Weekly accountability for small groups

Goals go better when someone is expecting an update

Set your goals, track the numbers behind them, and post a short update every week to four or five people who will notice if you go quiet.

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A group feed in Liferafts. Ana Duarte's weekly update sits above a table of her
                    numbers for the quarter: distance run, 5k time and hours slept, one row per week,
                    each cell shaded green or red against its target.
One week in a group of five. The update and the numbers behind it, in the same place.

Why a small group works

Most goals do not fail because the plan was wrong. They fail quietly, in a week nobody asked about.

Someone notices when you go quiet

Everyone posts on the same rhythm, into the same feed. Five people who know you will spot a week with nothing in it.

You can see progress, not just effort

Goals can carry numbers with a target, so "going alright" becomes 34 of 50 sessions with five weeks to go. That gives the group something to talk about.

It stays small on purpose

Groups are built for four to six people who already know each other. Everyone in the feed is someone you invited or someone who invited you.

How it works

  1. 1

    Start a group or join one

    Invite people by email or send them a code. Everything inside the group stays inside the group.

  2. 2

    Say what you are working on

    Write down the goal, add the numbers that show it moving, and set a target for the quarter.

  3. 3

    Post once a week

    A few lines on how the week went. Your numbers appear next to it, so the group gets the story and the score together.

Track the number that actually tells you something

Not every goal is measured the same way. Sixty kilometres run, a resting heart rate of 52, four days out of seven and a new 5k time are four different kinds of number, and each one is counted the way it should be.

Totals

Adds everything up across the week or the quarter.

Kilometres run, gym sessions, words written, money saved.

Levels

Shows where you are now rather than a total, because these do not add up.

Bodyweight, resting heart rate, hours of sleep.

Habits

Counts the days you did it. Tick a box and move on. The year fills in as a grid you can read at a glance.

Read before bed, no drinking, stretched, practised.

Personal bests

Keeps your best result and nothing else, so a faster time or a heavier lift is the one that sticks.

Fastest 5k, heaviest squat, longest ride.

The goals table. Four metrics, one per row, each showing its kind: a 5k time as a
                    record, distance run as a tally, hours slept as a reading and daily reading as a
                    habit, with the percentage of each target reached so far.
Everything you track in one table, with how far along each one is.

A target turns a wish into a number

"Fifty runs this quarter" gives you something to measure against, where "run more" does not. Set a target for each quarter and every screen shows how far along you are and how much time is left.

Set it as five days a week, or as thirty days across the whole quarter, whichever is the way you actually think about it.

Room for the long ones too

Some things do not fit in three months. You can hold a longer view above the quarter, out to a year or ten, so this week's small number has somewhere to point.

A goal can also be words only. If a thing you care about has no sensible number, write it down anyway and talk about it each week.

A daily habit in Liferafts. A row of squares shades each week of the year against a
                  target of five days, and below it every week is listed with seven checkboxes and the
                  number of days completed.
A habit shaded week by week against its target, with the days you can tick underneath.

One page for the whole week

Filling in a week takes a couple of minutes on a Sunday night.

Fill in the week from your phone

Every number you are tracking, stacked in one column. Type a figure or tick a day and it saves as you go. Nothing to open, nothing to submit.

Or take the whole quarter at once

On a bigger screen the same numbers become a grid, every week down one side, so you can fill a gap you left in March.

Read the group in one scroll

The feed shows each person's update with their numbers for that week under it. Comment, or just leave a like so they know you read it.

The This Week page on a phone. Each metric is its own card with a box for this
                        week's number, and the daily habit shows seven checkboxes with the first few
                        ticked.
Two minutes on a Sunday night.

Set your group up in about five minutes.

Start a group

Nobody has to chase anybody

Three emails, and you decide which of them you get, separately for each group you are in.

Post your update

The group picks a day and an hour. Anyone who has not posted by then gets a reminder, at that hour where they are.

Somebody posted

Their update arrives with their numbers for the week, so you can read it without opening anything.

Somebody replied to you

A comment on your post emails you, so a question does not sit unanswered for a week.

Numbers can arrive on their own

The fastest weekly update is the one where most of it is already filled in.

Strava

Connect your account and your runs and rides fill themselves in, down to your best times at every distance.

Spreadsheets

Bring in the history you already keep, and take any of it back out whenever you want. Nothing you put in is stuck here.

Anything else you use

If you can write a bit of code, there is an open door for it. Point whatever already knows the number at Liferafts and let it do the typing.

AI assistants

Tell an assistant you ran 8k this morning and have it recorded against the right number, without opening anything.

An assistant can log your numbers. It never writes your update.

There is no way for an AI to post or comment as you here, and there will not be one. A group only works if the words in it came from the person whose name is on them. Numbers are facts and a machine can carry them for you. The rest is yours.

Not seeing the one you use? Once you have an account you can request an integration and say what you would want from it. We build the ones people ask for most.

Read the integration docs for the API, OAuth and MCP details.

Private, because otherwise nobody is honest

The point of a small group is being able to say a week went badly. That only works if you know exactly who can see it.

Invite only

People join with a code or an email invite, and an admin approves them before they can see anything.

Nothing is public

Your posts are readable by the members of your group. There are no profile pages, no public links and nothing for a search engine to find.

You choose what the group sees

Numbers are shared with a group only if you share them. You can keep one to yourself and still write about it.

Your history stays yours

Leave a group and you keep everything you wrote and tracked. Export it whenever you want.

Is this for you

It fits well when

  • A few friends are training for the same race, or different ones.
  • You have a goal that takes a year and keeps slipping.
  • A group of founders or freelancers wants to report to each other.
  • You already track numbers and want somebody to see them.
  • An old group chat has turned into nothing but links.

It is the wrong tool when

  • You want an audience. Nothing here is public.
  • You want a daily to-do list. This works in weeks.
  • You want a community of hundreds. Groups are small by design.
  • You never want anyone else to see it. Starting solo is fine, but the group is the point.

Who made this

I built Liferafts for my own group, we'd been meeting for years but our tools were a bit clunky. I wanted something that felt more built for us and this is it.

It is small and independent, for people doing real things together without the blur of an algorithm. If you ask for an integration, I am the person who reads it. If something is broken, it (hopefully) gets fixed by me.

I'm glad you're here and I hope this helps you too.

Elliot, Liferafts

Common questions

How many people should be in a group?

Four to six. Small enough that a missing update is noticed, big enough that there is something to read each week.

Can I start on my own?

Yes. A group of one works fine, and everything except the other people is still there: goals, targets, habits, charts, reminders and the weekly post. A few people start that way to get their numbers in order, then invite others once they know what they are tracking. Plenty just stay solo. Most people get more out of it with a group, but nothing here requires one.

Do I have to track numbers?

No. A goal can be a sentence and a weekly post about it. Numbers are there when they help, and plenty of goals are better without them.

What happens if I miss a week?

Nothing breaks and there is no streak to lose. Your group sees the gap, and somebody usually asks about it.

Can I be in more than one group?

Yes. You can share the same goal with one group and keep it out of another.

Who can see what I write?

The active members of that group. Nothing on Liferafts is public and there are no profile pages to find. Your numbers are shared with a group only if you share them.

Can I get my data out?

Yes. Export any metric as a CSV, or read everything through the API with a key you create yourself.

Does AI write the posts?

No, and it never will. An assistant can record your numbers for you. Every post and comment is written by the person it says wrote it.

Pick the people first

Think of three or four people who would want to know how your year is going. That is the group. Set it up in a few minutes and post your first update this Sunday.

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