Tech to Help You Keep Those Resolutions
Be honest -- how many resolutions have you broken already, just two days into the new year?
One survey finds that 25 percent of us break those promises to ourselves in just the first week.
But technology might help you finally stick to them
On "The Early Show" Monday,
The following descriptions were prepared, at least in part, with information from and assertions made by the manufacturers or retailers
Quitting Smoking
The "quit smoking" resolution may be the most broken of all, since it involves trying to break a physical addiction -- no easy feat! The Quit Key should be one of many support initiatives to help you kick your destructive habit forever. You should also consult with your physician regarding other recommendations/alternatives -- they may include support groups, hypnosis, and prescriptions at helping you wean your body from its addiction to nicotine. Achieving this resolution will not only improve your health, it will also increase your quality of life!
The QuitKey ($60) is a mini-computer you keep on your keychain. It's recommended by the National Institutes of health. QuitKey alters your smoking routine and eases you off cigarettes gradually. QuitKey reminds you when to smoke and when not to smoke. Step-by-step. Hour-by-hour. One day at a time. Stage 1 (7 days): You smoke at your normal rate and use the QuitKey smoke button to record every cigarette you smoke. QuitKey uses this information to form your personal quit plan. Stage 2 (14 to 34 days): QuitKey helps you follow your quit plan by prompting you when to smoke. Each day you smoke less, and gradually, you reduce your nicotine dependence while preparing yourself to quit for good.
Being On-Time More Frequently
If you're chronically late, especially in the morning, here's an alarm clock that promises to help you greet the day in a non-jarring way while waking you from your slumbers with your favorite tunes and a graduation in natural light that is sure to wake you with a smile and get you going out the door, to start your day, in a timely way.
Philips Wake Up Light (Available on Amazon.com $100) is a more pleasant and natural way to wake-up in the morning. Light gradually increases for 30 minutes before your wake up time to gently prepare your body to wake up and feel more energetic at the start of your day. With optional FM radio and nature sounds, waking up will be a pleasant experience. Its innovative design includes a light that can be adjusted to 20 different brightness settings, making the product suitable to use as a lamp in any bedroom. At the end of your day, set the dusk simulator to drift you off to sleep by gradually dimming the light and sound.
Staying On-Task
It should not be a shock that there are smart phone apps designed to keep you on-task and help remind you of your important daily goals and assignments.
SpringPad (FREE, on SpringPadIt.com) gives you a place to quickly and easily save anything you want to remember. Take a note, create a task, scan a product barcode and look up the book your friend mentioned. The best part is that no matter where you are, Springpad is there with you to make sure you don't forget something worth remembering. Just think it and Spring it, and it'll be there for you when you need it. Available across all platforms.
Fixing Finances
If your bank account balance is not where you would like it to be, a change in your daily financial habits is definitely in order. I have a triple punch combination of personal financial software, a website and a money counting gadget that will help you get your fiscal house in order:
Quicken Deluxe 2011 ($60, QuickenIntuit.com gives you money management and budgeting tools to help you watch your spending and increase your savings. Set Personal Finance Goals and Save More View all your accounts in one place. See exactly where your money's going with auto-categorization. Create -- and stay -- on budget. Stay on top of your day-to-day finances. Never miss a bill. Improved -- View All Your Accounts in One Place -- Organizes your finances by bringing your online accounts together -- including checking, savings, credit cards, loans, investment and retirement accounts. Avoid the hassle of going to multiple websites. Now you can see it all in one place with just one password. Quicken now automatically downloads your transactions from over 12,000 banks, brokerages and other financial institutions, including PayPal. )
Mint.com Mint makes everything simple and streamlined. Sign up takes less than five minutes. Then Mint automatically pulls all your financial information into one place, so you can finally get the entire picture. And it's FREE!
Brookstone's Digital Coin Sorter ($100 Brookstone.com) Cash in on that loose change! Digital Coin Sorter processes 312 coins per minute. A digital display shows you the dollar value or coin quantity. Works quickly and smoothly with anti-jam technology. Pull out a coin tube, and the sorter stops automatically. Features two rows of tubes, with two tubes for each coin denomination, so it handles a lot of sorting. Lid opens to remove unsortable coins or foreign objects. Turn those bulky coins into spendable cash fast and easy!
Get in Shape and/or Lose Weight
How many times have you started a diet or a workout plan only to fail within the first couple weeks of starting your effort? Why do you fail? Maybe your goals were not realistic -- they were possibly too lofty and not realistic with your own personal situation. P90x is great because it starts you off slowly and increases what you need to do over an extended period of time in order to assure results and your ability to stick with the plan and make it a part of your long term daily lifestyle. You don't have to buy expensive memberships to diet or health clubs to reach your goals.
P90X ($120 at BeachBody.com) Revolutionary workout program. In just 90 days, you can get back in shape, or build the body you've always wanted. All you need is a set of dumbbells or resistance bands, a pull-up bar, and about an hour a day. No gym membership required.
For those of you who are already in shape, but want to take your bodies to the next level, there's the Insanity work out (Also $120 at BeachBody.com) This is one of the hardest workout program ever put on DVD. No equipment or weights are needed. Just the will to get the hardest body you've ever had. The secret to these mind-blowing results: MAX Interval Training. Shaun T took traditional interval training and flipped it on its head-you perform long bursts of maximum-intensity exercises with short periods of rest. Each workout keeps you constantly challenged as you alternate between aerobic and anaerobic intervals performed at your MAX. The result: burn up to 1,000 calories in an hour and get the most insane body in 60 days.
Doctors always recommend when you're trying to lose weight to drink lots of water, so -- to quench your thirst, The Bobble ($13, WaterBobble.com) is the perfect water bottle for that. It's self-filtering. Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. The Bobble is made from recycled materials and has 300 uses before you need to change the filter. It's replaceable filter removes organic contaminates from regular municipal tap water and meets or exceeds International Standard 42 for chlorine, taste and odor reduction.
Finding a Job
Is your current job stifling, or financially/creatively unrewarding? Maybe you've been unemployed for some time now. If you know how to market yourself properly, you will be able to differentiate yourself from other job candidates in today's competitive job market. My advice is a two-pronged approach:
WinWay Resume Deluxe [$40 WinWay.com) This product is the result of more than 18 years of research and innovation in career development software. Now you can say good bye to writer's block and write the perfect resume in record time. Choose from thousands of customizable resumes for virtually every career type and career stage, multiple designs and more than 116,000 job-winning phrases that will set you apart from the competition. Creating a winning resume couldn't be faster or easier!
LinkedIn FREE! (description) Re-connect- Find past and present colleagues and classmates quickly. LinkedIn makes staying in touch simple. Power your career- Discover inside connections when you're looking for a job or new business opportunity. Get answers- Your network is full of industry experts willing to share advice. Have a question? Just ask!