Projects group related tasks into one place. Where goals track a measurable outcome, a project is simply the work: a list of tasks you move through. Use a project to break a big goal into workable chunks, or to organize a one-off effort that isn’t tied to a goal at all.

What is a project?

A project is a list of tasks to work through. It has no metric of its own, it’s done when its tasks are done. That’s the core difference from a goal, which tracks a measurable result.

A project can be linked to a goal, life area, or left on its own:

• Linked to a goal → to break its work into a manageable chunk

• Linked to a life area → to keep it with the part of your life it belongs to

• On its own → for work that isn’t tied to a goal or a life area

For the full goal-vs-project explanation and a rule of thumb for choosing between them, see Projects in Griply.

Creating a Project

To create a new project:

1. Go to the Projects tab in the sidebar.

2. Click + Add project in the top-right corner.

3. Give your project a title. Start with an action verb for clarity, e.g. “Launch the new website” or “Redo the guest room.”

4. (Optional) Set what the project contributes to, the goals and life areas it supports, so you always know why the work matters. Leave it empty to keep the project on its own.

5. (Optional) Choose a color.

6. Set a start date and, if relevant, a deadline.

Tip: You can also create a project straight from a goal or a life area. Open its Roadmap and add a project there, it’ll be linked automatically.

Managing what a project contributes to

Set the Contributes to field when you create a project, or change it later from the edit dialog. A project can contribute to several goals and life areas at once, and you can add or remove them anytime. Removing one never deletes the project or its tasks, it just drops that connection.

Pro tip: Linking a project to a goal is one of the best ways to actually finish it. Work with no outcome behind it tends to stall once the initial energy fades.

Adding Work to a Project

A project is made of tasks. In the Tasks card, use the + button to add a New task, or a New task section to group related tasks (handy for longer projects).

Learn more about creating and managing tasks.

Note: Projects don’t have subgoals or their own metric. Those belong to goals, because they carry a measurable result. A project is purely the tasks. If you find yourself wanting to measure progress on something, that’s a sign it should be a goal.

Where Projects Appear

Because a project can serve a goal, a life area, or nothing in particular, it shows up wherever that context lives:

• Projects screen → every project in one list, with grouping, filtering, and sorting.

• Inside a goal → projects linked to that goal appear in its Roadmap, alongside its subgoals.

• Inside a life area → every project in that area appears on the life area’s Roadmap, whether it’s linked to a goal or not.

• Timeline → projects run as bars from their start date to their deadline, next to your goals. See Timeline.

• Planning views → the tasks inside a project flow into Upcoming and Today like any other task.

Tip: Made a standalone project and worried you’ll forget it? It’s always waiting on the Projects screen, and its tasks still surface in Upcoming and Today.

Organizing the Projects Screen

The Projects screen has the same controls as the Goals screen for keeping a long list readable:

• Grouping by life area, by goal, or a flat list.

• Filtering by life area, linked goal, active projects, start date, and deadline. Your filter is saved for next time.

• Sorting by any column, ties broken by deadline, earliest first.

Editing & Managing Projects

Edit a Project

Open the Projects tab → Click a project → 3-dot menu (top-right) → Edit project. You can change the title, description, deadlines, or what it contributes to.

Turn a Project into a Goal

Right-click the project → Turn into goal. Use this when a project turns out to need a measurable result: it becomes a goal, keeping its tasks and sections, so you can add a metric and track progress.

Complete a Project

Open the project detail view → Click Complete project at the top. The project moves to your completed list. Any goal it supported keeps its own progress unchanged.

Archive a Project

Open the project → 3-dot menu → Archive project. Archived projects disappear from active views but stay stored.

Delete a Project

Right-click the project or open the 3-dot menu → Delete project. Confirm to remove it.

Warning: Deleting a project is permanent. Tasks linked to the project are not deleted, they just lose the link. Archive instead if you might want it back.

Pro Tips for Projects

• Link to a goal when you can → work connected to an outcome is far more likely to get finished.

• Keep standalone projects for true one-offs → chores and errands that don’t ladder up to anything.

• Use sections for longer projects → they turn a wall of tasks into clear phases.

• Don’t reach for a project when you mean a goal → if there’s a result to measure, make it a goal, or right-click a project and Turn into goal.

• Review your Projects screen weekly → close out finished work and unlink what no longer fits.