50+ New Year’s Resolution Ideas
Are you planning on setting any New Year’s resolutions or goals this January? If you need inspiration, here is a list of 50+ New Year’s resolution ideas. 🙂
Good New Year’s Resolution Ideas | 50+ Ideas for New Year’s Resolutions
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Many people set New Year’s resolutions just because it’s a common thing to do, but then they aren’t actually emotionally involved in the process and so they don’t stick with the changes.
I would recommend only setting New Year resolutions if it’s a goal you ACTUALLY want to accomplish or a change you ACTUALLY want to make in your life rather than setting random resolutions because you feel like you have to.
If you’d prefer a different approach, I have a method for setting a guiding word for the year instead later on in this post.
BUT if you do want to set some resolutions, here are my New Year’s resolution ideas. I would recommend committing to no more than 2 or 3 big changes.
New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Health:
- Drink more water
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night
- Eat more vegetables
- Eat more fruit
- Lose weight
- Exercise daily or weekly
- Quit smoking
- Go to the doctor for overdue checkups
- Start going to the gym
- Go to the gym X number of times per week
- Do yoga
- Turn off electronics before bed
- Spend less time on social media
New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Work and Career:
- Figure out the purpose of your life
- Figure out a 5 year plan for your career
- Change careers or go back to school if needed
- Learn new skills that could advance your career
- Update your resume or Linkedin page
- Ask for a raise
- Get a promotion
- Apply for a new job that better meets your goals
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New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Finances:
- Start saving money
- Start investing
- Learn about stocks and bonds
- Save a $1,000 emergency fund
- Save a 3 month emergency fund
- Save a 6 month emergency fund
- Put at least 10% of your income into retirement or savings
- Max out your 401K contributions at your job
- Pay off debt
- Pay off credit cards
- Pay off student loans
- Improve your credit score
- Stop impulse spending
- Make more food at home
New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Your Social Life:
- Hang out with friends
- Meet new people
- Make new friends
- Go to a new social activity
- Take a group class in something (dance, fitness, art etc)
New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Relationships and Love:
- Go on more date nights with your spouse
- Go on more date nights with your significant other
- Go on dates
- Discover your Love Language (a book by Gary Chapman)
New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Your Personal Growth:
- Read personal development books
- Keep a journal
- Write down what you’re grateful for each day
- Start a meditation practice
- Meditate daily
- Learn to cook
- Do something creative
- Write a book
- Forgive the past
- Work on your spiritual life
- Write down your goals
- Create a mission statement for your life
- Listen to educational audiobooks
- Listen to educational podcasts
- Work on your mindset and beliefs about life
Alternative Approach to New Year’s Resolutions
So, maybe it’s the beginning of February. Did you set New Year’s Resolutions this year? Have you fallen off the New Year’s resolution wagon? That’s ok.
I used to set them every year and before the end of January I’d fizzle out on doing anything or making progress because it was overwhelming and usually I was trying to reach multiple goals at the same time.
Here’s a DIFFERENT approach to New Year’s resolutions if the traditional method hasn’t been working for you.
For the last few years I’ve done something a little different, and it gets results without making you feel bad. (And if you’ve already forgotten about your resolutions, now is the perfect time to start with this technique. 🙂 But kudos if you are making progress!)
What I do is choose a guiding word for the year. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll go over it again here since we’ve started into a new year again, and for anyone new. 🙂
One year my word for the year was “trust.” That was an interesting choice because somehow it presented me with many, many situations in which I would just need to trust that things would work out, even if I couldn’t see how.
(So be careful in choosing a word like “patience,” or you’ll find yourself surrounded by opportunities that test your patience! ;)). Ok, so maybe it doesn’t work exaaaactly like that, but it sure feels like it.
Maybe you want to choose a word like “compassionate.” The goal would be to approach each situation during the year with compassion and love.
If you find yourself in a difficult or trying situation and you don’t know how to respond, you have some built-in guidance already that you set for the year. You are going to respond the way a compassionate person would respond, as much of the time as you can.
This is a little different than setting a resolution like, “Don’t blow up at people,” because it focuses on what you DO want in your life instead of focusing on not doing something negative.
If you wanted to lose weight or already set a resolution to lose a few pounds, for example, and haven’t had much luck, try setting a guiding word that focuses on the emotional result you were hoping to have as a result of reaching your goals.
Maybe you want to feel “healthy” or “light” or “at ease with myself.” Maybe you’ll discover that you don’t even need to lose weight at all – you just needed to learn to love yourself the way you are.
I actually set a second guiding word for last year too, and that was “relentlessly positive.” I LOVED having this guiding phrase. (See what I just did there being relentlessly positive about it? ;)).
But really, this little phrase stuck in the back of my mind at all times was such a great way to be more positive. It’s like a mantra you can go back to in any situation.
Sometimes the things people say to themselves are more like, “Wow, people must really not like you” or “You can’t do anything right, can you?” but if you have a guiding word or phrase that focuses on a new positive quality that you want to develop, you can use that as the lens for approaching nearly every situation in life. Stop, and reframe your thoughts with your guiding word.
If the current guiding phrase for life feels more like, “Why do bad things always happen to me?” then it’s time to intentionally choose a (positive!) guiding word or phrase to live by for the rest of the year.
YOU choose how this story is told, and you get to create whatever life you want.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Compassionate, loving, trust, light, freedom, joy, relentlessly positive, faith, happy, optimistic.
What’s your guiding word? 🙂
P.S. If you’re curious, my word of the year for a couple years ago was “streamline.” I ended up trying to simplify, declutter, and streamline as much as possible in my life, including digital stuff and my physical environment.
I focused a lot on cleaning up all my digital clutter and old files and things I’d never use, and I felt so much lighter every time I made a certain process in my life a little simpler or more efficient.
Or like how I organized my whole living space and made it a better and more calming environment to be surrounded by. Little things make a difference.
Ideas for New Year’s Resolutions | Good New Year Resolution Ideas
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