal is an outcome you want to reach, like running a half-marathon or saving an emergency fund. Each goal has a page with dates, a progress bar and chart, subgoals, and the tasks, projects, habits and notes that move it forward. This page covers creating goals, measuring progress, and finishing, archiving or deleting them.
The Goals page listing goals under their life areas, each with a progress bar and percentage, a start date and the time left until its deadline

The Goals page, grouped by life area

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Create a goal

1

Open Goals

Click Goals under My Life in the sidebar, or press G then G.
2

Click New goal

Click New goal at the top right. The new goal opens straight away.
3

Name and describe it

Type a name in place of New goal. To add detail, point at the space above the name and click Add description.
4

Pick a life area

Click under Life area and choose the part of your life the goal belongs to.
You can also click Add goal on a life area’s page. The goal is created in that area. To change the icon or color, click the icon next to the name. It’s the same picker as for life areas. In the color list, turn on Inherit color to use the color of the goal’s life area, or of its parent goal for a subgoal.
The goal Run my first half-marathon with Life area, Date and Progress at the top, a Progress section showing 222 of 300 km with Update and History buttons and a line chart, and a Subgoals section below

A goal's page with manual progress

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Set a start date and deadline

  1. On the goal’s page, click under Date.
  2. Pick the start date.
  3. Turn on Deadline and pick the end date.
Your goals list then shows the time left, such as “6m left”, or Due today on the day itself. To remove the dates, open the same calendar and click Clear.

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Break a goal into subgoals

Subgoals split a big goal into smaller steps.
  1. Open the goal.
  2. In the Subgoals section, click Add subgoal.
The subgoal opens with the parent’s icon, color and dates, in the same life area. You can also point at a goal in the Goals list, click the handle that appears at its left, and choose Create subgoal.
The menu next to a goal in the Goals list, with Create subgoal, Mark completed, Archive and Delete

The menu behind a goal's handle

To turn an existing goal into a subgoal, drag it onto the middle of another goal in the Goals list. Drag it back out between two top-level goals to undo that. Subgoals have their own page, dates and progress, but they can’t have subgoals of their own, and a goal that has subgoals can’t become one.

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Choose how progress is measured

Click the progress bar under Progress on the goal’s page and pick one of three options.
Adding a subgoal to a goal that uses Completed tasks switches that goal to Subgoal progress. You can switch it back at any time.

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Set up a manual goal

When you pick Manual, more settings appear in the same menu:
  • Unit type: Number, Money, Percentage, Weight, Distance, Time, Height, Pages, Chapters, or Custom to type your own unit (for example reps).
  • Unit: for some types, the exact unit. Money offers $, €, £ and ¥; Weight kg and lbs; Distance km and mi; Time hours and minutes; Height ft, m and cm.
  • Start and Target: where you begin and where you want to end up. The target can be lower than the start, for a goal like losing weight.
The first time you pick Manual, Heym fills in a percentage from Start 0 to Target 100. Change the unit and numbers to your own.
The Progress menu listing Completed tasks, Subgoal progress and Manual with a check mark, and below it Unit type set to Distance, Unit km, Start 0 and Target 300

The Progress menu with Manual selected

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Log progress on a manual goal

1

Click Update

Open the goal and click Update in the Progress section.
2

Enter the number

Choose Enter new total and type your current number, or choose Add to total and type the amount to add. A negative amount subtracts.
3

Pick the day

The entry is for today. Click Today to choose an earlier day. Future days can’t be picked.
4

Save

Add a note if you like, then click Save.
The update form with Enter new total and Add to total, Today as the date, 222 km as the value, a note box and a Save button

Logging a new total

The chart in the Progress section shows your entries over time. Click History to see every entry. There, click Add new to log another one, or click an entry to change its number, date or note, or to Delete it.
The History window listing dates from Nov 3, 2026 back to Sep 5, 2026 with their New total in km, and an Add new button

Every entry of a manual goal

A goal’s page has a section for each kind of item that moves it forward:
  • Tasks: click Add task to create a task in the goal. To move an existing task in, open it and set its Alignment to the goal.
  • Projects: open the project and set its Alignment to the goal. The goal’s page then lists it under Projects. See Projects.
  • Habits and Notes: click Add habit or Add note, or set the item’s Alignment to the goal.
An item aligned to a goal also belongs to the goal’s life area.

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Complete a goal

  1. On the goal’s page, click ⋯ at the top right and choose Mark completed. In the Goals list, use the handle menu instead.
  2. If the goal still has open subgoals, Heym asks: choose Complete all to finish them too, or Just this goal.
The window Complete goal and subgoals? saying the goal has 1 incomplete subgoal, with Cancel, Just this goal and Complete all

Completing a goal that has an open subgoal

Completed goals leave the Goals list. To see them, turn on Show completed in the view settings. To reopen one, choose Mark incomplete from the same menu.

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Archive or delete a goal

On the goal’s page, click ⋯ at the top right, or use the handle menu in the Goals list, and choose Archive or Delete. Archive puts a goal away without losing anything. Its subgoals are archived with it, and an archived goal is read-only. To find it again, turn on Show archived in the view settings, then open its menu and choose Restore. Delete removes a goal for good after you confirm in the Delete goal window.
Deleting a goal is permanent: it doesn’t go to Trash, and its subgoals are deleted with it. Its tasks, projects, habits and notes are kept, but they’re no longer linked to the goal. See Undo and Trash.

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Sort and group your goals

Click the view settings button (the sliders icon) at the top of the Goals page. With Group set to Life area, drag a goal into another area’s group to move it to that area. Its subgoals move with it.

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Good to know

Completed tasks counts only tasks aligned to the goal itself. A task in a project belongs to the project, even when the project is linked to the goal, so it moves the project’s progress instead. A task can belong to one place: a project, a goal or a life area.
No. A subgoal’s bar comes from its own tasks or numbers, and Subgoal progress averages those bars. Marking a subgoal completed doesn’t set it to 100%, and marking a goal completed doesn’t complete its tasks.
Not while its parent goal is archived. Its menu says Returns with its parent goal, so restore the parent instead. A subgoal you archived on its own, under an active parent, can be restored directly.
Yes, with Pro you can share a goal: click Share at the top right of its page. Its subgoals and the projects, tasks and notes linked to it come along. See Share with others.
Yes. Click the progress bar under Progress and pick another option. If you switch back to Manual, the unit, start, target and entries you had are still there.

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Limits

The Free plan includes 3 goals, and subgoals count toward them. Completed goals don’t count; archived goals do. Pro has no limit. See Free, Pro and Lifetime.

Life areas

Group goals by the part of life they serve.

Projects

Plan the work toward a goal in sections and milestones.

Habits

Build the routines that get you there.

How Heym works

Goal or project, habit or repeating task.