Setting and keeping track of goals is a difficult and tedious process, and Google wants to make it easier.
Google rolled out Goals on April 14 as an update to its Google Calendar app on iOS and Android. Say you’re trying to exercise more—you can add that to your Goals, set the frequency, and Google’s calendar will find time in your calendar for a quick jog or pilates session. If you have another meeting during that time, or are running late, Google Calendar will reschedule your goals automatically.
Achieving personal goals is hard. New habits, especially things like exercise, are hard to develop without proper motivation. Conventional wisdom says that it takes 21 days to form a habit, but scientists at University College London say setting a habit takes almost 66 days. A lot of the trouble is just remembering to do something new.
There are a plethora of calendar apps that help you manage your calendar, and even more exercise-tracking apps. Google Calendar’s new feature is unique because it knows your entire schedule already. Thanks to machine learning, that means it can find the ideal time for an activity, or reschedule ones when you’re running late or are too busy.
Here’s a short trailer for the feature, and how it works: