66 Days.
That’s how long it takes to build new habits.
This is no easy task. And it’s no surprise that 9 out of 10 people fail to achieve their New Year’s Resolutions.
While having the right motivatio and purpose is the first step, relying on willpower alone can only take you so far. This is why we’ve collected 5 useful apps (many of which we personally use at our company, Rype) to build new habits and achieve your goals.
Whether your goal is to lose 15 lbs, learn a new language, or to simply reduce your stress, you can use the following tools to help you get there even faster.
We hope these are helpful to you in achieving your goals and building habits.
1. Pause – For managing stress and anxiety
Stress is one of the deadliest and most common traits that lead to diseases and premature death. Luckily, it’s also something we can control, as long as we take the time to pause and slow down during our busy days.
This is what Pause helps you do.
You simply open up the app, and start to slowly follow around the circle that roams through your screen as it gets bigger. The premise is that by the time you’re done, you’ve rested your mind by focusing on something else.
2. Coach.me – A community of habit builders
Formerly the Lift app, Coach.me is not only a habit tracker, but a community. You can design a plan (or hire a coach for $15 per week), and share it publicly with the community for feedback and support.
Some people don’t like sharing their goals publicly, and they have the option to change your privacy settings inside the app as well. Overall, it is a simple and useful app to build new habits in your life.
3. Habit List – Set, track, and build new habits
Another great app we want to recommend is: Habit List. While Coach.me is focused more on helping you achieve your goals, this app allows you to track new habits that you want to build in the simplest way possible.
You can create a new habit and set which days of the week you want to complete it, set reminders for yourself, and even skip habits while on vacation or taking time off.
4. Strides – Habit tracking, visualized
Out of all the habit building apps we mentioned, Strides takes the ribbon for design. It’s a beautiful and visual app that allows you to see all of your tracked habits and progress in one place.
In terms of functionality, it’s similar to what Habit List will provide you, except Strides helps you go in-depth with your different habits. For example, they ask you to choose which tracker is appropriate for the habit you’re building:
- Target Tracker
- Habit Tracker
- Average Tracker
The flexibility and diversity of trackers is what makes Strides stand out. For example, you can set a goal to say learn how to speak Spanish in 3 months (target tracker), then set a new habit to learn with a professional Spanish teacher 2x/week (habit tracker).
5. Calm – Peace of mind on-demand
As I write this post, I have Calm’s Mountain Lake background noise on to help me focus. Many people compare it to Headspace, which we’ve recommended in our happiness post here, but I personally prefer Calm because of its diverse functions.
You can use it for:
- Meditation guidance
- Gratitude practice
- Soothing background noise
- and more
How do you build new habits?
Here we’ve shared with you our 5 most useful apps to build new habits, but we’d love for you to share yours! Also, don’t forget to share this with your friends!
