How I Stuck to (Most of) My New Year's Resolutions Using Wunderlist

I freaking love a good list. Top ten lists, grocery lists, bucket lists, email lists (I am a marketer, after all) -- you get the picture.

So it should come as no surprise that I also freaking love checking tasks off of my Wunderlist app each day. If you’ve ever used Wunderlist, you’ll relate to the satisfying feeling of hearing that “ping!” when you check off another task. It’s like productivity crack. 

Unhealthy obsessions aside, I’ve actually harnessed the power of lists to stick to most of my New Year’s resolutions that I made a year ago. And since I used an app to track progress, I can look back at what I accomplished this year and use that to fuel my goal setting for next year.

I’ve used Wunderlist in 2017 to tackle debt, build closer relationships with family members, expand my professional network, and create lasting memories with my husband. It sounds super cheesy, but it’s been a fantastic accountability tool for me this year. However, it took a lot more planning than a typical New Year’s resolution.  

As we near the start of 2018, I thought I would share a few tips for how I set and measured my goals using Wunderlist:

1. Make sure your goals are SMART. As much as I love lists, I actually have a strange hatred for acronyms (I mean, have you read my “WTF is ABM” blog post?). However, the SMART method for goal setting is pretty flawless if you want to set achievable resolutions in 2018. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.
   
   I ensured my resolutions were specific by categorizing them into personal or professional goals. Then, I set a clear metric around my goals to ensure they were something I could actually accomplish. For example, one of my professional goals for 2017 was to attend one networking event a quarter. One of my personal goals was to go camping with Jeffrey at least five times. Since they were all roughly time-boxed by the yearly resolution part, I could easily measure myself against those clear metrics to track progress week to week.
   
   
2. Set aside time once a week to review progress toward your goals. This might be a total shock to you, reader, but I actually use two separate lists to plan out my weekly and daily work. Because one list just isn’t enough, I spend about an hour on Sunday creating a master list of things I want to get done during the week, and then set daily to-do lists against that one. Is my insanity showing yet?
   
   If you are still reading and aren’t totally creeped out by my list hoarding, my Sunday planning time was actually a super valuable way for me to check in on my 2017 resolutions and set weekly goals based on resolutions I may have been falling behind on.
   
   For example, I set a goal to get lunch or coffee with two coworkers a month to help build stronger relationships at work. If I noticed I didn’t have plans set for a specific month, one of my weekly goals would have been to schedule those coffee dates. I keep my resolutions in a separate folder on Wunderlist to make it super easy to revisit them each week as I prep my to-do list.
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3. Remember that resolutions aren’t set in stone. This tip is more of a friendly reminder to the overly organized, list crazy people out there like me. A few times this year, I let my fixation on productivity get to me, to the point of missing work due to anxiety about not getting enough work done. Let’s just pause for a second and marinate on the irony of that situation.
   
   But really though, as great as it feels to get a lot of shit done, it’s more important to put self-care at the top of your priority list. If you don’t have time to read as many books as you wanted to, it’s fine. If you feel like taking a day off from going to the gym and instead going to drinks with your coworkers, that’s okay too. Remember that accountability tools, like Wunderlist, can be positive reminders of what you want to accomplish rather than daily requirements dictating your life. ​

I’d love to chat more with anyone individually about how I set and measure my 2017 resolutions, as well as about some of my goals for 2018. Just shoot me a message on LinkedIn or comment below. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and happy goal-setting!