10 Online Tools to Help Track and Stick to New Year’s Resolutions

This collection of online resources will help you follow through with your 2011 New Year's resolutions.

Quit smoking. Save more money. Drop 20 pounds. Spend less time working and more time laughing.

These are just a few of the New Year’s resolutions that people have made for 2011—but, despite our best intentions, we don’t always manage to stick with them.

If you’ve found yourself vowing to improve your life time and again, and never manage to follow through on your plans, here are some websites that can help you commit to your resolutions for the long haul.

1. 43things. You’re more likely to stick with your goals if you share them with others. 43things is a site that helps you list all of your goals for the coming year, and discuss your progress with others who share the same resolution. More than 3 million people are members, so you’ll have plenty of people to cheer you on.

2. Joe’s Goals. The interface is basic, but this site offers a great free tool for tracking activities like exercise, eating out, or smoking a cigarette, assigning a positive or negative value to each. Record your daily activities, and you’ll find yourself working hard to increase the number of smiley faces that appear.

3. First30Days. This site provides information and resources dedicated to more than 60 separate life changes, from smart investing to dealing with a divorce. Sign up for a free newsletter dedicated to the topic of your choice.

4. Traineo. If losing weight or getting into better shape is one of your goals, Traineo, a social network dedicated to fitness, will help you. The service includes a goal-oriented weight loss program with a focus on healthy food and exercise, and offers a support network of more than 200,000 members.

5. Mint. Want to save more money or get out of debt? This free financial tracking system will help you determine where your money goes, and learn how to save more of it. Don’t miss the handy iPhone app.

6. QuitNet. Have you been trying, and failing, to quit smoking for years? The problem might be that you’re doing it alone. Get support in your mission with the QuitNet community, which offers expert support and thousands of other smokers struggling with the same challenge.

7. Frugal Village. Determined to cut back on your splurges and take pleasure in the simple things this year? Frugal Village, a site dedicated to thrifty living, will give you a hand with tips and resources dedicated to re-using existing materials and finding cheap alternatives to expensive purchases. Check out the forum to take part in the 2011 Frugal Living Challenge.

8. Don’t Break the Chain. The key to keeping a new habit is doing it every single day. Don’t Break the Chain is a calendar app, on which you can mark an X for every day you keep a particular goal. Build up enough Xs, and it will become an automatic habit.

9. OhLife. Have you resolved to keep a diary? That one’s always tough to stick with for more than a week or two—so instead of buying yet another journal, sign up for OhLife instead. Every evening, the free service will send an email asking what you did that day. Write a reply, and it will be archived as a completely private online journal. It’s simple, yet extremely effective.

10. Vitalist. Committed to organizing your life in 2011? Try Vitalist. The online software for personal organization is based on the strategies from David Allen’s “Getting Things Done,” and provides tools to manage and track unlimited actions.