7 Super Easy New Year’s Resolutions With Major Impact

Summary

The article suggests adopting seven simple New Year's resolutions that can have a significant positive impact on one's life by focusing on easy-to-maintain micro-habits.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of setting realistic and manageable New Year's resolutions to avoid the common pitfall of feeling like a failure when resolutions are too ambitious or vague. It proposes seven specific and achievable micro-habits, such as drinking an extra glass of water daily, unsubscribing from unnecessary emails, taking a short walk, eating vegetables, snacking on fruit, complimenting others, and saving a small amount of money weekly. These habits are designed to be small, incremental changes that can lead to substantial improvements in health, finances, and overall well-being. The author encourages readers to select just one resolution to ensure it is easy to maintain and suggests that these positive additions to one's routine can lead to a more fulfilling 2022.

Opinions

The author believes that traditional New Year's resolutions often fail because they are too broad or difficult, leading to a sense of defeat.
It is suggested that the key to successful resolutions is to implement micro-habits that require minimal effort but offer tangible benefits.
The article posits that even a small change, like an extra glass of water a day, can have a noticeable impact on one's health, such as reducing headaches.
The author advocates for the addition of positive habits rather than focusing on abstinence or sacrifice, promoting a more optimistic approach to self-improvement.
By choosing only one resolution, the author advises that the process of change becomes more manageable and less overwhelming, increasing the likelihood of long-term adherence.

2. Drink an extra glass of water per day

People hate New Year’s Resolutions because they inevitably break them, so they feel like a failure. There’s a simple reason for that — they set the wrong resolutions.

If your resolution is vague and exceedingly difficult (like “lose weight” or “give up coffee”), it’s not going to work.

You didn’t magically transform from December 31st to January 1st. If you found it a struggle in 2021, that won’t change in 2022.

A better approach is to use the New Year to kick off a healthy micro-habit. You can always build from there.

Micro-habit resolutions are easy to keep but have a measurable impact on your quality of life.

Here are seven examples to inspire you. Commit to only one to make it easy enough that you keep doing it.

Unsubscribe from 5 emails per day until you’re down to only those you read

Drink an extra glass of water every day (suck it back with breakfast and you’re golden)

Go for a 15-minute walk at lunchtime

Eat at least one serving of vegetables at lunch

Snack on fruit once per day

Give someone an authentic compliment at least once per week

Save $5/week for your rainy-day fund

Number 1 is my resolution for 2022. Number 2 was my resolution a few years ago. I still do it every day, and it’s cut down on my headaches considerably.

You may wonder what kind of impact a tiny change will have on your life. Quite a big one, actually.

If you’re sedentary all day, a 15-minute walk is not only good for you physically, it will refresh you mentally.

If you struggle to save, automating $5 savings each week will eventually give you a cushion for tough times.

If your email inbox only contains messages you actually read, your brain becomes less cluttered

Note that I’m focusing on adding here. Instead of making your resolution about abstaining (aka suffering), add something positive into your life.

The key to this is to choose only one. It may seem overly simple, but change is made one step at a time. Make this manageable with very little effort.

Enjoy the results.

Here’s to a happy 2022!