5 Awesome Apps and Gadgets For New Year's Resolution Success

It’s that time of year again folks, the time to start thinking about what resolutions are we going to come up with, write them down, promise ourselves we are going to through with each one, and finally put them in a dark drawer and never look at them again until spring cleaning. Yup, if that sounds a lot like you, well here’s the good news, you are not alone. But wait, there has to be a better way. No this is not an infomercial and I’m not going to try to sell you a Snuggie or a Shake Weight. Instead, I’m going to show you a few apps that will help you keep your resolutions and achieve whatever goal you set out to achieve.

Before we get to the apps however, here are some cool stats about New Year’s resolutions. And of course you know that 73% of all statistics are made up. But this is in only about 45% of the cases. Joking aside, these numbers are from the Journal of Clinical Psychology – University of Scranton.

1. Lose Weight
2. Getting Organized
3. Spend Less, Save More
4. Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5. Staying Fit and Healthy
6. Learn Something Exciting
7. Quit Smoking
8. Help Others in Their Dreams
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend More Time with Family

• 45% of Americans usually make a New Year resolution.
• 17% of Americans, every now and never, make a New Year resolution.
• 38% of Americans NEVER made a New Year resolution (Ok perfect people).
• Now get this. Only 8% of the people that make a New Year resolution are actually successful at achieving their goals.

Enough with statistics and let’s get to the nitty gritty here. After all, you want to be part of that 8% don’t you?

Every Day App

If your resolution has anything to do with your physical appearance (E.g. losing weight, letting your hair grow out or even growing a Zach Galifianakis style beard) this app will keep you motivated along the way. The app basically reminds you to take a picture of yourself every day. It will let you setup reminders so that you can get in to the habit and not miss a day. By doing this, you can track your progress and even make a movie to see the time lapse effect of your change. And of course, the app lets you share your pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Flickr.

Narrative Clip

If your plan involves being more active and doing more stuff. Basically stop watching The Voice after work and go have a life. This great gadget will sure keep you in check and literally show you when you are slacking. The Narrative, is a tiny camera with a GPS that you can clip onto your clothing and it will automatically take pictures of whatever it is you are doing every few seconds or minutes (you can choose the frequency) and organize the pictures for you in chronological order. Talk about a “I know what you did….ALL THE TIME” moment.

Tikker

If you have the resolution number 4 on our list “Enjoy Life to the Fullest”, then this is the thing for you. It counts how many years, days, hours, minutes and seconds you have left in your life to remind you of what is really important and make sure that you are in fact, “Living Life to the Fullest”. The goal is to get you motivated, help you make the right choices and make every second count. Yup, pretty interest and scary concept I guess.

Snooze by LetGive

Want to wake up early to hit the gym and be more productive? Well, here’s an alarm clock. Ok so you already have an alarm clock, but do you have one that reaches into your wallet and take money from you if you hit the snooze button? Ok, it’s not as literal as I made it sound, but this app will let you input your credit card information in it along with a charity of your choice. For every time you hit the snooze button in the morning, it will donate a pre-determined amount, chosen by you of course, to your charity of choice. How much is extra 5 minutes worth to you? Literally!

GymShamer

This is not based on any study, but I’m pretty sure that January is the highest sign-up month for any GYM in the country. People want to lose weight, gain weight, stay fit, run marathons, you name it. They start by signing up to a GYM. Signing up is easy, actually going, not so much. But don’t worry, GymShamer is here to help you out. In a very unconventional way. The app will blast across all of your social networks whenever you fail to go to the gym or accomplish one of your fitness goals. It’s pure encouragement through shame.

You should be all set now to achieve all of your New Year’s Resolutions. Good Luck!

Photo: Chris lucidtech, Flickr