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2021 is well in advance as the world hopefully recovers from the pandemic and people around the world are clearer than ever about their priorities. Let’s take a look at some of the best apps for creating habits, setting bets, and achieving New Year’s resolutions with iPhone and Apple Watch.
Rethinking New Years Resolutions
While New Years resolutions can be a good place to start, they are often too broad and / or not defined with actionable steps. Another difficult aspect of New Year’s resolutions is that they can be tied to guilt and regret, especially if they are something you’ve been looking for or struggling with for a while.
I found this approach from Tim Ferriss very valuable and effective: Replace New Years Resolutions with a “Last Year’s Review.” The idea is to intentionally look back at the last year (with your calendar if possible) and write down what things moved the needle for you in both positive and negative directions.
Then cut down on the 20% of the things you did that produced the most impactful results (and guide what to do and avoid moving on). Read more about this approach on Tim’s blog here. If you try, I think you’ll head into 2021 with more clarity on what’s important to you, what your goals really are, and more practical steps to get there. You can still come up with a New Years resolution, but the review process from the previous year should offer real added value.
Also keep in mind that while it may be tempting to tackle multiple new habits at the same time, many people find the most success by making fewer changes simultaneously. For more information on creating and breaking habits, James Clear’s bestseller Atomic habits it is very useful.
How to achieve New Years resolutions with iPhone and Apple Watch
The iPhone and Apple Watch can be great tools to help you stay on track towards your most important goals, and specifically the daily action to create or break habits. Next, we will see 4 great applications to achieve your New Year’s resolutions with iPhone and Apple Watch.
Set bets
Stickk
I wanted to share this first, as setting real bets can be an important factor in creating new habits and achieving New Year’s resolutions. Many times we know what to do and how to do it, but we don’t take consistent action, which is why Stickk was created.
Stickk comes from a behavioral economist and law professor at Yale University and the main idea is “INCENTIVES x RESPONSIBILITY = KEY TO SUCCESS”.
This is how the application works:
- Set your goal: ANY goal (lose weight, personal care, meditation, finish the thesis …) and a timeline to achieve it
- Invite someone, a friend, a co-worker or a family member, to take responsibility and check your progress
- Put your money where your mouth is! Set a price for inaction – add Stakes to your commitment (optional)
- Track your progress by reporting your successes or failures daily, weekly OR at the end of your engagement contract
Stickk is available for iPhone, Mac, and the web for free. You can download it from the App Store.
Track New Years Resolutions with iPhone and Apple Watch
Okay, let’s look at some great apps to keep track of your goals and habits:
Stripes
Streaks developer Crunchy Bagel describes the app as “The to-do list that helps you form good habits.” It allows you to track up to 12 daily tasks, it is super customizable with 78 color themes, 600 icons, and how often a repeated task must be completed.
It also has support for Widgets, Siri Shortcuts, Apple Health, and much more.
Streaks has won an Editors’ Choice award from Apple and has a very high average rating of 4.8 / 5 stars from over 14,000 reviewers.
Streaks is available for $ 4.99 on the App Store and works with iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and iMessage.
HabitMinder
This is another great app based on the same idea of a habit-focused to-do list. HabitMinder features mini-apps and “session” screens.
Other great features include widgets, a clean and simple user interface, and it’s free to try before you buy to unlock all of the app’s features.
The user loves HabitMinder with an average rating of 4.7 / 5 stars from almost 4,000 reviews. It is available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
HabitMinder is available as a free download from the App Store with a lifetime license that costs $ 19.99, a yearly subscription at $ 9.99 and a monthly fee of $ 0.99.
Achievements
This is a new app that takes an interesting approach to include both your overall goals and the habits that will help you achieve them.
There is a focus on a minimalist user interface with haptic feedback and good sound effects. It also has widgets and customization with icons and 5 color themes. Achievements also includes more than 300 quotes to inspire you.
While only one iPhone app is available for now, developer 2196 has told us that an Apple Watch app is in the works along with a stats page and support for more languages.
Achievements is available as a $ 4.99 download from the App Store.
Apple apps
If you don’t want to pick a new app to help you with your New Years habits and resolutions on iPhone and Apple Watch, you can always use the built-in Reminders app and create recurring alerts.
If you want more details, you can also create subtasks in the Reminders app and also take advantage of the Notes app for longer diary / habit tracking.
And if your goal is health-related, you can track your workouts in the Fitness app and other details in the Health app.
Summary of New Years resolutions with iPhone
I try to keep in mind that the most important thing is not what tool I am using to track my progress, but it really is about consistency with daily action to create a new habit.
Apps can be part of achieving New Year’s resolutions with iPhone and the apps above are great. But clarity, incentives, accountability, and follow through are what will make the real difference. Greetings for the new year and the achievement of your goals!
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