9 AMAZING Free Personal Growth Apps
Developing ourselves and growing is something that is never easy. Throughout history, only the rich could afford things like personal trainers, tutors, or accountants. But with technology, comes a huge selection of amazing programs that help with any area of your life that you want to improve. Here are 9 apps and programs (all of which I personally use) that have helped me to grow into a far more successful, educated, and productive person.
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- 10 years ago by NathanHutchcraft
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1 - Khan Academy
Want to receive a college level education without spending a penny? Khan Academy is one of the most extensive, free online-course sources out there. Courses are broken up into 10-20 minute lecture-style videos that cover every topic from chemistry and physics, to art history and religion, and everything in between. The site also boasts one of the most comprehensive computer programming courses on the internet. And all of this is completely free! Khan Academy treats learning like a game. You get points for completing lectures, and you can get trophies and badges for doing certain things, like finishing a set number of lectures in a day. The layout of the site is amazing, and you will soon find yourself addicted to learning.
Source2 - Coursera
Colleges and university all around the world offer free online classes for certain fields. Coursera compiles all of these free online courses into one convenient place. One of the largest benefits from taking a class on Coursera is that it reflects the feel of taking an actual course. For each course, there is a real teacher with whom you can email if you have questions, there is real homework that keeps you on track, and quizzes and tests so you can make sure you are taking in all the material. Many free sites, like Khan Acedemy, are self paced. This can be a problem for some "motivationally challenged" people, like myself. By having deadlines for assignments, the classes on Coursera mimic the feel of taking a real college course.
Source3 - Duolingo
Learning a language is hard. For decades, different companies have offered "learn a language quick" programs and applications. Anyone who has actually learned a second language before, however, can tell you that there is no shortcut to learning a language. It simply takes consistent time practicing the language to learn it. Many people have heard of Rosetta Stone; probably the most successful language learning program ever made. The only problem? Rosetta stone can cost from $500 to $1000, PER LANGUAGE! Duolingo? Absolutely free. Speaking French as a second language, I have used both Rosetta Stone and Duolingo, and I have to say, they are extremely similar. In fact, there are certain aspect about Duolingo that I actually like more. Duolingo makes learning a language surprisingly fun, giving you points for completing exercises, and constantly tracking your growth. You can even compete against your friends! Many language learning programs teach you the basics, and then move you on through harder and harder material. The problem with this is, it isn't a realistic way to learn a language. Duolingo keeps track of where you are having problems, and will recommend certain areas for you to go back and practice more. This way, you are making sure that the basics are always fresh in your mind while you learn the more advanced stuff. And since it is free, there is no reason to limit yourself to even learning just one new language. LEARN THEM ALL!
Source4 - TED
Many people have heard of TED talks; events where intelligent and groundbreaking people get together and share there ideas on stage. The website is laid out in a way that allows you to search videos from different topics and find out what some of the most innovative people and organizations are doing right now. It is a great way to learn what the newest innovations are and the groundbreaking new work done in every field.
Source5 - YouTube
When people think of YouTube, the usually think of cat videos or clips of people falling down. But did you know that YouTube is actually the 2nd most popular search engine in the world? There are videos for EVERYTHING on YouTube. Anytime I ever need to learn how to do something, no matter if it is something simple around the house, how to use a complex video editing program, or how to do the newest popular dance move; you can find it on YouTube. Don't believe me? Think of something you don't know how to do, and search for how to do it on YouTube. I guarantee you someone has made a video giving step by step directions on how to do it.
Source6 - Mint
There was a time when only the rich could afford a personal accountant, and the rest of us were stuck missing payments and screwing up our taxes. Not anymore. Mint is a free online personal finance manager and it works AMAZING. It is made by Intuit, the company that makes the QuickBooks accounting program, as well as the TurboTax tax-prep software, so you know they have a great deal of experience in making finance-based programs. Through mint, you can set budgets for yourself, track the growth of your money, set alerts to make sure you never miss any payments, and SO SO SO much more. The site is so easy. You just put in your bank login information into the site, and it keeps track of everything in an extremely simple and intuitive way. For anyone scared about sharing their bank information, the site is extremely secure, and forms a secure connection with your own personal bank to transmit information. If that weren't enough, there is no ability to transfer money or make any changes to any accounts from Mint anyway, so nobody can ever gain access to your accounts from the site, even if you gave them your password. Mint is seriously the best thing to ever happen to my personal finances. Try it out!
Source7 - Coach.me
Coach.me (formerly Lift) is an app designed to help you set new habits, or break old ones. The site has hundreds of goals and habits built in, and there is also the option to create your own. Every time you successfully complete a habit you are trying to form, you tell the app, and it keeps track of how well you are doing in all the different aspects of your growth.
Source8 - Mindbloom
Mindbloom is a fun way to grow yourself in any area of life that you are working on. It is basically a game, where you start off as a small sapling of a tree with just a few leaves. Each leaf is symbolic of a certain area of life to work on; like health, happiness, and learning. As you complete different tasks to grow different aspect of yourself, you water the tree and fertilize different leaves of the tree. As you progress, you unlock new leaves and you can watch your tree actually grow in front of your eyes! If you neglect working on an aspect of yourself for too long, that leaf will start to dry out and shrivel up, so you can easily see what areas of yourself you need to keep working on.
Source9 - Workout Trainer
Workout Trainer is the best workout and exercise app I have ever seen. The app features thousands of different workouts, many of which require no added equipment. Different tests allow the program to figure out your personal strengths and weaknesses and allows the app to customize your workouts specifically to your health needs. There are also programs that run from a few weeks, to several months long. For example, "Have a Beach Body in 4 Weeks!" or "Run a Marathon in 6 Months!". It is like having your own personal trainer in your pocket whenever you want to workout!
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NathanHutchcraft
Nathan Hutchcraft is the creator and co-host of the YouTube web series, NathanAndRose. He also writes for several online sources, as well as having a nearly insatiable love for jalapeno pizza.
