Five Best Apps to Achieve Your Goals

Whether you’re still trying to keep your New Year’s resolutions or just trying to maintain peak productivity, we can always benefit from some accountability checks. Of course, you can do this yourself, but a little outside help from a well-made application can go a long way.

For individual responsibility: Focusmate

A key component of productivity is planning your day, so if you’re planning to complete a specific task, like clearing out your inbox or consolidating notes, try using Focusmate to team up with an accountability partner who’s working at the same time. You get into a video chat with that person, both share what you’re working on, and then start working. This is based on the principle of ” body doubling “, or the idea that people work harder when someone else is around. If you’ve ever forced yourself to go to the gym because you’re surrounded by other people, or invited a friend to sit on the couch while you clean, you understand this. Focusmate allows you to arrange three sessions per week for free, but if you want unlimited sessions, it costs $9.99 per month, or about $84 per year.

Pros of Focusmate:

• You can choose the date, time and partner

• You can be assigned to focus rooms based on the type of activity you want to do, whether desk work or physical activity.

• You get a significant amount of access with the free version.

Cons of Focusmate:

• This only really works if you have a desktop setup, and isn’t as accessible if you’re on the go.

• Prices for unlimited sessions are a bit high.

If you need an accountability group: fly over

Flown hosts group classes that function like virtual study groups, allowing you to work “along” with other people who are also trying to get things done. From the comfort of your home, you can surround yourself with people who are simultaneously working on their tasks, giving you the same feeling as if you were in a cafe, library, or working in a big store. group of people.

There are virtual quiet rooms where you can sit during the day and coworking sessions you can join with small groups of people for an hour or two led by facilitators, as well as one-on-one work experiences called “portholes” that play hour-long footage of experienced people working masters according to your specific profession. There is a 30-day free trial, but even after it expires you can still join the free sessions on Fridays. If you really get the hang of it after the trial period (which doesn’t require you to provide your card details), it costs $25 per month, $228 per year, or $900 for a lifetime membership.

Flying Pros:

• It can be customized and adapted: you indicate whether you work remotely, whether you feel overwhelmed, whether you think you have ADHD, etc.

• Options range from facilitator-led groups to quiet workrooms.

• Free access on Fridays will help you build a busy schedule, even if you don’t want to pay.

Disadvantages encountered:

• This is best suited for setting up on your desktop rather than while you’re working on something.

If you just need a personal boost: Loop Habit Tracker

Maybe you don’t need a virtual coworking space, but just a way to track your progress and push yourself. Loop could be your answer as it provides a platform to track progress, schedule work, and receive useful reminders through notifications. You enter your progress into the app and get a habit score based on how often you do what you set out to do. Gamification is a major motivator for some people, so if all you want is to see the number go up and up, try Loop, which is free for seven habits and costs $9.99 per month if you want to track more.

Pros of the cycle:

• The simple interface allows you to see your goal progress using a calendar or more detailed infographics.

• It doesn’t require much pressure, so you feel good about completing tasks and staying with your habits, but it doesn’t shame you for missing days (unlike other tools that are valuable for people who need that kind of push).

• It’s highly customizable, so you can even change the question it asks you when you fill out your habit information.

Disadvantages of the cycle:

• It is only available for Android

• The interface is simple, which is good, but perhaps a little boring.

To work on goals with friends: Habitat

The Habitat app allows you to work in groups with people you already know, so it’s great if you set goals with other people, like family or friends. It gives you some simple ideas for developing habits, like exercising more often or making your bed regularly, and once you’ve developed your first habit, you can invite friends to join you. You will then work together to create a “group series” where each of you will contribute by working on your habit.

I just agreed with a friend that we would both commit to working out five times a week. The interface is simple, the bars visually grow so you can see your progress, and the free version allows you to see who in your group is at the top of the leaderboard. You can even access direct messages within the app to discuss the task with your group.

The benefit here is that you don’t want to let people you know down, so you may be more motivated to go to the gym if you know you’re not only harming your health by skipping classes, but also putting a loved one at risk. Access to a premium account costs $35.99 per year or $5.99 per month, which allows you to participate in more than four Habitat series and view detailed statistics about your progress, as well as set notifications and reminders.

Advantages of the habitat:

• It is easy to use and understand from the moment you download it.

• You can use the free version to a limited extent, so it’s great if you only need to develop one or two habits.

Disadvantages of the habitat:

• The paid version has a significantly larger set of functions.

• This only really works if you have friends who are willing to do it with you, unlike the apps above where you’re dealing with strangers who are already interested in using the software.

• It is only available on iOS

If you want real bets: lose

Forfeit has an interesting premise that is not for the faint of heart: you invest money (from $1 to $50) and if you reach your goal, you get to keep it; if you fail to achieve your goal, you will lose that money.

A member of the app’s team will review evidence—like gym selfies, recordings of your work, or anything else—to make sure you’ve met your goal (or you can have artificial intelligence check your goals instead). You determine in advance what you will do, for example: “I will send a time-lapse of me reading tomorrow before 11 am, or I will lose $10.”

According to the company, $3 million was wagered across 238,000 sessions with a 94.2% success rate – meaning most people are motivated to keep their money and not lose it. You don’t have to pay for the app in the traditional sense, but you do pay if you can’t achieve your goal. Forfeit can keep this money for themselves, or you can give it to a charity or even a group of friends using the app. I should also mention that you can also do penalties at lower rates: you can ask the app to text your friends if you don’t reach a goal by a certain time, for example. You can even customize the message they receive, such as: “Lindsey couldn’t clean the living room this afternoon! How awkward!”

Pros of refusal:

• This app actually makes you do what it says it will do.

• It’s only as bad or as good as you set it, so you can make all your text inputs truly positive (but still risk losing real money, of course).

• There are many ways to use it, so it will suit you whether you decide to let the AI ​​check your submitted evidence, bet on itself, set up repeat penalties, or anything else.

Disadvantages of refusal:

• You can really lose money

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