[dreeves]

First question: did you know that with Beeminder you can schedule arbitrary breaks in your commitment/graph? They do have to be scheduled with a week of lead time. (Of course you can also take the hit and get, by default, a week of respite after derailing. Our most hardcore users find that worthwhile sometimes and explains how Beeminder makes money even (especially) from our most successful users. I know that seems ironic or paradoxical for those first encountering Beeminder!)

[lambdaloop]

Yes, when I was using beeminder, I both set scheduled breaks and also got hit and got a break. I'd say the issue would be 50/50 planned/unplanned, but I didn't always plan appropriately so I got hit more often than scheduled.

I did use beeminder for 3-4 months at a time, with great benefit! But looking back at every goal I set, it starts slipping past the 3-4 month mark. I got similar results with other systems (like the Lights spreadsheet from ultraworking or keeping a journal in text files), although without the nice beeminder charts..

I'm not sure, do other people see these patterns with their goals? Are there any tricks for fighting this late slippage?

[dreeves]

I think there are a million tricks and my top meta-trick would be to ask that question in the Beeminder forum. Just asking it will get you engaged with the community there and serve as additional motivation to stay on the wagon.

Analytics-wise it seems that if you stick around for 9 months to a year you become markedly more likely to stick around indefinitely.

Another possible source of tips: http://blog.beeminder.com/burnout -- about not getting overzealous about beeminding all-the-things right off the bat.