New Year’s resolutions are notoriously hard to keep. Smartphones are notoriously addictive. But when you use your smartphone to help you keep your resolutions, you’ll find it easier to do so. Even if you’re resolving to use your smart phone less in 2018. Here’s a look at common New Year’s resolutions and smartphone tools and apps that can help you keep them.
1. Reduce stress
Depending on your lifestyle and the ways in which you use your phone, using it less may reduce some of the stress in your life. Spend less time on apps that tend to cause stress. And impose limits on how much time you spend engaged in addictive, time-wasting apps and games. This should free up time to help you stay on top of the things that tend to stress you out. Additionally, meditation and mindfulness apps like Headspace and Stop, Breathe & Think can help reduce stress.
2. Get organized and boost productivity
High stress levels often stem from feeling overburdened with work or otherwise overwhelmed. If this is the case for you, try managing your schedule with apps. SPACE (formerly breakFree) claims to help users strike an ideal phone-life balance. Any.do is a user-friendly to-do list and calendar that doubles as a personal assistant. And Toggl is a time-tracking app longtime users appreciate for making them aware of how they spend their time and keeping them accountable for using it more wisely. These and similar apps are customizable, enabling you to choose what reminders to receive and when so they don’t distract you or become nuisances. If frequent, encouraging reminders are what you need to step up your productivity game, Shine Text sends personalized reminders, motivational quotes, and other affirmations via SMS.
3. Keep financial resolutions
Budgeting, saving, and informed investing are keys to improving your finances, another common source of stress. If you feel financial strain and don’t have realistic financial goals you’re working toward, resolve to improve your financial situation. Consolidate debt under the lowest-possible interest umbrella available to you, and work to pay it down sooner than required. Draft and stick to a budget. And do some research on investing or meet with a financial advisor to discuss your investment options. These will help you raise your credit score, save up for those big purchases you’re prioritizing, and generally prosper financially. Mint is the most popular bill management and budgeting app. Mint’s sister app, Acorns, automatically invests your spare change to help grow your wealth. Stash is another highly-rated, easy-to-use microinvesting app.
4. Achieve fitness goals
Another common New Year’s resolution is to get in shape. Accomplish this through more exercise, healthier eating, or some combination of the two. The market for wellness apps is saturated with great options. Most smartphones these days also come equipped with activity trackers and other tools. A few noteworthy health-centric apps include HealthyOut, LifeSum, MyFitnessPal, 21 Day Companion for Autumn Calabrese’s 21 Day Fix, MapMyRun, and Strava.
5. Enhance quality of life through new experiences
If you’re in a rut or feel your life lacks meaning, pick up new hobbies or seek new experiences in 2018. Learn a new language with apps like Duolingo and Anki’s flashcard app. Join a special interest group in your neighborhood with an app like MeetUp and Smacktive. Plan travel adventures with HipMunk, TripIt, and Google Trips. Read more, creating bookshelves, tracking progress, and garnering recommendations based on your taste with Goodreads and Pocket engage with the world around you, and you’ll likely find your life feels more fulfilling.
6. Live a greener life
A wealth of green living apps exist to help consumers concerned about sustainability to keep green New Year’s resolutions. JouleBug uses a system of badges, pins, points, and network competition to incentivize users to take actionable steps to save energy. Pick and choose those that work with your lifestyle to lead an effortlessly greener life. HowGood is designed to help consumers make greener shopping decisions, particularly where groceries are concerned. And #Climate helps you discover and share with your network climate change actions that are important to you.
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View All Posts by Jason Ernst