I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, I’m more one for “If you want to do/change something, start now!” but since the beginning of the year brings a feeling of excitement and anticipation, maybe 2016 could be the year of positive change. And what better way to achieve this than using social media to make healthy life changes, foster encouragement, and track your progress?
Here are 7 ways to make 2016 your year of positive change, and 7 apps to help you achieve this!
#1 Become a Fitness Freak
App: Women—Sweat With Kayla Men—FitnessBuilder Plus
This is the obvious New Year’s resolution—the one everyone makes every year—and the one that probably gets broken the earliest. What if you had an app to track your progress, as well as share it with the world—making it much harder to break, and much easier to follow with a whole community behind you? Sweat with Kayla is the women’s fitness app that’s taking the world by storm—this app offers guided workouts, daily eating plans, health tips, fitness tips, and here’s the nifty part—you can link your account to Facebook and Instagram to share your progress. For men, there’s FitnessBuilder Plus. This fitness app accommodates all kinds of men’s fitness routines from body building to yoga, allows you to track and log all your workout stats, and records your progress.
#2 Get Some Sleep!
App: Sleep Cycle
Getting enough sleep is essential for anyone who expects to function at top performance. Sleep Cycle allows you to track your body’s sleeping patterns and wakes you up at the optimum time—removing the need to drink copious amounts of coffee onset by that groggy ‘just woke up feeling.’ The only negative aspect of this app is that you have to sleep with your phone near you – something not everyone is comfortable with.
#3 Save Your Bucks
App: Mint
Tired of your money disappearing out of your account before you have a chance to say “save”? Mint is a personal finance app which gives you a complete look at all of your finances from bank accounts to credit cards. It tracks your spending, allows you to budget, and alerts you if you’re nearing your budget so that you can make positive adjustments to your spending.
#4 Play Those Funky Tunes
App: Spotify
Spotify is an app we at MCP always rave about. For one, this app is FREE unless you’d like to pay a monthly subscription to eliminate ads and save an unlimited amount of songs for offline listening, for another, you can find just about any music you love on this app—even those old school indie bands you’re sure no one has even heard of. Listening to music is a great way to relax and put you in the right frame of mind.
#5 Organize Your Life!
App: Evernote
Tired of having a million and one things to do and nowhere to keep track of them? Whether it’s at home, in your job, or just day-to-day life, Evernote will be a welcome addition to your app collection. Cross off tasks, share lists with others, capture photos, record reminders and much more with this life-changing free app.
#6 2016 – The Year of the Book
App: Goodreads
Whether you’re a Kindle fan or you love the smell of a fresh new (or old!) book, Goodreads is the app for you. Make reading goals, share book recommendations with friends, add books to your virtual bookshelf or “to read” list, and rate or review your latest read, as well as share your activity on social media to encourage the reader in others. Goodreads hands you the recipe for a successful year of furthering your vocabulary, knowledge, and bookshelf.
#7 Focus Your Mind
App: Headspace
Where some people shy away from the idea of “meditation,” it’s been proven that meditating for a short period of time each day can put you in a better space emotionally and mentally. How you choose to do this is completely up to you, but Headspace promises that in just 10 minutes a day you will learn to focus more, stress less, worry less, smile more, sleep better, love better and so much more. Live a healthier, happier, more enjoyable life with this free app.
Remember, we can hand you the key to create a better life for yourself, but you’re the only one who can make the decision to unlock the door. Don’t wait another year—start now!
This post was written by Kirstin Venn. Kirstin is a Social Media Content Media Specialist Lead with Media Connect Partners.
