7 Apps to Keep You on Track ...

itunes.apple.com
Price: $1.99 (Lite version for free!)

I only recently discovered this app but it has fast become one of my favorite apps to keep you on track. You select the day of the week you’d like to work with and then input everything you have to do that day (doctor appointments, do the dishes, sleep, make dinner, etc…), you set the time and whether you would like an alarm to alert you to the activity change. When you are done, the day is presented to you as a 24 hour clock with each activity represented by a different color. This app keeps me on track like nothing else I’ve ever used. The fact that you can have an alert go off from 5 minutes, to an hour before your planned event is exceptionally helpful!

itunes.apple.com
Price: $1.99

I know, I know, Apple products come preloaded with a calendar. So why would you pay for another one? Because this one is fantastic! Instead of the month or day view it allows you to see your entire weekly schedule all laid out. It allows you to cut, copy and duplicate events so you don’t have to enter “Pick up Lily from school” every day of the week, you can just input it once and have it repeat on the days you need it to. Seeing my entire week before me in an organized, color coded fashion helps me stay on track, hopefully it will do the same for you!

itunes.apple.com
Price: Free

For a free app, this one is freaking amazing! If you find yourself to be a bit scatterbrained, like me, you absolutely must snag this app! It is a traditional “To-Do” list with a high-tech twist! You input the information such as “drop letter off at post office,” “pick up dress from dry-cleaner,” and “buy leggings, nail polish and eyeliner at the mall.” Then you insert the location of the stores (don’t worry, the app saves the info so you don’t have to add the address every time). You can enter all of the information by typing it in or by using voice control. Once all of your info is entered, the awesome part begins… when you walk or drive through the vicinity of one of the places you have on your list for the day, you will get an alert reminding you of what you need to do. I constantly forget that I have a letter to mail or a package to send out, so this app works perfectly for me. I drive past the post office (which is tucked behind another building- out of sight, out of mind) on my way to the grocery store. So now, as I’m getting close to the post office, I hear a little *ding* from my phone and remember to stop!

itunes.apple.com
Price: Free (+ pact amount of your choice)

As far as keeping you on track, Gym Pact is a good way to ensure you get your butt to the gym, and then work it off! I hate exercising, so I will find ANY excuse to get out of it. I really need motivation to get me going, and what better motivation is there than money!? The app works like this: You decide how many times per week you want to work out and how much you will pay if you fail to meet your goal. Then you check in at your gym whenever you exercise. If you slack off and don’t go, you pay the amount you decided upon. If you DO achieve your goal, you get paid a portion of what the couch potatoes had to pay! This is perfect for me because I want to keep my money in my pocket and I love earning more!

itunes.apple.com
Price: $3.99 (though frequently on sale)

Getting enough sleep at night is definitely one thing that will help you stay on track. This app is simply amazing, interesting and informative. You set your own sleep goal and when you lie down in bed at night you use the app to take your pulse. You then set what time you need to be awake and you choose to either be woken up at that time or you choose the “smart window,” which allows the app to wake you up at the optimum moment any time within the half hour window before you need to get up. Before you go to sleep, you start the app and lay it next to your pillow (or keep it in an arm band for better results). The Sleep app keeps track of how long you were in bed, how long you were asleep and how deep your sleep was. If you use the smart window to wake up, it will wake you up when you are at the best stage of your sleep cycle. It gives you charts and graphs to illustrate your sleep patterns and gives you advice on how to improve your sleep. There is one more part of this app that I love: You can set an alert that beeps throughout the day if you are inactive for a period of time (you decide…I usually set mine at two hours). This works extremely well in getting me more active throughout the day. I have my alarm set to go off after 2 hours of inactivity between 1pm and 8pm. You could also use the step counter to keep track of how much you walk throughout the day. This is one of the best apps on the market.

itunes.apple.com
Price: Free

This app is fantastic and makes your obstacles easier to overcome by turning daily tasks into a game. There is an assortment of “games” to choose from, such as beating anxiety and depression to weight loss or overcoming an injury. Every day you are given several “power-ups” and you are asked to complete 3 per day. You also need to battle 1 “Bad Guy” every day and complete 3 Quests. Just as an example, my goal is weight loss: The 3 power-ups I completed today were 1- Chug a glass of water, 2- Walk around the block or lawn and 3- Hug yourself to show you accept the body you have while you are working towards the body you want. The bad guy I battled was The Sticky Chair. To defeat this bad guy I had to stand up for a while instead of being a couch potato. This is a fun and silly way to get you doing the things you need to do to get on track.

itunes.apple.com
Price: Free

If you’re looking to break some bad habits or need help forming some good ones, this app will give you everything you need! It has a very, very easy tracking system that allows you to update in less than a minute every day. You can choose as many habits as you’d like to work on at once, then you choose how many days per week you’re looking to do (or not do) your tasks. Once everything is set up, you simply tap the app then check whether you did or did not complete your goal for the day. The app keeps track of how many days per week, month and year you have followed through with your goals. For example, if my goal was “Do the dishes every day” then every day I would get on the app and tap the green button if I did the dishes or the red button if I didn’t. It holds you accountable to yourself for what you do or don’t do.

I know that I haven’t come close to listing all of the extremely helpful apps out there that help us achieve the goals in our everyday lives. Help me out, what apps do you use to stay on track?