Nine Realistic New Year’s Resolutions For You This Winter

Written by Gideon Batai

New Year’s resolutions are an excellent way to improve yourself. However, many people pick vague or unrealistic resolutions. For example, some of the most common New Year’s resolutions are to lose weight, exercise more, and spend less. Those are vague goals. Plus, weight isn’t necessarily a measurement of health. Instead, here are nine realistic, healthy New Year’s goals to try this winter.

 

1. Bring a plant into your bedroom, office, or school space. Bringing plants into your workspace can have many benefits, including increased concentration and happiness. Certain plants can also increase air quality. [ 1 ]

2. Stop watching cable news channels, like CNN, Fox, or MSNBC. Cable news networks are designed to make viewers angry. To quote Politico’s senior media writer, Jack Shafer, “A riled viewer is a devoted viewer.” And devoted viewers bring in reliable ad money. Don’t let cable news networks exploit your emotions for profit. [ 2 ]

3. Contact your representatives about legislation or current events. To maximize the impact of your message, speak, make your message short, and clearly (but not angrily) express your opinion. Example: “I’m calling to urge Rep. __ to vote “yes/no” on H.B. __.” Calling is usually more effective than emailing or postal mail. [ 3a ] Sadly, lawmakers still frequently block commenters on social media. Therefore, replying to lawmakers on social media can be ineffective. [ 3b ]

4. Adopt a pet. You gain the psychological and stress-relieving benefits of a pet. One pet is out of the shelter, thus making room for the next pet. There may be a small fee, but the shelter will usually cover the pet’s price of vaccines and microchipping. The Humane Society suggests avoiding buying dogs, as they support puppy mills where dogs are kept in horrific conditions. [ 4a ] The Shelter Pet Project is a great resource to find a pet near you! [ 4b ]

5. Organize your Google Drive. Google Drive offers an array of helpful organizational tools. I keep a folder for every current ASU Prep Digital course I’m taking. Then, once I’ve finished the course, I move that course’s folder into a subfolder in my “completed courses” folder. That way, I can save past assignments for future reference. Find what works for you!
6. Organize your Gmail. If you frequently send emails with identical or similar content, it may be a good idea to make a personal template in Gmail. This enables you to make a script. Then, I edit it to change the recipient’s name. However, the message stays the same. For starring, I try to only star emails with an action affiliated with them. For example, if I need to follow up. If it’s just for future reference, it doesn’t get started. Instead, I put it in a special folder called “hide.” Again, find what works for you.
7. Use ecosia.org.
Ecosia.org [ 7a ] is a search engine that uses its ad revenue to plant trees. Ecosia doesn’t sell your tracking history to third parties like google. [ 7b ] You can also make it your default search engine by downloading their extension. [ 7c ]
8. Donate blood. The Red Cross has hundreds of locations, and likely one near you. [ 8a ] It’ll take about one to three hours. The Red Cross also frequently offers small gifts, like an amazon.com voucher. The minimum age to donate blood is 16. For donors aged 16 and 17, parental consent is required. The Red Cross provides more information online. [ 8b ]
9. Google yourself and curate the results. Future employers or college admissions staff are likely to google you. Unprofessional or explicit social media posts are red flags for employers. [ 9a ] Justdeleteme.xyz is a helpful resource to help you delete old accounts with questionable material. [ 9b ]