25 New Year’s Resolution Ideas Worth Reflecting For Better 2018

One more goodbye, one more welcome. It seems the years are passing by without even completing their due 365 days.

Just go back to a year and pause for a moment. Do you see any difference in the quality of your life? Yes or No? Irrespective of your answer, this article is definitely going to add some value to the way you perceive your life.

If even a single new year’s resolution idea clicks to you, and create some positive difference then my purpose of writing the article would get fulfilled.

You may be aware of the some of the ideas mentioned here but as someone said it correctly Words don’t teach us, only life experiences do. So, until and unless you put efforts to implement it into your life, nothing is going to change.

The article is just an effort to revise what you already know and to give something new worth reflecting.

25 New Year’s Resolution Ideas Worth Reflecting For Better 2018

1. Double the Quality, Half the Quantity

Having high-quality items in possession increases your confidence and self-esteem.

For an example, If you are going for an interview wearing an expensive formal shirt, it improves your chances of getting selected. Your confidence lies in the way you present yourself.

Now, you would argue that you don’t have enough money to buy expensive items. So, my dear friend, improving the quality doesn’t always mean to increase the budget. You can do your shopping in the same budget by just doubling the price and reducing the quantity to half.

Let’s have a practical scenario here. Earlier, if you used to purchase 2 shirts in 100$ i.e. 50$ for each shirt then this time try to purchase only a shirt of 100$.

This is not only applicable to the clothes you wear but to almost everything you possess. Quality always trumps quantity.

2. Spend time with people having huge age difference with yours

Find at least few minutes a day to spend some time with both children and elderly. The child will teach you how to be happy without any reason and the old will give you a reason to be happy.

The concept here is to learn something from the ones who don’t have any perspective about life and also from the others who have explored life in every aspect.

Trust me, you will learn many insightful lessons of life just by doing this.

3. Eat your Water and Drink your Food

You may have got the advice at least once in your life that you should chew your food 32 times before swallowing it. When I applied the technique to my eating style after hearing it tons of time, I started seeing benefits one by one. The immediate benefits were that I started eating less which definitely helped me to be in shape. It also improved my digestion.

Now comes to eating your water. By eating, I mean take a sip of water, swallow it, breath and then take another sip. Also, don’t drink too much water at a time. If you are really interested in the topic then you must learn the art of drinking water.

4. Have a morning ritual

Source: Flickr

If you start your day with a bang, there are high chances that you end the same with a bing at least. Okay, I don’t know what does this bang-bing mean and from where it came, I just tried to sound funny here.

So, to have such a bang-bing day, you better have a morning ritual. It can be as little as making your bed to something which lasts for long hours. If I talk of myself, then before the 90% of Indians come out of their dreams, I am done with my morning ritual of close to 3.5 hours.

5. Do some charity

You have been postponing it and waiting for a decent income to help someone. But let me know you one thing that to do charity you don’t need to have a decent income but a decent heart with some willpower.

Even with a little amount of money, you can buy happiness. There’s been a lot of talks, it’s time to do some action now.

6. Donate Blood

If you don’t have money to donate, don’t worry. You can still help people by donating your blood. You won’t only be helping the life of someone needy but also doing a great favor for your health. By donating blood, you will be excreting excess iron from your body which in turn has numerous health benefits.

And the best part is that you can repeat this charitable work again after few weeks(8 weeks in general). Please do consult your doctor before donating the blood, if you are suffering from any ailment.

7. Start Meditation

I am a strong advocate of conscious living and not at all suggesting you to be in a meditative state throughout the day. But you can devote at least few minutes of your day to be a part of stress-free living through meditation.

You can even take help of no.1 distraction medium(your cell phone) in your favor by using tons of meditation apps available there.

Complaining that you don’t have time to meditate is like you don’t have time to find your car’s key and that’s why you have decided to go the office by walking.

Trust me, few minutes spent in meditation will save your hell lot of time by making you more productive.

8. Exercise

It can be a dedicated time spent in Gym or a brisk walk with friends or any other physical task. Just do something every day which keep your sweats and blood flowing.

There is enough research now indicating that the body releases chemicals known as Endorphins when one exercise. These endorphins trigger happiness hormones in the body. In medical terms, these Endorphins interact with the receptors in the brain which reduces the perception of the pain.

9. Read Read Read

Read Read Read. Read something awesome every day. When you are done with the reading, read something more. If you ask me one takeaway from the entire article, then that would be this one.

Most of the mistakes have been done and resolved already by someone and also captured in the form of books/articles. Wouldn’t it be a smart idea to learn from the other’s mistakes by reading their experience in few hours than by repeating the same by wasting few years and learn it in a hard way?

If reading books seem boring to you then you can take leverage of many amazing websites like Quora, Medium available there. Now, don’t make more excuses and for the reading sake, just read.

10. Declutter things

The new concept of becoming minimalist is getting popular nowadays. Though I haven’t been successful to implement it in my life, this new year can be a great way to start.

There are numerous benefits of decluttering unnecessary things out of life: less stress, less to clean, less to organize, more saving, less to spend, less to maintain.

If you are still not sure where to start, then this article may be a great help.

11. Complain less

As per the law of attraction, the more you complaint; the more you attract things to complain about. And even if you don’t believe in any such law then still complaining won’t do anything good to you especially when things are not in your control.

You need to understand that it’s not about the things or situations or someone else’s behavior, It’s about you and only you. This is a habit which can be changed easily when you are aware of it and intend to change it.

So, say goodbye to this attitude of complaining as well along with the year 2017.

12. Be more grateful

There are countless articles stating benefits of being grateful. It’s everywhere on the internet. You can find gratitude in almost any situation. Pause for a moment now and be grateful:

Be grateful that you have eyes and through which you are reading this article
Be grateful that you are lucky enough to have access to the internet
Be grateful that you have an awareness of this wisdom of being grateful
The point is, you don’t need a solid reason to practice this. Whenever you get awareness, start being grateful for the things you are doing at that very moment. It’s as simple as that.

13. Writing journal

Let me clear here that writing journal is not only for those who want to improve their writing skills(though that’s an additional advantage). If you do it in first few minutes of your day, there is a high probability that you will remain fresh throughout the day.

Personally, whenever I feel frustrated, I take a pen and paper and start pouring out my thoughts on it. You are not supposed to think and write it in an organized way, rather the intention here is to declutter your mind with all the garbage and put it in the dustbin(paper). The exercise always makes me relaxed within few minutes.

14. Less News

Today only negative news is getting sold. Whenever you switch on the television or read any newspaper, only news related to terrorism, racism, war, murder, rape, violence is there.

The negative news not only impacts your mood but also the way you interact with the world around you. It subconsciously makes you believe that the world is not a place for good people. Rarely you feel positive after watching a news. It always adds up to your stress level.

So, do a favor to yourself this year and stop watching the news.

15. Less social media

I used to go to Facebook whenever I felt boredom and after spending few minutes my boredom used to get transformed to jealousy, hatred, unworthiness, depression, insecurity etc.

If you observe carefully the emotional scale, it’s always better to have boredom as an emotion than all the other mentioned. The day I realized it, I quit the Facebook and other social media where people just show the best of their life to make others feel upset of their unworthiness.

Now, this facebook addict has no more an account there.Facebook free life seems much better than expected.

16. Less gossiping

If you have a habit of talking about people behind there back then it’s a good time to stop doing the bullshit. Beware of the cycle of karma. If you are doing it to someone then expect that the same thing is being done to you by the very same people.

17. An extra source of income

It’s always better to have more than one source of Income. Life is very unpredictable and so does your source of Income.

Try to have some side hustle. Even the idea of passive income is getting more popularity nowadays.

18. Spend more time with family

If you are too busy with your work and spending time with family comes under your retirement plan then it’s high time to open your eyes. Nothing is guaranteed in the world, not even life. Life is too short to regret.

No matter, how busy you are, spare some time every day to spend with your loved ones. Have a proper conversation on dinner or watch some comedy series together every day. Believe me, well spend half an hour every day will save your relationship being messed up ever.

19. Smile more

Do this practical experiment. Next time, when you have an eye contact with any stranger, just smile. I have yet to see someone who doesn’t smile back.

A smile is contagious. Your smile won’t only make you happy but others as well. That’s the beauty of it.

20. Walk in nature

Source: Max Pixel

There is enough scientific evidence that walk in nature even just for 15 minutes a day uplifts one’s mood and helps in fighting with any mental health issue like depression, anxiety etc.

So, instead of medicines, this time inject some nature into you. And the best thing is that it’s totally free.

21. Mindfulness

If you are the one, who don’t have time to meditate then this is for you. You can get the same benefits of meditation by bringing mindfulness into everyday life without spending even a single extra seconds of your life.

The same mundane work, which seems boring to you would become interesting. Let’s be more mindful and enjoy each and every moment this year.

22. Travel more

The more you travel, the more you know the world. The more you know, the more you know that you don’t know. The more you know that you don’t know, the more you get open to new ideas.

The point is, one way to learn is to read and another way is to experience. Travelling comes into the latter category. People who travel more are more open-minded and more likable.

23. Less digital, more physical

Day by day, you are switching more towards digital life. You wake up with your cell phone, spend the entire day with either cell phone or the laptop and then sleep with your cell phone. If you go in the past(a decade or two), all these things were not there at all.

There is new research coming every nowadays indicating that the high use of these things is leading our generation to depression, anxiety, and other mental health-related issues.

Personally, I have noticed many times that when I spend too much time inside the house with these digital friends, I start getting irritated with little things and the only option left with me to improve my mood is to go outside in nature for some time at least.

So, ditch the digital life this time and let’s go back to the stone age.

24. Plant your pride, Plant a tree

Planting a tree is like adopting a child. Nature has done a lot for you and it’s high time that you do something in return.

The tree planted by me years back still makes me feel proud as that’s definitely one thing I have significantly contributed to the world.

25. Start Saving and Investing

Start early, start small. Your investment should be properly categorized to all the 3 risk categories i.e. low risk(Bank saving), medium risk(Mutual Funds) and high risk(Stock Market).

Make a monthly expense sheet where you put your daily expenses. The intention here is to make you more aware of your expenses which further makes you more organized and saves a lot of unnecessary expenses. See my Monthly expense sheet:

I have tried to implement almost all the ideas mentioned above in my personal life(unless specifically mentioned) and would really love to know your feedback on it.

That’s all about the new year’s resolution ideas list folks, I could collect at this moment. Thanks for reading it until the end.

So, What’s your new year’s resolution idea for the year 2018?

The article was originally published as one of my blog post here.

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