Experiments

Goal difficulty calculatorHow hard is this,
really?

Difficulty is not one thing, which is why “is this realistic?” is such a hard question to answer in your own head. A goal can be easy in every respect except that it depends on somebody else, and that single factor is enough to sink it. Another can be brutally hard and entirely within your control, which usually means it works.

Free, no sign-up. Worked out in your browser, nothing sent anywhere, and the result imports into EvyOS.

Name the goal and the factors will have something to score.

Everything is worked out in this page and saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere.

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✦ How to use it

Three things that make it work.

1
Score control first

How much of the outcome is yours. This is the single strongest predictor and the one people most often score generously.

2
Read the highest factor

Not the total. The total tells you it is hard; the highest factor tells you what to change.

3
Redesign, then rescore

Most goals can be moved two bands by shortening the horizon or removing a dependency. Do that on paper rather than in month three.

This scores six factors that between them predict most abandoned goals. The total matters less than which factor is highest — that is the one to redesign, and it is almost always fixable while the goal is still on paper.

Nothing here is a model. Every rule is stated in the results, so you can disagree with a specific one rather than with a number.

✦ The limit

An answer is not a record.

This works something out and then forgets it. It cannot tell you whether the number moved, because it has no memory of the last time you ran it and no idea what you did in between. Every calculator on the internet has that limit, and if it has never bothered you then this one is yours for free for good.

EvyOS is the same structure with the work recorded against it. Send the result across and it becomes real goals, tasks or habits with their dates — then the next answer is computed from what actually happened rather than from what you remember typing.

Questions

Goal difficulty calculator, answered.

Under 35 is very doable, 35 to 60 is hard but reasonable, and over about 78 will not survive its first bad month. The band matters less than the highest single factor, which is what you can actually change.
Because a goal somebody else can veto fails at their convenience rather than yours, and no amount of effort fixes it. "Get promoted" is outside your control; "lead two projects and be told by whom the decision is made" is not. Restating the goal as the behaviour is the single highest-value edit most people can make.
No — it is a reason to change the shape. Almost every high score can be brought down two bands by shortening the horizon, removing a dependency or halving the weekly hours, and doing that on paper costs nothing.
They are the failure modes that recur: no control, no experience, no hours, waiting on somebody, an unbroken daily streak, and a finish line too far away to feel. There is no model behind the arithmetic and every rule is printed with the result, so you can disagree with a specific one.
No. Everything is computed in the page and nothing is sent anywhere. Sending the goal to EvyOS is a separate, explicit step.

Keep the answer.
And the record of doing it.

Goals, projects, tasks, habits and skills in one system, with the work logged against what it belonged to.

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