Some goals are short-term, like finishing a school project on time. Some are more long-term, like starting your own business or quitting smoking for good.
But while we know to think of things with the end in mind, it’s not very often that we sit down particularly for goal setting.
US Federal Judge Scott Reed was right when he famously said, “This one step – choosing a goal and sticking to it – changes everything.”
The importance of goal setting
It’s one thing to know what you want to achieve and another to do everything to reach a goal.
Below are some of the benefits of goal setting:
- Keeps you focused on achieving your target
- Keeps you hungry and driven, knowing that you’re on track towards your goal
- Compels you to monitor your progress, especially for physical goals
- Induces you to move forward as you compare your benchmarks day on day, month on month, year on year
Setting goals just became easier (and a lot cooler) in the digital age.
With the help of various goal setting tools, you can quantifiably measure your progress and receive reminders, even words of encouragement.
Take a look at these seven goal setting apps:
1. GoalsOnTrack
Want to lose 10 pounds before the end of the year?
Thinking of getting a Master’s degree by 2016?
GoalsOnTrack systematically tracks your goals as you identify your deadlines, subgoals, and habits to achieve your primary objective.
It allows you to track your progress, summarizing tasks that have yet to be done to nail your target. GoalsOnTrack also syncs reminders to your calendar, so you get automated notices of specific tasks for the day.
Its dashboard is clean, straightforward, and easy to use, making it suitable even for professional goal setting as well.
Subscription costs $68 per year, or roughly $5 per month. It’s available for PCs, iOS, and Android devices.
2. Strides
Are you the type who gets motivated by visuals?
If so, stay on top of your goals with Strides, a goal setting app that turns progress reports into charts – an excellent way to remind yourself to keep pushing.
The app’s ability to turn your numbers into visual data is remarkable, showing all the relevant information on one screen.
Strides also comes with preloaded goals from different categories like health and fitness, money, education, and productivity, giving you ideas on what goal to work on next, whether it’s running 1K a day, eating more vegetables, or finishing three chapters of a book.
Strides is available on the App Store for $3.99.
3. 21habit
Behavioral science experts have long debated the 21-day habit challenge: that any habit can be formed if done repeatedly for 21 days.
The 21habit app operates on that premise, allowing you to “invest” on creating a new habit within 21 days.
21habit offers two subscription modes: committed and free. In the committed mode, you pay an upfront $21 payment, which will be given back to you $1 at a time for every day you stick to your goal.
Miss a day of doing crunches or not cursing and you lose $1.
4. Beeminder
They call it goal setting with a sting!
Beeminder addresses what could be the hardest part of keeping a goal – self-control (or lack thereof) – through pledges to remind you when you’re falling off the wagon.
It uses data you input (or from connected services like RescueTime and Fitbit) to track your progress. Progress is plotted on a Yellow Brick Road, and anything straying from the path will be a bitter sting to your wallet.
Beeminder is free to use and available for download on the App Store and Google Play.
5. Habit List
If you believe in the old adage about excellence being a habit, then Habit List is for you.
Habit List is an iPhone app designed to help users:
- Stay focused on reaching their goals
- Break unhealthy habits and create good ones
Streaks – how many times you’ve completed an action in a row – keep you motivated by allowing you to challenge yourself to beat your personal best.
So you don’t get distracted by habits not related to your goals for the day, Habit List only shows the habits that are due today.
Your habits can be ordered according to priority, and completion percentages are available for viewing with a single tap.
Badges and the app’s reminder system let you know which habits still need to be done. Weekly and monthly completion percentages are also available to visualize big-picture trends.
6. Coach.me
Formerly known as Lift.do, Coach.me is a community-based coaching and motivation tool that allows you to choose a goal and monitor your progress.
Goals or habits can be made public or private, and when choosing one, you can specify how often you want it completed and when to receive reminders about it.
Coach.me’s community aspect allows you to interact with people with the same goals, which can include:
- Waking up on time
- Flossing
- Exercising every morning
- 30 to 60 minutes of everyday reading
- Save a certain amount of money per day
You can ask questions, and they can offer suggestions on how to more easily accomplish your goals.
The app, which is accessible via iPhone, Android, and the web, is free to use, but if you’d like to be coached one-to-one by a qualified professional, the cost is $14.99 per week.
7. stickK
The premise is simple:
There’s a gap between setting goals and actually achieving them.
For most of us, we need an external accountability system or loss aversion mechanism to stay committed to a goal.
Built by Yale University behavioral economists, stickK is a free goal-setting app that forces you to put something on the line, your money or reputation, whenever you set a goal.
For example, if your goal is to exercise every day and you fail to do so, you will have to donate a certain amount, say $10, to charity. If that isn’t motivation enough, you can choose to lose money to a cause you strongly disagree with.
A referee to monitor your progress – a friend or family member – can also be designated to verify the report you submit to stickK on a weekly basis.
Final word
When setting your goals, it pays to always remember that the road to achieving your targets won’t always be smooth.
There will be times when the journey will feel like a never-ending uphill battle. These apps are here to help you continually take action and measure your progress.
The rest is up to you.
The post How to Set and Reach a Goal? 7 Amazing Apps to Stay on Track appeared first on Cloudswave Blog.