Every now and then, all of us need a little extra push to maintain motivation and keep making progress towards our goals.  No matter how driven you are or how important your goal is to you, there are going to be days that drag and days that feel like you’re never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Instead of letting these downtimes get to you, check out any of the following motivational tools to help keep you on track:

Tool #1 – LifeTick

LifeTick is one of the most fully-featured goal tracking programs on the market today.  Upon signing up for the program, you’ll start by identifying your key values and then creating SMART goals that align with your overall priorities.  The paid version of the program (which costs just $20/year, compared to the more limited free version) includes advanced features like status widgets, charts, reports and mobile access – all of which help to keep your primary objectives at the front of your mind.

Tool #2 – Joe’s Goals

Joe’s Goals is a simpler goal tracking alternative, which is based on the “Don’t Break the Chain” behavioral change method.  Essentially, you use the program to monitor daily habits – adding a smiley face to every day you successfully meet your goals.  Over time, you’ll build up a chain of smiley faces, motivating you to continue moving forward with your habit goals in order to avoid breaking the long chain you’ve created.

Though Joe’s Goals doesn’t offer as many features as programs like LifeTick, it’s free to use and provides a simple, easy-to-use alternative to more advanced tools.

Tool #3 – LifeTango

If you know that you want to make improvements to your life, but you aren’t quite sure where to start, LifeTango may be for you.  The program offers an innovative brainstorming area with prompts that encourage you to think of ways that your finances, family life, health, fitness or education could be improved.  You can also peruse goals set by others using the service to gain inspiration for your own personal improvement plan.

Once you’ve decided which specific goals to work on, you can create a free LifeTango account, which will allow you to communicate with others on the site via your personal profile, track your progress towards your goals and even start your own goal-setting blog.

Tool #4 – 43Things

43Things offers similar functionality as LifeTango, but boasts a much larger community of fellow goal-setters.  Sign up is easy, and the program makes viewing the goals set by others a breeze.

Unfortunately, this program doesn’t offer much in the way of goal break-downs or ongoing habit tracking – all “things” tracked by the program are either marked as in-progress or done.  However, where the program shines is the “How I Did It” section, which encourages users who have marked goals as completed to share more about what made their efforts successful.  Reading through this helpful advice can be incredibly motivating and offer unique insight into the way other people have met the goals you’re currently working on.

Tool #5 – StickK

StickK offers a fresh take on goal-setting by allowing users to bet money on whether or not they’ll reach their stated aims.  To use the program, visitors start by stating their goals, as well as how progress towards these eventual aims will be measured.  Once their goals are set, users can choose to add “stakes” to their goals which will charge their credit cards (or worse, send the money to an “anti-charity”) should they fail to meet their goals.

If you’re having trouble sticking to your goals, putting money on the line that will go to a charity that you dislike may significantly increase the odds that you’ll follow through!

Tool #6 – Aspire Goals

If you’re more of a “goal tracking on the go” type of person, the Aspire Goals app may be right for you.  Available for just a few dollars in the Apple app store, Aspire Goals allows you to create mini movies that will motivate you to achieve your stated aims.

To do this, you’ll start by adding your desired goals to the list and then adding motivating statements, “moving towards/away from” images and music to the setup area.  Once you’ve added all of these elements, clicking the “Goal Visualizer” button will allow you to view customized, motivating movies whenever you feel like breaking your commitments to yourself.

Tool #7 – GoalTracker  

Finally, if you’re on the Android network, you’ll want to take a look at the GoalTracker app.  It’s a free program that will allow you to perform many of the same functions as the online LifeTick program described above.

Although the program isn’t as visually intuitive as it could be, you’ll likely still find the advanced brainstorming and tracking features to be worthwhile tools when it comes to setting and meeting your life’s goals.