How do I interpret the graph?

Your graph is the representation of all your progress thus far on your Beeminder goal. Though you can use Beeminder without understanding or relying on the graph, we think they're super interesting and add a ton of value and motivation to help you achieve your goals!

Understanding the bright red line

The bright red line is the line Beeminder draws to your final goal date / value. You can change your final goal any time, but those changes won't take effect until 7 days after you make them. You can tell which side of the bright red line is "safe" because it's shaded yellow.

Annotated graph image, showing one side of the line shaded yellow, marked "When your datapoints are on the side of the line shaded yellow, you're safe!" and the other section labelled "The unshaded side is the danger-zone! You'll derail if your datapoints are here at the end of the day."

Some graphs have the side below the graph shaded, when you want to do equal to or less than the rate you've set for your goal, e.g. a Do Less goal. The same principle applies, though!

What about the colors of datapoints?

Every time you enter data to your Beeminder goal, you create or modify a datapoint on the graph. Each datapoint is green, blue, orange, or red, depending on where it falls in relation to the bright red line:

  • Green datapoints mean you're doing great — you're 3 or more days ahead of schedule on your goal!
  • Blue datapoints mean that you're on track with a little buffer — you have 2 days of safety buffer.
  • Orange datapoints are on track — you have 1 day of safety buffer, meaning you'll derail tomorrow if you don't take action.
  • Red datapoints are not on track! This is called a beemergency. If you end the day with a red datapoint, you will derail on your goal.

For example, in this goal, the graph started out with 3 days of buffer on May 21st, so the datapoint shows up as green. I didn't enter a datapoint on May 22nd, and then added a small datapoint on the 23rd, so I only had two days of safety buffer, and the datapoint was blue. After that the bright red line sloped up faster, so my next datapoint only had one day of safety buffer, and was coloured orange. After that, I got back on track, gaining extra buffer so my next datapoint was blue and the next one was red.

On the 25th, I actually added two datapoints, and you can see the first one as a little orange dot, right next to the line. It gave me a day of buffer, but I'd have been in the red the next day if I hadn't added that second datapoint.

An example graph, with a green datapoint followed by a blue one two days later, then an orange one after the line sloped up. After that there are two datapoints on one day, with the first orange and the second blue. The last datapoint reaches the goal's target and is green!

There are some exceptions to the rules above for certain combinations of goal settings, especially on custom goals, but the above is the guideline you should use, and will be true for most standard goals.

Can I change where the graph starts, or make the end-date of my goal visible?

You can adjust the range shown on the graph in your goal settings by changing the "x-min" (initial value on the x-axis), "x-max" (maximum value for the x-axis, e.g. the date you want the goal to end), y-min (initial value displayed on the y-axis) and y-max (maximum value on the y-axis). This is useful if you ever want to hide an earlier portion of the graph, or if you want to temporarily zoom in on one section for a closer look!

Can I tell from my graph image alone when I'm due to derail and how much it will cost?

Yep! The graph also includes the current pledge and a short indicator of when the goal next derails in two of its corners.

Example graph image highlighting the derail date in the top left and the derail amount on the bottom right


Keywords: newbees, chart, plot

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