1. Google Calendar – Manage Your Goals
There are dozens of excellent calendar apps for Android and iOS, but few are as universal as the free Google Calendar (iOS, Android). Helping you with both short-term and long-term goals, the built-in “Goals” feature is one of the best parts of the app. Want to find time to work out, go out with friends or learn a new language? All you need to do is enter a goal. Let’s say you want to run in the morning three days a week for thirty minutes. Hit the “+” sign at the bottom right of the main calendar screen, select “Goals -> Exercise -> Run” and follow the rest of the instructions. Google Calendar also has preset goals for learning a new language, making time for friends, meditating, and more. That Google Calendar integrates perfectly with Gmail as well as smart home products like the Google Nest Hub just makes it all the more useful.
2. Mint – Manage Your Budget
While exercise is often the most popular New Year’s resolution, tracking spending or creating a budget is likely also near the top. Helping people manage their finances, Mint.com has been around for years and has a stellar and trustworthy reputation. Creating a budget is one of the best ways to start off 2020 and ensure that you are able to travel, save and enjoy all that a new year has to offer. Mint will help bring together all of your credit cards and bank accounts into one centralized location. From there, you can see all of your balances, pay your bills, see a credit score and more. The best part of Mint is really the part about creating a budget. Mint’s artificial intelligence will help determine how much you are spending, where you can save and, most importantly, how much you can save. Available as a smartphone app and a desktop site, there is no excuse not to use a site like this.
3. MyFitnessPal – Manage Your Health
Apps to track your diet are plentiful, with all of them claiming they do something better than the rest. However, few apps can help track a diet better than MyFitnessPal (iOS, Android). Best described as a calorie counter and fitness tracker in one, MyFitnessPal will help you take control of your goal of eating healthier in 2020. With more than 11 million foods in their database, it is easy to learn the nutritional value, or lack thereof, of your dietary favorites. One look at the nutrition information of that salad dressing you love so much might surprise you – and not in a good way. Used alongside the default Apple or Google health apps on a smartphone, MyFitnessPal will track calories burned during a workout to help you understand how much can you eat on any given day. Whether your goal is to lose 10 pounds or 100 in 2020, this is the app you need to take control.
4. Bookly – Manage Your Knowledge
Once schooling is in the rear-view mirror, many people often forget just how much reading stimulates the brain. Science has shown that reading is a sound way to improve your overall health. That is where Bookly (iOS, Android) comes in. Among other fantastic features, Bookly enables its users to set both monthly and yearly goals to help make reading a habit. You will receive personalized data on how many pages you are averaging at a time, reading speed and how much you have read overall. As you knock out and unlock different achievements, Bookly gamifies reading to make it even more engaging. Start with something simple or dive right into a novel. Either way, Bookly ensures that your 2020 goal of reading more is fun and exciting and not at all like the chore it felt like in school. If you find a motivating or favorite quote you want to bookmark for later, Bookly has a helpful feature built right in for that.
5. Space – Manage Your Phone
For millions of smartphone users around the world, smartphone addiction is a real thing. Our phones are constantly in our faces as we work, check social media and surf the web. Make 2020 the year you put the smartphone down and enjoy the world around you with Space for Android and iOS. Space helps you set goals for daily use and rewards you if you stick to those goals. Like Bookly for reading, Space gamifies using your smartphone by setting progress goals that can be tracked over time. The app helps block notifications or dims your screen automatically to help curb daily use. You already know this is the year you need to unplug and focus, and Space is the app that can help you do it. Space even goes so far as to claim that its users, on average, spend around 90 minutes less per day on their phones.
Conclusion
Millions of New Year’s resolutions are going to be set for 2020. Sticking to them is an entirely other matter. Make 2020 the year you set goals and carry them throughout the year so you are healthier, wealthier and more relaxed.
