My resolution is to be more consistent about how I spend my free time, especially during the working week. My weekends are packed with fun, but I could be doing more of what I love from Monday to Friday too.

You'd think that finding time to do what you enjoy would be easy. Indeed there are some things I do without thinking. Like going for walks (my inner-dog speaking?) But there are plenty of times where I put off doing the very things I know I enjoy. It's easier to switch off by switching on social media, rather than switching on the reading light. So how can you make yourself jump at your equivalent of "Walkies!" at the end of a long day?

We're just as conditioned as dogs 

Just as a dog responds powerlessly to his master's call, we're equally conditioned to respond to certain calls. Someone tapping our shoulder. A ringing phone. A notification appearing on our screen. We can't resist taking a sneak peek at our Inbox. We're summoned regularly by Twitter's and LinkedIn's alluring alerts.

Please teach this dog some new tricks

I started wondering whether the very signals that have got us into bad habits could be used instead to help us create good ones. To turn those things that happen randomly right now ("When I get a spare moment!") to more regular events. I wanted to be conditioned, for example, to go rowing (indoors!) every morning or evening, in the same way I brush my teeth without thinking.

I heard the AppStore calling...

I started sniffing around for an app that would nudge me gently. Something that would remind me of the pleasures stuck at the bottom of my ever-growing To Do list. Something that would motivate me to dip in daily or weekly, without the need to formally schedule it.

Then I discovered Balanced.

(Between you and I, the reason I'm writing this blog post right now, is because Balanced prompted me to. It simply told me I was 'Late!' I hate being late.)

Choose which balls you want to balance

In the free version of Balanced you can 'balance' up to five activities. You'll find that five is quite sufficient when you first start creating your new habits. My activities are simply:

Write
Read
Unclutter
Run
Row

My advice is to choose general rather than specific terms for the activities you'd like to incorporate into your more balanced life. I don't really mind what I write (a blog post, a book, a letter), what I read (research for work, fiction, poetry) or what constitutes decluttering (tidying, ironing, admin). The important thing for me is to achieve a little of each throughout the week.

Decide how often you want to play

For each activity you then choose how often you want to do it. Every day? Once a week? Once a month? You also select a simple icon to represent your chosen activity.

For my 'Row' activity I selected '4 times a week' (every other day) and the Chinese Yin Yang symbol:

The good thing us you don't have to say how long you're going to do the activity for or when you're going to do it. You just swipe the slider to the right when you've completed it to your satisfaction. It's more important to be consistent than to demotivate yourself with goals that are too lofty too soon.

I set myself a mental goal of rowing for 10 minutes minimum. So far I've actually rowed every day since I started using Balanced. When we set our minds to it, we can all find 10 minutes, can't we? I'll row more than 8km per week if I achieve my target of 4 times a week. 14km if I end up rowing every day. 10 minutes a day is far better than nothing a day!

Treats for good behaviour

Once you've been using the app regularly, you unlock rewards - like being able to view your history. This shows visually which activities you're practising regularly. It also highlights those you keep postponing or haven't started at all:

Enjoy your new habits

Balanced is neat and simple. It's only got the features you need. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Dogs enjoy daily walks. We need daily pleasures alongside our career. Balanced is becoming my faithful friend, reminding me when it's time to take myself out for a mental walk.

What activities do you need to remind yourself you enjoy? Would it help if someone just caught your elbow and whispered you a reminder to make time for your past-time - rather than your time passing you by?

Try using Balanced for a month, and see if your past-times become part of your daily routine. You can learn new tricks. You just have to practise little but often.

What activities would you most like to balance with Balanced?