3 Amazing Apps to Help You Achieve Your Goals in 2019

Three apps that will help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions

We all have set our resolutions for the new year.

Unfortunately, we won’t stick to them for long.

In fact, according to Business Insider, “About 80% of people fail to stick to their New Year’s resolutions for longer than six weeks.”

That means that eight out of 10 of us will abandon our well-intended resolutions before Valentine’s 2019 comes around.

That doesn’t seem too promising.

It seems that instead of being New Year’s resolutions, they should be called First Week of the Year resolutions.

We can list different factors that will affect the outcome of our 2019 resolutions. Things like not setting realistic goals or being too vague with them are right at the top of the list.

But why is it that even when we set specific, realistic and achievable goals, we fail to achieve them?

The answer is time.

An often forgotten factor, the amount of time we devote to working on achieving our goals is vital to our success.

Some of us are not very good at time management.

When it comes to planning, we usually underestimate the time it takes to accomplish our New Year’s resolutions.

We set ourselves up for failure when we think we will lose 20 pounds or learn a new language without considering the time it takes to invest in actually doing the work to accomplish that.

Understanding that things take time might be the missing step in our road to success.

Managing your day so you have 30 minutes to exercise, or 15 minutes to add some new Portuguese words to your vocabulary is not always easy.

But it is possible.

Especially if you use some of the many available apps to keep yourself organized.

Let’s not waste more time and dive into the top 3 apps that will help you get the time you need to succeed.

1. FREEDOM – Block online distractions

Being more productive can be in itself your New Year’s resolution. Productivity is also vital in sticking to those resolutions.

Having fewer distractions online will keep your attention on things that matter. That’s why our numero uno tool is Freedom, an app that will block online distractions like emails and social media based on your schedule.

According to a report cited by The Globe and Mail, “Canadians are spending more time surfing the web than ever before…” which indicates we are probably checking social media updates way too often.

The study also states that “Canadians who were surveyed spent 24.5 hours online per week in 2016, up about two hours from the previous year.” So we are spending more time online, and for the majority of us, that means getting distracted from more meaningful and fulfilling activities.

More hours online checking social media means less time working on achieving your New Year’s resolutions. With Freedom, you will use your time more efficiently so you can stay focused on achieving your goals in 2019.

Freedom in short

• Good for: Blocking distracting websites and apps
• Bonus points: You can schedule your sessions in advance, make them recurrent or start a session whenever you want.
• In their own words: “Use Freedom to block distractions so you can get your work done. Block what you want, when you want, and be more productive.”
• Works on: Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS

2. WUNDERLIST – Make lists you can share

To-do lists can help you organize your mind, clearly identify the road ahead and determine a step-by-step path to follow. Applying this process to create a plan of action for your New Year’s resolutions will get you closer to achieving your goals. With Wunderlist you can even go a step further. By sharing your to-do lists, you are no longer alone in the road to successfully sticking to your 2019 resolutions.

Lists have many benefits. Here are the six great benefits of lists published by Psychology Today:

• Provide a positive psychological process whereby questions and confusions can be worked through. True purposes surface.
• Foster a capacity to select and prioritize. This is useful for an information-overload situation.
• Separate minutia from what matters, which is good for identity as well as achievement.
• Help determine the steps needed. That which resonates informs direction and plan.
• Combat avoidance. Taking abstract to concrete sets the stage for commitment and action. Especially if you add self-imposed deadlines.
• Organize and contain a sense of inner chaos, which can make your load feel more manageable.

Lists are great for organizing your life and giving you a sense of accomplishment. There is a certain pleasure that comes from creating a list and great joy in crossing off completed tasks.

Wunderlist will not only help you define a road to success, but it will also make you accountable as you share your list with your loved ones and keep you motivated as you move along your accomplishments.

Wunderlist in short

• Good for: Organizing and creating lists and work collaboratively
• Bonus points: You can set due dates and reminders to your to-dos.
• In their own words: “No matter what you’re planning, how big or small the task may be, Wunderlist makes it super easy to get stuff done.”
• Works on: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, Kindle Fire and the Web


 



3. POCKET – Keep your information in one place

The process of researching tools, tactics and strategies to best achieve your goals can be overwhelming.

There is just so much information! And let’s be honest, the majority of the time, we can’t just stop what we are doing and read that informative article about accelerating your metabolism or watch that video with tips to improve your Portuguese pronunciation.

If only we could save all those resources in one place so we can access them at the right time? Well, the good news is we can! Our third top app is Pocket, a bookmarking app that keeps all things you find interesting in one place.

There is such a thing as Information Overload. Wikipedia defines it as “a term used to describe the difficulty of understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information about that issue.” In other words, having too much information can make you worse at making decisions.

When it comes to your New Year’s resolutions, the amount of information available online can slow you down instead of push you forward. In the heat of the moment, you might choose to ditch the holy grail of information. The quest for a better you requires you to be selective of the information you use. Pocket allows you to save the information and decide later what you read or watch.

Pocket in short

• Good for: Saving articles and videos in one place, so it is available to you anywhere.
• Bonus points: You can access the information offline and avoid distractions.
• In their own words: “Immerse yourself in great content anywhere – even offline. Read or listen without distraction, on any device.”
• Works on: Android and iOS


 

When it comes down to it, you might be willing to do the work, but do you have the time to do it?

Yes, you do!

It’s All About Time

Sticking to those New Year’s resolutions takes more than just wanting it in your heart.

You need to work on achieving your goals, but you also need the time to do the work.

You need a plan of action and the time to put that plan in motion.

We know you are committed to achieving your goals. You did half the work by thinking about them and setting them for yourself.

It is about time you stick to those New Year’s resolutions. Use the tools listed above, and see yourself succeed in whatever endeavour you are setting your mind to in 2019!