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Keep New Years Resolutions with Help from your BlackBerry Smartphone

With 2010 just around the corner, it's time to write up a list of resolutions for the New Year, and your BlackBerry® smartphone can help you keep them.

If you're like most people, your resolutions may be to kick off January 1, 2010 by better managing your time, keeping your finances in order, or losing weight and getting into shape. Luckily enough, you've got numerous apps available to you to do just that via BlackBerry App World™. With the right tools, you can keep your resolutions past just the first week of January and follow them throughout the year.

But before you start downloading apps, don't forget to make the best use of the features already available on your BlackBerry smartphone! According to Fiona Forrest, an Executive Coach at CoachFiona.com, many BlackBerry users can benefit from fully utilizing their Calendar features, the Task list and Voice Notes.

“All these apps are sitting right there on their BlackBerry smartphone, and people haven't gone in there and played with them,” she said. “Really maxing out the ones that come with the system is the place I would recommend where people start. If you want to spend more time with your family, or working out, then put it in your Calendar.”

“What the BlackBerry smartphone allows you to do is schedule things more efficiently,” she said. ”It's the idea of making a commitment to yourself, no matter what those resolutions are, and to schedule it.”

Forrest also recommends that the very first resolution many BlackBerry users can benefit from is to “have a free day to plan to do all this stuff.”

Once you've fully explored the plethora of features already available on your smartphone, if you're still looking for extra help in keeping your resolutions, BlackBery App World has the tools you need to track your productivity, manage your finances and more.

Get more done

• If you want to boost your productivity by figuring out where your time goes, try BlackTrack Productivity Log, by Aczen Innovations Inc.. This free app automatically tracks your phone and email activity and provides you daily or weekly reports without interrupting your daily routine.
• You can also get advice directly from Stephen Covey on your smartphone with 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Mobifusion Inc. for $13.99 US.
• If you're always running late, check out BugMe! - Notes and Alarms by Electric Pocket Ltd, to take notes and create reminders as you go, for $4.99 US.
• And if you can't remember what your resolution is, you might need to resolve to improve your memory, with reQall for BlackBerry by reQall Inc., a free voice enabled memory aid that will even send you messages when it predicts you might have forgotten… something.

Manage your money

• To get your budget in order with as little work as possible, try the new Simple Budget 2 by Handango, Inc., which is built for easy entry of your expenses, and easy on your budget at $2.99 US.
• You can also check out miExpenses, by loopSpin Inc., or Expense Tracker by iApp Ventures LLC, to help you see where your expenses are and where you can improve. Each cost $2.99 US.
• And if you just need to see how the Dow Jones Index is performing from wherever you are, try Bloomberg Mobile by Bloomberg LP for a free, quick look at the market and the day's events.

Get in shape

• Of course, no list of tools to help you manage your resolutions would be complete without apps designed to help you manage your diet, like the free Calorie Counter by FatSecret, and Fast Food Calorie Counter by Mobigloo LLC, for $4.99 US.
• If you need help managing your exercise routine, check out Total Fitness by MOBITEQ for $4.99 US, BiM Active by Bones in Motion, Inc. for free, or FitDeck Mobile by mobileXware LLC, for $7.99 US.
• And if your resolution is one of the most popular, and difficult, resolution… the one that stymies most of those to take it on, there's an app to help you stop smoking too, at No Smoking by Keats Pascoe. Worth the price of $9.99 US considering how much money you'll save not buying cigarettes any longer.

For other useful apps, browse the BlackBerry App World online catalogue here »