New Year’s Resolutions to Make in 2022
Whether you want to improve your health, advance your career, or just be a slightly better person, there’s a resolution for you on this list.
1- Start a Daily Journaling Habit
Journaling is a powerful, accessible way to learn more about yourself. It helps you purge and process all the wild thoughts bouncing around in your head. Plus, it provides a record of your life that you (or even future generations) can reflect on later.
Most people fail to stick with journaling because they overcommit. Writing 500 words or three pages or whatever each day sounds great. But in practice, it often ends up being too much to keep up with.
Instead, make journaling as low-effort as possible. Write just one sentence per day. If you feel like writing more, that’s great! But even if you only write one sentence a day for a year, you’ll have a lot to look back on.
Want to make things really easy? Pick up one of these one sentence per day journals. Or, if you prefer a digital approach, try one of these journaling apps.
2. Spend Time Outside Each Day
With so many of us spending more time at home due to COVID-19, it’s all too easy to spend an entire day without seeing the sun or feeling the breeze.
That’s why another good New Year’s resolution is to spend time outside each day. Of course, there may be days when the weather truly prohibits you from going outdoors. But generally, you should be able to spare 15-20 minutes for a walk around the block.
While it doesn’t matter when you go outside, I recommend taking a walk first thing each morning. This way, no matter what happens during the rest of the day, you’ve already gotten some exercise and time outdoors.
3. Get Up 30 Minutes Earlier
Mornings tend to be a chaotic and stressful time, especially if you have to commute to an office. But imagine how much calmer your morning would be if you got up 30 minutes earlier.
Within those extra 30 minutes, you’d have time to do things like:
Eat a healthy breakfast
Prepare a healthy lunch
Write a journal entry
Collect your thoughts for the workday ahead
What’s more, getting up 30 minutes earlier is a very achievable goal. All you have to do is go to bed 30 minutes earlier. This may mean one fewer episode of your favorite show each evening, but that’s a trivial price to pay for a calmer morning.
4. Read Books You Enjoy
“Read more books” is a classic New Year’s resolution. Some people even get more specific, resolving to read one book per month or 25 pages per day.
In my experience, these types of resolutions rarely last. Typically, this is because people try to force themselves to read books they don’t like.
Therefore, instead of resolving to read more books, resolve to only read books you enjoy. If you enjoy what you’re reading, you’ll naturally read more.
Don’t worry about what books you “should” read. Don’t worry about reading “deep” or “intellectual” books. Read what interests you! Life is too short to force yourself to read books you hate.
5. Clean a Little Bit Every Day
Cleaning is one of life’s necessary evils. You know you’ll enjoy your space more when it isn’t dirty, but it takes forever to clean. So you put it off, and each day it gets a bit worse.
It doesn’t have to be that way, though. If you resolve to clean a little bit every day, then your living space will never get to the point where it takes hours to clean.
Much of this comes down to smaller habits.
For instance, I have a rule that whenever I’m done eating, I must clear all the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. This prevents dishes from piling up around the house or in the sink, and it only takes a couple of minutes each day.
Or, take sweeping the floor. If you go without doing it for a week, the floor will get gross. But if you do it a bit every day, it will only take a few minutes.
It sounds simple, but making cleaning a quick, daily task will reduce your stress and mean that you rarely have to spend hours cleaning.
6. Do Something Active Every Day
Fitness and exercise goals are some of the most common New Year’s resolutions out there. While I encourage you to improve your fitness and spend more time exercising, many of these resolutions are destined to fail.
Typically, fitness resolutions fail because they’re too ambitious. Jogging every day sounds great, for example, but is that even realistic with your schedule? Or what if the weather’s bad and you can’t get outside?
Instead, I encourage you to make a simpler resolution: do something active every day. Because this is such a broad resolution, you have no excuse to skip it. No matter where you are, you can do something active. Even if it’s just taking the stairs or busting out some push-ups.
Note: I’m not saying that doing something active every day is a substitute for a regular fitness routine. But if you aren’t in the habit of exercising regularly, resolving to do something active each day is a much more realistic place to start than going to the gym three times per week.
7. Learn a New Piece of Software
Everyone thinks they need to learn to code. While coding is an extremely marketable skill, you’d often be better off learning to use an app that’s relevant to what you currently do.
Not only will this make you better at your current role but it will also open you up to additional opportunities in your field.
8. Explore Your City
“Travel more” is another common New Year’s resolution. If you have the time and money, then go for it! But if your budget and time are more limited, remember that you can be a tourist in your city as well.
What does this look like? In general, it means seeing your city with fresh eyes. Put aside all your preconceptions and experience the city as if for the first time. Here are some activities that can help:
Go to a local museum (bonus points if they have information about your city’s history)
Visit a local landmark
Explore a part of town you’ve never visited
Eat at a new restaurant
Hang out at a local park
Get around by bike or foot (which let you slow down and observe the city)
Stay in an Airbnb or hotel in a different neighborhood
Besides helping you appreciate your city and shaking things up, you might even make a few new friends in the process of your exploration!
Resolve to Improve in 2022
If you’re struggling to choose a New Year’s resolution, I hope this article has given you some helpful ideas.
However, picking the resolution is just the first step. To learn how to follow through with your New Year’s resolutions is the effort,
