Goals often remain just that. Goals. That’s why so many New Year resolutions never come to life. Procrastination, both a bliss and a curse.

Developing new habits and routines  and managing away bad habits is often even harder. It’s not a one-time or abstract goal. The clock goes round and round; and every day, you will need to go over the checklist.

Of course the real goal would be not needing that checklist but rather to develop habit that’s instinctive and becomes part of the everyday routine. You won’t notice the act, but benefit from the results.

Habitforge

It is said that it takes 21 consequent days to develop a habit. In other words; if you manage to hold out that long, you’ve practically made it.

Habitforge puts that rule to use, and helps you to make new habits or with managing away bad habits. It’s a site everyone can use to make that little tweak to their daily routine. The concept is very simple; report of your daily successes and failures until you manage to cross that 21 day mark. All you need is an internet browser and email address.

The Process of Making Routine

On the site, start out by logging in or signing up for a free account. Doing the latter, you’ll need to provide an email and password as well as time zone information – both for later access and the creation of the goal.

The registration is entirely free and you won’t be bothered with email confirmation.

Starting a new goal is even easier. Specify a title and category then hit the button. Categories will allow other users to track people’s goals and can also serve as a source of information. Leave the checkbox unchecked if you want your goal to be a private one, but know that this eliminates a crucial part of Habitsource: your supporters.

You can create positive goals, like rising early every day, or negative ones – Habitforge is extremely popular with people trying to quit smoking. And better yet, you can create as many goals as you want!

Each day, you’ll receive an email from Habitforge, checking up on your previous day. It’s recommended to serve each email with an answer as soon as possible, but not necessary.

Back on the site, your goal’s progress will be tracked. As I’ve said before, you’ll want to get that counter to reach 21. By failing a day, or forgetting to answer a mail altogether, the counter will be reset. You can make up excuses in the comments, but it won’t help much with your goal. Personally, I’m not doing very well, as you can see in the screenshot.

If you chose to make your goal public, you can invite people to cheer for you. They’ll first need to sign up for a free account, though. Knowing that some people have your back and – more importantly – the extra pressure of them keeping a close eye on you are good motivators!

Do you have a goal in mind yet? Tell us about it in the comments section below – perhaps you’ll inspire one of our other readers!

Tagged: lifestyle • resolutions