Simple New Year’s Resolutions to Start Today
By: Aj Krow
Tags: New Years Resolutions, New Years Reflections, Personal Development, Personal Growth, Self

Why start on January 1st when you can start right now?

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

It’s too easy to give up on New Year’s Resolutions when your friends and family do the same. Some might say they’re going on a diet, others might say they’re going to the gym more often, but after a few weeks, you no longer get an update on their New Year’s Resolutions on social media. You probably give up on your New Year’s Resolutions around the same time as they do.

Instead of waiting until January 1st to improve your life, why not start today? Here are some simple and realistic goals you can start now.

Quit eating one food

I’ve tried dieting for years, and once a craving kicks in, the progress is gone by February. All those days of healthy eating go out the window when a friend or family member cooks a meal they have not made in months and your mouth waters once you set your eyes on it.

I’ve found it’s more realistic and easier to maintain long-term to simply quit eating one food. Whether it’s sugary drinks and drinking only water, or quitting white bread, or quitting chips, by cutting one food out of your diet, it becomes easier to create a healthy eating habit.

The first year I made this decision, I cut all sodas out of my diet and now only drink water. The following year I quit eating white bread and moved to wheat bread or romaine lettuce for my sandwiches. The third year I quit eating chips and moved to sliced apples with cinnamon or carrots with lemon and chili powder as a fun snack.

Moving away from one food at a time makes the transition to a healthy lifestyle so much easier than trying to change your diet altogether, and it’s something you can easily start doing today.

Start saving more money

Granted, this is a little hard to do considering the circumstances right now, but it is imperative to do so regardless. Saving as little as $10 more per month into your bank account will do good for you long term. At the end of the year, you’ll have $120 more than you would’ve had, had you not done so.

No, you don’t need another shirt or pair of shoes to add to your collection in your closet. You also don’t need to eat out so often. Move towards eating out one day less per month, or cutting your budget a little when shopping for clothes. Focus on needs, not wants.

If you can afford it, put $20 more per month in your savings account. Maybe $50, or $100. If you increase how much you save each month, you’ll be less tempted to spend it. Watching your savings account grow bigger per month becomes addicting, and long term will result in a good nest egg which you can use if an emergency arises.

Pay off your debts a little faster

This ties in with the previous point. If you can afford to do so, pitch in another $10 more into your student debt, your car, or your mortgage. After all, interest rates prevent many people from accumulating wealth.

When I was house shopping a few months ago, I realized that buying a $100,000 house on a 15-year mortgage vs. a 30-year mortgage would save me roughly $75,000 in interest.

Something to remember when it comes to debt is this: interest rates apply to however much money you owe today. So if you owe $100 today at a 4% interest rate, tomorrow you’ll owe $104. Tomorrow’s interest will go towards that day’s new principal of $104, so the next day will be $108.16, followed by $112.49, and so on.

Dedicating a little more money to paying off your debts will result in a lower principal. While the interest rate may remain the same, the amount you’ll have to pay will be lower as you contribute more and more to paying it off sooner.

Learn about investing

I promise this is the last money related one. But frankly, it is an idea that is worth looking into.

In March of 2020, the markets crashed. Hard.

All the gains I had made throughout the last two years I’ve been investing went down with the market. For the first time, I was losing money in the stock market.

But unlike other people who panicked and sold their stocks, I took my paycheck and bought more shares. Why? Because the mentality of smart investors is that stocks were on sale during the crash. Therefore, purchasing those stocks while they were low would result in greater profits when it went back up.

The stocks that I purchased during March of 2020 increased my gains significantly. Now, I have gains I never would’ve achieved had I sold my stocks when prices were low.

The book I’d recommend if you are interested in investing is called Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. In his book, he discusses the basic rules of savings and investing that you didn’t learn in high school. He also goes into depth as to why you should invest money to ensure you can retire without having to worry about medical expenses in your old age.

It’s a book I recommend looking into if you are serious about escaping the life of living paycheck to paycheck.

Call your friends more often

This is something we should all be doing in 2020. Considering how things can change from one day to the next, this one is a no-brainer.

With people quarantining and spending their days inside, calling your friends, whether voice call or video chat, is a great way to feel less alone. I started calling a different friend every other day and asking them how their day went and vice versa and our moods improved immensely. Humans are social animals, so spending time in quarantine isn’t healthy for us mentally. Call a friend and say hi. Your body will thank you for it.

Learn a language or pick up a hobby

In a previous article I wrote, I discussed the methods I have used in learning a language (spoiler: stop using Duolingo!). These methods have helped immensely when trying to converse with others in my target language, or when watching a movie or listening to music, or even when reading an article or a book.

Another option could be picking up a hobby. Whether it’s a new hobby or refreshing an old one, this is something you can start doing today. You can go biking, walking, playing a board or video game, or even picking up a book at Barnes and Noble or your local bookstore.

My goal thus far is to read more often. Currently, I aim to read one book a month, then slowly move towards reading a book every two weeks, and eventually, every week. My current read is Permanent Record by Edward Snowden. It’s an amazing book that discusses the scandal that occurred in 2013 when Snowden unveiled to the world that the U.S. government is spying on its citizens. I highly recommend you pick it up and check it out.

Conclusion

Of course, these are not the only New Year’s Resolutions you can begin today, but hopefully one of these ideas does inspire you to start now, rather than wait until January 1st. Doing so will tell you it’s not about a new year, new you. It’s about improving yourself sooner rather than later.