It’s the beginning of a new month, a new year… a NEW DECADE! What an amazing time to set some self-improvement goals. I generally don’t like setting New Year Resolutions. The reason for this is there is an expectation of failure for New Year Resolutions. Most people start out with great intentions and then life gets in the way.
I prefer to reset, re-evaluate, re-visit my goals frequently so I don’t lose track of them. I admit that the start of the new decade is a great time to set some new goals though. There is just something about the rebirth of a new year that allows you to focus on the things that are important to you.
There are a few main goal categories, and although I generally don’t recommend trying to bite off more than one at a time, it’s a good idea to at least consider the other areas and set goals there as well. Just try to focus on one particular area of focus for the month though. Next month you can rotate through and choose another, once you’ve mastered those new habits.
The main goal categories are physical, spiritual, intellectual, social and financial. After the holidays, when everyone is feeling over-sugared and bloated, MANY will choose physical to start out. Whether it’s to start eating better, exercising more or changing other bad habits like smoking, focusing on your body will give you a great platform to accomplish everything else you want to achieve in your life.
Because we live in 2020, there are a ton of apps you can use to help you set goals and stay on track. As a huge app person, of course, I had to try them all out. I recommend you try a few out for yourself to see which ones work best for the way YOU work. The best app will be the one you actually use.
Here were my favorites though to give you a jump start on your research:
Dreamfora: Android
One of the things I liked the most about Dreamfora, besides the GORGEOUS user interface, is that they have Habits, Tasks, and Dreams separated out. This is exactly the way I think when I’m trying to set my goals, so I love that I can break it out like that.
The Dream is your ultimate goal or the main thing you are trying to achieve. For example, you want to “Get Fit” or “Lose 20 lbs”
After you have created all of your dreams, you can add habits you can create in your life to help you achieve that dream. These will be things you will do repeatedly on certain days of the week or every day. For example “go to the gym” or “run for 30 minutes”. These items will repeat as needed to help you accomplish your dream.
Finally, you can also enter one-time tasks that will help you achieve your dream, like “sign up for the gym” or “register for a half marathon” or anything else that you need to do to help you accomplish your goal, but also is not really a habit you need to create.
You can associate your tasks and habits to specific dreams to help you keep them organized. As I mentioned this app is absolutely perfect for me. In the morning I can open it and see everything I need to do to help me get closer to my dreams. Then get to work on getting them done!
My only wish for this app is that it would sync up with Google Calendar and Tasks so I can keep all of my other, non-goal related tasks AND my goal tasks together.
Goals Wizard: Android, Apple
This app is very similar to Dreamfora, in that I can set up recurring tasks and standard to-do items to be associated with a specific goal. Goals Wizard calls them both “activities” and allows you to set them up in the same spot. The app just isn’t quite as pretty as Dreamfora.
Where this app really excels though is a personal reflection on the purpose behind your goals and insight on what is standing in your way from achieving it. It also includes a journal so you can write about your progress, or just about your day.
The morning and evening routines can really help you plan, and reflect on how well you did that day. This will help to keep you motivated about achieving your goals.
This app DOES sync with Google Calendar, which is awesome if you want to get your day really dialed in. You can pick which calendar to send it to, so I would recommend creating an additional Google Calendar specifically for goals. Then you have the option to turn it off and on without cluttering up your main appointments. This will be especially true if you will have a lot of recurring activities.
Family Five: Android, Apple
If you have kids under 12 and with goals you want to work on, Family Five is a really great option.
With fun prompts and templates you can help your kids get on track easily. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work as well for teenagers, so we found it didn’t quite work for our family. I did really like the information and user interface of the app though.
There are a few more I tried out like Goal Meter, GoalMap, Goalify, Life Goals, and Strides. But, none of them really had the features that I was looking for, although they may work for you. If you are looking more for a DreamBoard or a Bucketlist app, there are others than those listed here.
So get goal setting and make 2020 the BEST YEAR EVER!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using the links.
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