Often times we find ourselves floundering about our day, going through our usual machinations, remembering something we need to do here and there. We often go out and buy planners but discontinue their use or don’t use them as frequently as we should in order to optimize our productivity.
Enter Habitica! This wonderful app serves as both a planner and an enjoyable phone game. It is even more of a treat to those of you who are fans of RPG elements. Habitica consists of the character (quite literally you) as the main player. You improve your character by completing self-imposed tasks. This can vary drastically from simple house chores to complicated and long winded school assignments.
You begin by making your character (who starts at level 1) and then add the aforementioned tasks and complete them to progress and increase levels. You are essentially creating a virtual self that improves as you improve personally. That is the greatest component of this app. The rewards and visual track of progress give you great satisfaction upon completing any task. The flashes of gained coins, experience, and pets never fail to bring a smile to my face. The rewards system fairly deep for a completely free app and also has purchasable (purely cosmetic) options for those who would like to support the app so it has wide appeal.
For those who are not interested in the game portion of the app, the organization component is still invaluable. You can organize your tasks into one of three categories. The first is habits you’d like to form. Place any tasks that you’d like to form in this category as the mechanics of this tab are optimized for creating habits (this tab contains the +/- system). The second is the daily tasks category. You can place anything you do daily (or should be doing daily) to reward yourself upon completion or as an incentive to do these tasks daily. Finally, we have the To-Do category which is great for your “one and done” tasks and assignments. I personally love this tab for homework as I feel doubly rewarded for finishing all my school work (and revel in the extra experience).​ At a first glance, this is a simple “planner” app. The customization and replayability of this app are what truly make it standout.