While you are still in the process setting goals and resolutions, here are seven apps that might help you track your success and keep you on track in 2014.
January, being the start of the New Year, has typically been the time for introspection and planning. Although we tend to start out with the best of intentions, all too often and within a few weeks, we become less committed to, or even abandon outright, the goals and resolutions we had made. In order keep your goals top of mind (and to a lesser degree, keep you honest), we suggest seven applications to help you organise and plan, so that you might have even better success in realising your goals in 2014.
Everest
Everest is popular goal planning app, which according to its creators, “helps you climb your Everest”. Key features include being able to capture an unlimited number of dreams and goals; breaking down the goals into smaller tasks, which can be tracked; and being able to share your goals and progress with select persons, the community of fellow goal chasers, and on social media.
Supported platforms: iOS
Price: Free
Todoist
In our busy lives, we often need a to-do list to help us keep track of all the things we need to get done. Todoist is one of the most popular on the market. Although the design aesthetic might appear minimalist, it is a powerful app. With the free app, and among other things, you can manage an unlimited list of tasks and sub-tasks (which can be organised into projects and sub-projects); set deadlines for all activities; and access the task manager offline. The premium version allows reminders and push notifications, along with a range of other features to help you become even more organised.
Supported platforms: Web; Android phone; Android tablet; iPhone; iPad; Windows; Mac OS; Chrome; Firefox; Gmail; Microsoft Outlook; Thunderbird
Price: Free; USD 29.00/year (premium version)
Wunderlist
Wunderlist is another popular to-do list app that offers a range of features such as: recurring to-dos; sharing lists with friends; and adding notes and notifications. Wunderlist is cloud-enabled, and hence can sync across a wide range of devices. This feature might be especially useful for those who use a number of devices and but still need to keep on top of all they need to do. With Wunderlist’s premium app, you can: add unlimited sub-tasks, append files to tasks; comprehensively delegate tasks; and share comments and feedback with your collaborators.
Supported platforms: Web; Android; iPhone; iPad; Windows; Mac
Price: Free; USD 49.99/year (premium version)
43Things
43Things is another popular goal tracking app. It helps users not only to set goals, but they do so in community, which currently hover over three million. Users are limited to 43 entries (hence the name), which can be a combination of short term and bucket list goals. Users can track their progress and share them with the 43Things community, who can offer support and cheer them on.
Supported platforms: iOS
Price: Free
Any.do
Any.do is an award-winning daily planning app that aims to help you keep on top of what you have to do. In addition to the typical task management features (tasks, sub-tasks, recurring tasks and alerts), additional capabilities include: seamlessly syncing to the cloud; speech recognition; and gesture support. It also has a feature that prompts you every morning to plan your day, which is likely to give you a leg up in getting organised.
Supported platforms: iOS; Android; Google Chrome
Price: Free
Remember the Milk
Remember the Milk is another popular to-do/task management app that comes with a number of interesting features, such as: tagging tasks to specific locations; sharing lists and collaborating with others; receiving reminders through a variety of mediums; and the ability to add tasks in a variety of ways. Its range of features makes this app especially useful for intensive list-makers, and those who frequently need to add or update tasks whilst on the go. Premium users can enjoy: unlimited auto-syncing; push notifications to their phones or tablets; priority support; etc.
Supported platforms: Web; iOS; Android; BlackBerry; Gmail; Google Calendar; Microsoft Outlook; Twitter; Evernote
Price: Free; USD 25.00/year (premium version)
Joe’s Goals
Joe’s Goals is one of the oldest goal-tracking apps around. As a web-based application, everything is done online. Its no-frills interface and simple design may work especially well for persons who need to track simple, short-term goals that they are hoping to meet on a daily or weekly basis. Daily, the app tallies up your performance against your goals, which can be motivating, particularly for those who are competitive, and it also has some capability to share your success with others via social media.
Supported platforms: Web
Price: Free; USD 12.00/ year (premium version)
Image credit: Stuart Miles (FreeDigitalPhotos.net); Apple; Google Play; Google Play; Apple; Google Play; Google Play; Joe’s Goals
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While pretty obvious, it had never crossed my mind, there are such able apps to aid in personal and task planning. Just as it was with the advent of appointment and scheduling suites like Microsoft Outlook, we’ll soon be shedding away our diaries ( those bulky hardcover books with golden imprints ).
I tried a few mentioned in the article, how easy and flexible. I found Todoist and Any.do very simple and easy to get organised – maybe becaue they are freebie!
But indeed a great start to the year begins with getting yourself organised. Tools such as these serve as a good to-the-task jogger.
Thanks Kamatula for the feedback, especially on which apps you felt might be the best or most user-friendly.
I do agree that although there are a wealth of apps available, sometimes we overlook the fact that there may be tools to help us with certain tasks. Hence I hope that articles like this one are timely and that we remember to consider and use some of the tools that are available to make our lives easier.