Getting Ready For Resolutions: Tracking Your Goals And Habits
You’ve decided on your New Year’s resolutions but how do you keep track of your progress? In this post we look at different solutions for a number of different habits and goals you might set.
This post is part of the Getting Ready Resolutions Series, you can read the first article on How to form habits and set goals here.
Once you’ve set your goals, decided what habits you need (and want) to form and have the motivation to start your new habit-forming journey you need a way to track your progress so you know how you’re getting on and as a motivational tool too.
How you track your goals and habit progress may depend on what habit you’re trying to form. Some habits may require specific tools or apps: for example if your habit is to lose weight then you may need an app that tracks your weight and works out calories for you, if your habit is to read more then maybe you just want to put a note in your diary or make sure you update Goodreads regularly.
In this post we’ll be looking at various types of apps to help keep you motivated and maintain your habits and resolutions. These are split across a variety of habit types and hopefully you’ll find one in this list that ourwill suit your needs.
Joe’s Goals
Joe’s Goals is a free web-based tool that allows you to add habits (both positive and negative) that allows you to track how often you achieve the habit. The top 10 list of goals shows that there is a variety of habits people are tracking from exercising more to flossing, meditating and taking vitamins.
MyFitnessPal
I’ve reviewed MyFitnessPal in detail and if you’re looking at tracking weight, calories or exercise then this is a great free app to to measure you’re progress. You can set specific goals or track weight loss, calorie intake etc. over time.
Coach.Me
If you’re looking for a support group, advice or someone to guide you through your habit forming phase then Coach.Me is the app to use. The basic functionality is free but you can subscribe to coaches who will help you with your habit forming. You can also post questions and follow people attempting similar habits to you. I’ve reviewed Coach.Me in depth and you can read my thoughts here
Sworkit – Workout App
Available for iOS and Android, Sworkit (Simply Work it) allows you set-up workouts based on how much time you have and what type of exercises you want to do. The free version gives you access to workouts and the pro version allows you to track and view your full workout history.
Toshl Finance
If you need to sort your finances out then Toshl might be the way to go. There’s a free plan that allows you to access your details via the web and an iOS/Android app. You can break down your expenses, track income and see where your money is really going.
Quit Smoking – QuitNow!
If you’re determined to quit smoking then an app may help to motivate you to keep it up. Available for Android and iOS allows you to track your achievements, money saved, health benefits and interact with other quitters in order to motivate and provide support to each other.
DrinkAware Unit Tracker
If your New Year’s resolution is to drink less (a common one after over-indulging over the festive period!) then you can track your unit intake with this free app from the UK-based government supported DrinkAware – start tracking and I think you’ll be surprised how many units you actually get through a week.
DayZero
Choose your own habit or pick one of their challenges to complete such as 101 things in 1001 days and then track your progress whilst linking with other like-minded people. You can even take part in an idea battle or choose one of the featured habits.
LifeTick
You can track a variety of goals in this web-based app which also allows for team collaboration so it’s great for work and families although you’ll have to pay for this functionality. lifeTick also allows you to track your thoughts and feelings in a journal and set core values that your goals can be measured against.
Mindbloom
Make your habit forming into a kind of game with Mind Bloom. In this web-based app you select your goals then as you cultivate them you can grow your own “life tree”.
BellyGraph
Want to be held publicly accountable for your goals? Or perhaps you just want to generate some nice graphs of your progress? If so then check out BellyGraph. It’s a bit basic but it does the job.
Way Of Life iPhone app
This app allows you to track your habits on your iPhone with nice graphs and reminders so that you have no excuse not to follow through on your goals.
Habit Streak Android App
Track your goals, get reminders and attempt to get a habit streak going with this free Android app.
Paper-Based Goal Tracking
If you would like to track your goals using a paper-based solution then check out my free downloadable Habit & Goal Tracker.
Over To You
How about you? Do you use a specific app or website to keep track of your tasks? Are you paper-based and put it all in your planner? Let us know in the comments.