Goals - 2bd

What Goals does

The Goals assistant tracks your goal hierarchy across all timescales - from daily 1-3-5 tasks up to yearly direction. It ensures your daily actions connect to quarterly quests and annual goals, so nothing falls through the cracks. During planning rituals, Goals helps you select tasks that advance your priorities. During reflection rituals, it reviews what you planned versus what happened, capturing insights for future sessions.

GPS methodology

GPS is a three-layer framework for turning ambitions into daily action.

Layer	Question	Purpose
Goal	What do I want?	Direction and motivation
Plan	How will I get there?	Strategy and milestones
System	What do I do today?	Daily execution and habits

Most productivity systems fail because they focus on one layer. GPS connects all three so your daily actions actually move you toward your goals.

Goal layer

Component	Purpose	Timescale
Life Compass	Core values, life areas, what matters most	Yearly
3-Year Sketch	Longer-term vision, directional aims	Yearly
Why	The motivation behind each goal	Yearly
Anti-Goals	What you explicitly avoid	Yearly

Plan layer

Component	Purpose	Timescale
Quarterly Quest	One primary focus for the quarter	Quarterly
Major Moves	3-5 strategic initiatives that advance the quest	Quarterly
80% Reality Check	Constraints, blockers, capacity assessment	Quarterly
Crystal Ball	What success looks like at quarter end	Quarterly

System layer

Component	Purpose	Timescale
Balanced Week Blueprint	Ideal week structure, recurring commitments	Weekly
1-3-5 Daily Method	Daily task selection (1 big, 3 medium, 5 small)	Daily
Tracking	Progress metrics, habit streaks	Daily
Reminders	Nudges and triggers	Daily
Accountability	Check-ins, commitments shared	Weekly

The 1-3-5 method

A simple constraint that prevents overcommitment:

Category	Count	Definition
Big	1	The one thing that moves the needle
Medium	3	Important tasks that support the big one
Small	5	Quick wins, admin, maintenance

Total: 9 items maximum per day. The constraint forces prioritization. If you cannot fit a task, something else must go.

The cascade

Goals flow down through timescales. Each level inherits context from above.

Yearly    ->  Life Compass defines life areas
              |
Quarterly ->  Quarterly Quest focuses one area
              |
Weekly    ->  Balanced Week Blueprint allocates time
              |
Daily     ->  1-3-5 picks today's tasks from the week

Planning rituals pull context downward. Your daily plan inherits quarterly priorities. Reflection rituals synthesize upward. Daily wins inform weekly reviews. Weekly patterns shape quarterly direction.

Actions

Action	Timescale	What it does
Plan	Daily	Select 1-3-5 tasks from weekly Major Moves
Plan	Weekly	Define Major Moves from quarterly Quests
Plan	Quarterly	Set Quarterly Quest and Major Moves
Plan	Yearly	Review Life Compass, set annual direction
Reflect	All	Review planned vs actual, capture insights

What Goals produces

Synthetic/Assistants/goals/ - working output per ritual
Updates to Captive notes (Today.md, Week.md, etc.)
Observations that feed into self-learning

How Ada Works - The ritual cycle that drives GPS
Templates reference - GPS templates in your vault

​What Goals does

​GPS methodology

​Goal layer

​Plan layer

​System layer

​The 1-3-5 method

​The cascade

​Actions

​What Goals produces

​Related