As we approach the end of this year, we have to take time off to reflect and reminisce about all the major and minor life events that have occurred this year. While we do so, we also need to think of setting new goals and new resolutions for the upcoming year 2016.
Now, I understand that the common perspective towards New Year resolutions is that they seldom work but that’s not entirely true. The reason they fail to work is because people always list down what they want to do and they fail to reason out how they are going to end up meeting those goal—this is why people are often unsuccessful at meeting their resolutions.
Now, there are many methods you could use to plan out the nitty-gritty of each goal and how you’re going to achieve each one of them but if you’re anything like me, you prefer the simplicity and mobility of apps and platforms than writing everything down and manually tracking them—better spending, cultivating good habits, getting fit,
Here are a few apps and platforms you can use to track down your various resolutions. And for your convenience, the apps and platforms are arranged according to the 4 common types of resolution—finances, lifestyle, health/fitness, education.
Finances
Money is a resource that we have to learn to manage. We have to prioritise our spending habits and make sure that we always have money for a rainy day.
The list of app options for this is endless but here are a few that I personally like.
1. Money View
An Android only app that automates the process of manual data entry by analysing all SMS’ sent from your bank and billers. You can use the app to set monthly budgets and track your expenditure based on your budgets. If you’d like to be at the top of your expenditure, this app is for you.
2. Mint
No list on financial management apps is complete without Mint. Mint is a free app that lets you view all your expenses and accounts in one single place. You can categorise your banking and credit card transactions and track your cash at the same time. You can use the app to set up bill reminders and bill alerts to help you stay on top of your expenses.
It’s available on both Play Store and App Store.
3. Good Budget
If you’d like to become a good budgeter in 2016, you can give this app a go. This app helps you manage your finances across a range of devices. It also provides you an option to share your budget with a spouse, family member or a friend. The app is based on the envelope budgeting method (virtual envelopes) that helps you better visualise how much money you have to spend for a given category and it helps you live within your means.
This app is available on both the App Store and Play Store
If you’d like a wider selection of financial management apps, you can check out a comprehensive list here.
Lifestyle
We all have poisonous habits that we’d love to get rid of and we all have healthy habits in mind that we’d like to develop at the same time. The fact of the matter however, is that it takes a minimum of 40 days to create a new habit. Here are a few apps you can use to achieve this.
1. Strides
If you like to set yourself SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic), then Strides is an iOS and Web solution that will suit your needs. You can track anything with the app including your habits. And since, it’s a SMART goal tracker, it offers the option of setting reminders to hold you accountable and charts to keep you motivated. You can make use of Strides on the iPhone, iPad, and on web broswers.
You can download Strides from the App Store.
2. GoalTracker
An Android only app that helps you keep track of all the small goals that you set for yourself. The app peddles the philosophy that achieving small goals step by step is the way to achieve something big. And to accommodate your journey, the app has an option where you can set multiple alarms for individual goals and it can also calculate the expected progress for a time unit dynamically.
You can download GoalTracker from the Play Store.
3. Coach.me
If you like the idea of having a life coach available for you at all times, then this is the app for you. The app lets you set goals in various categories and you can use the app to get in shape, eat healthy, practice a skill or anything else really. The app also lets you join various challenges and once you do, the app sets specific goals for you that you can use to track those challenges and it also connects you with a coach and other users who help you stay on track.
You can download Coach.me from the App Store or the Play Store.
Health/Fitness
If there’s one thing I know about gyms is that they tend to be packed in the beginning of the year and then they slowly start getting empty towards the middle of the year, and finally towards the end of the year, there’s a sudden influx of people who are desperately trying to fulfill their weight lost resolution. Here are a few apps and platforms for you to be consistent with your healthy lifestyle so you don’t have to feel guilty at the end of the year.
Whatever your fitness goals are, Bodybuilding.com is a platform that you have to get on. From endless motivational stories, fitness plans, advice from personal trainers, meal plans and nutritional advice, this platform has it all when it comes to fitness.
To help you stay on track and to motivate you, the platform also has an active and supportive online community which you can join, and track your workouts and fitness goals.
2. Fooducate
A crucial part of living a fit and healthy lifestyle is a proper diet. Whatever your fitness goals are, you need to make sure your diet mirrors them and helps you achieve them. To ease the process of watching over your diet, Fooducate offers one of the most advanced nutrition trackers that looks beyond the calories and helps you track your food and workouts.
You can track your food intake, quality of calories, scan over 250,000 product barcodes to see a personalised nutrition grade and you can also get suggestions for healthy foods based on the scanned items.
This app is available for download on both the App Store and Play Store.
3. Nike + Training Club
Designed by the sports and lifestyle brand Nike, this app offers you over 100 workouts. Nike Master Trainers specially designed the workouts and the app helps you stay motivated and train better with friends and family. You can download the workouts that you want, customise them, choose drills that are right for you and can stay motivated by sharing your workout on social media and the Nike+ platform.
This app is available for download on both the App Store and Play Store.
If you’d like to read more about different apps that can help you lose weight, click here.
Education/Learning
1. Memrise
Memrise is a platform that makes use of brain science to help you learn languages faster. Ed Cooke, a world-renowned memory coach along with a team of cognitive scientists, designed Memrise to make sure it’s the platform of choice for those that are looking to learn new languages. The platform even runs The Memrise Prize, an annual $10K cognitive science competition to discover the most efficient methodology for learning vocabulary, and the most effective methodologies are used to gear the learning games on Memrise.
2. Dualingo
Dualingo is another platform that can help you learn a language for free. The platform makes use of gamification in every lesson. You can learn to read, listen and speak by watching the lessons and by participating actively in the curriculum by taking on multiple-choice challenges. The platform also provides you with in-lesson grading, so that you’re aware of the answer that you got correct and if need be you can relearn some of the concepts.
If you have an incredible urge to learn how to code and develop web apps, then you need to head over to Laracasts.com. Jeffrey Way is probably one of the best tutors out there who will slowly and patiently walks you through all the necessary concepts. You can sign up on the platform and access some of the lessons and series for free but I recommend that you do subscribe to get access to additional content. The platform also has a discussion forum, and it rewards you with points every time you complete a lesson.
This platform focuses specifically on the Laravel framework (php) and Vue.js (javascript). If you’d like a quick start, you can check out this series geared for absolute beginners.
Regardless of the resolution you set, it’s imperative that you have a battle plan written down and you can use these apps and platforms to track your progress throughout your journey.