New Year's Resolutions

Americans love to make New Year Resolutions... 

45% did so in 2014 

The top ten New Year's Resolutions for 2014 included: get organized, lose weight, spend less, save more, enjoy life to the fullest, stay fit and healthy, learn something exciting, quit smoking, help others in their dreams, fall in love and spend more time with family were the top.

As you welcome 2015 and attempt to fulfill your goals, consider three strategies that will help make you successful in 2015: SMART Goals, Technology To Do List Managers and Wearable Technology Health and Fitness Trackers.

SMART GOALS: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Specific.

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. Specific goals address the six "W" questions: Who, what, where, when, which and why. Example: a general goal would be 'lose weight' and a specific goal would say 'join a health club and workout 3 days per week'.

Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress. Ask questions such as How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable: By identifying goals that are important to you, you will establish ways to make them come true. Plan your steps and establish a time frame.

Realistic: A goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to achieve and become labors of love.

Timely: A goal should be grounded within a time frame and have a sense of urgency. Set a date and establish the time frame.

Technology To Do List Managers: Tracking your to-dos, syncing and scheduling, notifications and reminders and great apps.

Finding the tool to assist with to-do lists is specific to each persons personality and organizational methods. There are great apps and tools available to stay organized and scheduling calendars. 

Wunderlist is a webapp and mobile to-do list manager that I personally use to stay organized. You can star important tasks, add notes and additional information. 

Alan Henry, in the Life Hacker posting Five Best To Do List Managers, includes Google Keep, Wunderlist and others based on a poll of readers and their favorite organizational tools.

Wearable Technology Health and Fitness Trackers

Everyone can benefit from the Wearable Technology Health and Fitness Trackers to help reach and maintain goals and monitor our overall wellness and health.

I started using the Fitbit tracker to measure my daily steps taken and calculate calories burned. This device also monitors my heart-rate and provide meaningful data about weight and percentage of body fat. Smartphones have built in health tracking capabilities. These include pedometers to track walking, running and more. Using the Fitbit or iPhone as a tracker helps with my personal goals and tracking calories and overall success with my New Year Resolutions.

Resources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julio-fernandez/ces-2015-preview-wearable_b_6404658.html
http://topachievement.com/smart.html
http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/
http://lifehacker.com/create-checklists-for-your-most-important-tasks-to-free-1668701254?utm_campaign=socialflow_lifehacker_twitter&utm_source=lifehacker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow