Can't make your mind up on what to do in 2011 to make you a better person?
BNT helps you out. Here are 100 ideas for New Year’s resolutions.
Grow
1. Keep at least one plant alive in your bedroom
2. Start
learning a language not spoken in Western Europe
3. Join a book club or writer’s group
4. Memorize all the international capital cities
5. Discover the meaning of ‘classical’ in classical art/literature/music
6. Trace your roots — discover more about your heritage
7. Teach yourself Morse Code
8. Visit the history channel more often
9. Borrow a friend’s instrument and
learn to play it10. Learn how to become
lucid while dreamingTake care of yourself
11. Drink more water everyday
12. Learn to
meditate and form a routine
13. Use more sunscreen
14. Start putting away a small percentage of your income
15. Cut your hard-to-break bad habit in half
16. Record your thoughts in a
journal (or any handy piece of scrap paper)
17. Eat big, healthy breakfasts
18. Bike instead of drive
19. Add 30 minutes to the beginning or end of your night’s sleep
20. Drink tea instead of coffee
Take care of others
21. Meet your neighbours
22. Remember your friends and family’s birthdays
23. Pay for the person behind you at toll booths / top up their parking meters
24. Pack a healthy bag lunch and give it to a homeless person
25. Write a recommendation for someone who deserves it
26. Forgive that grudge you’ve been hanging on to
27. Give ‘I love you’ gifts (gifts without a specific occasion)
28. Listen more, speak less
29. Do foreseeable favors before people ask
30. Say what you mean and mean what you say
Slow your speed, lengthen the ride
31. Play more board games
32. Take a bath and use bubble bath
33. Re-read your favourite children’s book
34. Allow buffer time between errands/duties
35. Make your meals instead of buying them, chew longer, and eat with others
36. Start a compost pile instead of throwing scraps away
37. Take the
scenic route38. Hand write thank-you letters and cards
39. Have more picnics
40. Show up several minutes early to everything
Detach from material things
41. Donate some of your wardrobe
42. Investigate a philosophical movement in history (transcendentalism, stoicism, phenomenology) and consider it in relation to your life
43. Go on dates that require no money
44. Eradicate
noise pollution in your home
45. Free your skin of make-up for a few days
46. Unplug, in general
47. Separate your material wants from your material needs — and focus on the latter
48. Volunteer some place close to home
49. Lend someone your Xbox (or PS3/Wii) for a few weeks
50. Walk barefoot more often
Live in the moment
51. Rediscover your sense of smell
52. Take your watch off occasionally
53. Take the words ‘someday’ and ‘soon’ out of your vocabulary
54. Make eye contact when you shake hands
55. Drop your expectations
56. Turn your phone all the way off, not silent, when requested
57. Acknowledge pleasure
58. Learn to shut your mind off when resting
59. Get out of your comfort zone more often
60. Relish silence
Love more
61. Get a pet (that you can realistically take care of)
62. Hug your friends whenever you see them
63. Keep a list of things that make you instantly
happy64. Remove half the mirrors in your home
65. Be thankful for little things
66. Take the guilty out of
guilty pleasure67. Avoid relationships that stress you out
68. Laugh out loud when you feel like it
69. Try to stop comparing yourself to others
70. Ask your parents for advice more often
Get creative
71. Write one poem a week
72. Throw a themed/costume party
73. Fingerpaint, sketch, or watercolor on weekends
74. Make your own jewelry out of antique or discarded items
75. Give quirky names to your travel gear (especially your backpack)
76. Draw up a plan for your dream home — and incorporate some of it into your current home
77. Finish a crossword puzzle
78. Give gifts that are homemade, not bought
79. Write a letter to your future self, put it in a box, and lose it on purpose
80. Photograph everyday things from interesting angles
Be aware
81. Carry a reusable bag with you when you shop
82. Back up your files
83. Buy produce at Farmer’s Markets
84. Unsubscribe from everything that creates clutter
85. Look up words you don’t know when you come across them
86. Own up to your mistakes
87. Make your means as worthy as your ends
88. Follow a news publication/channel you trust, not one that proselytizes
89. Support family-owned businesses instead of chains
90. VOTE (and know what you’re voting for)
Keep an open mind
91. Change your favorite color
92. Attend a friend’s sporting event
93. Grow your hair two inches longer than usual (or cut it two inches)
94. Watch more foreign films and documentaries
95. Let go of judgments
96. Go to karaoke bars once in awhile (and sing)
97. Try a food you can’t identify
98. Hear people out (fully)
99. Move your desk/computer to the other side of the room
100. Don’t feel pressured to make any New Year’s Resolutions
Why can't I see "shout more loudly at the TV" on there?
