Five New Year’s Resolutions for 2024

2023 is expiring in a few days. This is the best season for setting one’s New Year’s resolutions list. In the last post, I shared with you some advice on setting New Year’s resolutions that last. Not sure what you can add to your list? Here are some good -and popular- ideas.

Improvement of physical health. COVID-19 hasn’t left us alone yet, whereas experts have warned that more pandemics are to come. This is on top of existing health conditions that each of us might be encountering already. It is a good plan to have your physical health at the top of your priority list. Besides, how can you achieve your other goals if you are too sick to go after them?

Improvement of mental health. Mental health affects every aspect of one’s life, including physical health. Sometimes, we don’t even realise that we need help. Today help is rather accessible, depending on the place where you live of course. But there is a variety of tools that you can use besides therapy, such as free mental health hotlines and smartphone applications.

Learning new skills. The world -especially the job market- has become more and more demanding and increasingly competitive. Globalisation and remote work platforms have made it possible for a recruiter to hire highly-skilled workers from literally everywhere. You can use this development to your advantage by choosing your target market and your rates, once you have the required skills, of course. A few examples are coding, data science, creative writing, and foreign languages.

Improvement of finances. Like it or hate it, money runs this world and we need to make informed financial decisions all the time. Even when you order takeout food, you make a financial decision. Each of us needs to take our own financial decisions based on our personal circumstances and the developments of the market. This is called financial literacy and it is an essential skill that can be developed diachronically. There are many ways in which you can improve your financial literacy, which include taking courses, consulting with finance professionals and consulting reliable online sources. Personally, I recommend Investopedia’s Ultimate Guide to Financial Literacy, NatWest’s Cost of Living, and the Hellenic Financial Literacy Institute.

Improvement of appearance. We all say that looks don’t matter, but how many of us actually believe it? We start by being harsh on ourselves in the mirror and we carry on by judging strangers on the street. We might not admit it, but our judgement is based to a great extent on looks. Of course, looks is something subjective, but we only have to notice our own attitude and reflect on the scores of people who have sacrificed their health to achieve their ideal image.

So there you have them. Five ideas for New Year’s resolutions. But remember that a successful resolution is one that you mean business with!