In our efforts to be the best we can be, it’s important to establish goals. Specifically, stretch goals, which challenge us the most and can help us reach our potential in life. But simply defining these goals is not enough. We must commit ourselves to their pursuit, and we must overcome obstacles along the way. Whether our goals involve starting good habits or ridding ourselves of bad ones, dedication and perseverance are essential. Unfortunately, as we all know, this is much easier said than done.
Fortunately, several new apps designed to help us achieve our boldest life goals are proving to be quite effective. What’s their secret? Each provides the means to track and measure progress as users strive to improve. Likewise, they also give users important feedback that includes streaks of positive performance. The power that this feedback offers is quite incredible regardless of the good habits you are trying to embrace. And they’re a great complement in your efforts to attain your life’s most challenging stretch goals.
Feedback’s Effect in the Pursuit of Stretch Goals
It’s difficult to know if you’re making progress if you don’t measure it along the way. Measurements provide feedback that let you know if you’re heading in the right direction. Of course, there are two types of feedback…balancing feedback and reinforcing feedback. Balancing feedback provides information that lets you know corrective actions are needed. For example, when trying to lose weight, extra pounds on the scale tells you that a new strategy is needed. Balancing feedback helps you know when adjustments need to be made.
On the other hand, reinforcing feedback lets you know things are going well. If you’re successfully adopting good habits, then positive feedback keeps you motivated and committed. This is where streaks of positive performance come into play. This type of feedback is encouraging and serves as an emotional reward for our efforts. Both are important for achieving stretch goals. But unlike balancing feedback, reinforcing feedback is much more energizing. And this is why these new apps are showing great success in helping attain the good habits we desire.
5 Positive Feedback Apps that Promote Good Habits
While many habit-tracking apps are on the market, some are more effective than others. Likewise, individuals will have unique preferences about the type of feedback they would like to receive. With this in mind, several habit-tracking apps use positive feedback and streaks to keep you motivated. The following are some that have been shown to help thousands in their pursuit of their stretch goals.
- Tally
If you’re into counting, the Tally is the perfect habit-tracking app for you. You can choose to count bad habits of good habits. The results are provided in visual graphs so you clearly see the progress you are making. In addition, you can also attach notes to specific tasks or activities as well as milestones. And Tally has cloud storage options so you can revisit the progress you’ve made over longer periods of time. No matter what stretch goals you have, Tally can keep track of nearly anything.
- Habitica
If you’re into video games, then you might like Habitica as a habit-tracking app in pursuing your stretch goals. Habitica rewards you each time you attain a milestone or goal. And it also penalizes you when you fail to achieve a commitment. In this regard, it offers both balancing and reinforcing feedback. Choose among 4 different categories – To-Dos, Habits, Dailies, and Rewards. Once selected, your pixilated avatar uses points to advance in the game providing entertaining motivation. Play solo, or get a group together and play as a team for common group goals. Habitica is a fun way to introduce good habits into your life.
- Streaks
Streaks is a colorful, simply, and incredibly user-friendly habit-tracking app. Like its name implies, Streaks lets you see just how reliable you’ve been in pursuing your stretch goals. The app also allows you to track 12 different habits at once. For example, you can track the number of days of meditation performed in a row. Or see how many positive affirmations you gave others in a single day. Streaks can be used on multiple devices at once, and it also integrates with several other health apps. And you can customize the messages you receive when a milestone is reached. It’s a great way to reinforce good habits and to maintain momentum.
- Strides
For the visual junkies in the crowd, Strides offers vivid charts, graphs and other depictions that show your progress. The app allows you to choose from 4 categories, which include habits, targets, averages, and projects. Each category comes with its own set of tracking tools and visual graphics. Likewise, you can customize your dashboard from a variety of options as well. Strides is best for long-term stretch goals and for good habits you want to maintain. Most commonly, Strides is used for financial goals, activity targets, and sleep-related improvements.
- HabitShare
For those who are more socially motivated, HabitShare is a great habit-tracking app. In essence, if you share stretch goals with others, you can track your good habits together. You can see when your group last checked into the app. Likewise, HabitShare lets you send messages of encouragement to one another. Finally, you can set up reminders and specific tracking days if you wish. Data supports that social accountability can nearly double your success rate in achieving your goals. HabitShare thus leverages this approach to help you adopt the good habits you desire.
Measure, Track, Adjust, Repeat
Adopting good habits and eliminating bad ones take time. In addition to commitment and effort, it requires motivation and perseverance. Habit-tracking apps that offer feedback help greatly in this regard by making you more aware of your progress. Achieving a long streak of success or a specific milestone can do wonders in attaining your longer-term stretch goals. By measuring and tracking your accomplishment, you can make improvements and adjust. And by doing this over and over again, you will eventually achieve the success you want. Habit-tracking apps offer a great way to help you in these efforts.
