What is No-Excuses Mode?

• Who is this for?
• How do I turn it on?
• Can I turn it off?
• What if I only derailed because my kid was sick?
• But what if I just forgot to add data?
• What if I broke my leg?
• Surely you don't mean you'd still charge me if I was in a car crash?
• That's too harsh!
• What if there's some reason charging me would be totally unfair, and I'm certain you'd cancel the charge if you knew?

No-Excuses Mode is pretty much what it says on the tin. If you derail on a goal that's in No-Excuses Mode, then the derailment is by default legit, no matter what your excuse is.

Who is this for?

Anyone who wants to be really locked into their goals and unable to make any excuses to have us cancel the charge. If you ever feel tempted to call non-legit when you know that you could probably have completed the goal if you hadn't had that safety net, then that might be you!

For some more background, you might find the blog post announcing the feature helpful!

How do I turn it on?

You can find the option to turn it on under the Commitment tab on the goal's page. It looks like this:

Hit the "Opt in" button, and you'll see a pop-up that you need to read through, a text box you need to enter something into, and a greyed out "opt me in!" button. Read through the text, find the magic words and type them into the box, and then hit "opt me in!"

Was that annoying to do? Probably, but we had too many people hitting the opt-in button without reading it properly. For something we're so serious about, we had to ensure it's really clear what you're signing up for.

Once you've hit "opt me in", you're done! Now when you derail on your goals you'll get a "derailment notice" instead of a legitimacy check.

Can I turn it off?

Yep, at any time. Just go back to the commitment tab, scroll down to that section, and click the button to opt out again.

We're eager to hear about it if that seems too easy. If you do find it's too easy, it may help to know that your derailment emails will reveal that you were opted into No-Excuses Mode, and when you turned it off. We thought adding that little bit of accountability (you know the support team can see what you've done) might help people feel a bit more honor-bound to stick with it -- and so far that seems to have proven true.

What if I only derailed because my kid was sick?

That's still a legit derailment. No-Excuses really means no excuses, no matter what!

But what if I just forgot to add data?

Still legit.

What if I broke my leg?

Still legit.

Surely you don't mean you'd still charge me if I was in a car crash?

By default, we would. That's what you opt into: literally no excuses, no matter how good your excuse is.

That's too harsh!

Fair enough. No-Excuses Mode might not be your thing. It's optional! Nobody's forced to use it.

That said, it's also worth weighing up how likely it is that something like that would occur. It's much more likely that you'll derail because you stayed late at work, caught a cold or had some household mishap to deal with -- and these are often situations where, with a little push, you could've completed the goal, but just didn't want to. What would it be worth in those situations to have the extra push that is No-Excuses mode?

What if there's some reason charging me would be totally unfair, and I'm certain you'd cancel the charge if you knew?

Even when you're in No-Excuses Mode, you can still contact the support team whenever you like. So if something feels unfair, like you only derailed because Garmin's servers literally exploded, then you can get in touch and let us know about that.

We're always happy to talk it over with you, get your feedback, and figure out what's fair -- in the context of what you've signed up for, so always bearing in mind that you voluntarily clicked a button saying you agree that you can never call a derailment non-legit! We promise nothing, but if you need to talk, get in touch.

Keywords: weaselproofing, weasel-proofing, the bee is a harsh mistress