Last year I made a bunch of New Year’s resolutions and by the end of January I had broken pretty much every single one of them. And you know what? 2008 wasn’t half bad. Even so, I know it would have been a whole lot better if I had of kept a few of those promises I made to myself. Having fun is one thing, but actually feeling like you’ve grown as a person is really something special. So with that in mind, I present to you this list of 42 ways I’m going to make 2009 my most awesome year ever.

1. Make Sensible Resolutions (and see them through!). Think carefully about what you want to accomplish by this time next year. Where do you want to be in 12 months? Make a list of all your resolutions ordered from most important to least important and stick it up somewhere you will see it on a daily basis. Know what’s at the top of my list? To keep all my New Years’ Resolutions of course!

2. Be Optimistic. Is your glass half full or half empty? Not only does Optimism correlate strongly with self-esteem, psychological well-being and physical and mental health, you’re also far more likely to succeed at any given task if you go in with an optimistic mindset.

If you’re like me (eternal pessimist and cynic), you’re probably thinking that being cheerful in the face of adversity is easier said than done, and you’re right. Even so, there are ways to train yourself to be more optimistic. Yes, as dubious as that sounds, you can actually turn yourself into a glass half full kind of person with a few simple techniques. Check out this great post to get you started.

3. Learn a musical instrument. A wise man once said that Music is the poetry of the air. Learning to play an instrument will give you a feeling of accomplishment, improve your co-ordination and rhythmn, and (most importantly) impress members of the opposite sex.

Worried about the cost? Fear not, as never before has it been cheaper to learn a musical instrument than it is today. Free lessons abound online, in both written and video formats (YouTube has literally thousands of tutorials on just about every noise producing apparatus known to humankind), and instruments themselves are a steal. I just searched ebay and found new Violins going for as little as $50, Accoustic Guitars for as little as $40, and Harmonicas for as little as $10. And yes, those prices are including shipping!

4. Teach yourself a new language. Learning to speak a new language is a worthy and rewarding endeavour. Apart from being very convenient if you ever happen to travel abroad, a new language imrpoves cultural understanding, verbal skills, linguistic ability, and may even increase your overall intelligence.

Learning a new language used to be expensive, but through the magic of the internet you can become a master without spending a cent. This site provides an excellent jumping off point, as does this excellent YouTube video:

5. Try something new every day. Familiarity often leads to stagnation. There’s nothing wrong with having a routine and knowing what you like, but you’ll never expand your horizons if you don’t branch out a little. Even if something doesn’t seem like it’s your thing, you won’t know for sure until you actually try it.

6. Do something that you’re afraid of every day. This doesn’t mean you should run naked into oncoming traffic, it means you should face those fears you know are holding you back. Courage is not inherited, it is learned.

7. Give up a vice. Vanity, Greed, Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, Envy, Laziness, or Cigarettes – which one is your deadliest sin? If none of these are a problem for you, a far more exhaustive list of vices is available at Wikipedia.

8. Pick up a virtue. Being Virtuous promotes indivual and collective well-being. This year I’m going for Perseverance. See a full list of Virtues here.   

9. Go Travelling. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy (in fact, it could even be something distinctly un-fancy like camping), or for more than a few days, but it has to be somewhere you’ve never been before.

10. Excercise regularly. Everyone knows that regular exercise keeps your body in shape, but few know how profound of an impact it can have on your mind. Excercise causes the body to release endorphins, and scientific studies have conclusively proven that exercise can be at least as effacacious at treating depression than anti-depressants are. As if that weren’t enough, exercise has also been shown to promote neurogenesis, the creation of new brain-cells, meaning it literally makes you smarter!

11. Get out of your comfort zone. Being comfortable all the time is a dangerous thing. Most of the best things in life come with at least some initial discomfort.

12. Pay down your debt. Debt is slavery. Enough said.

13. Learn to be more self-sufficient. Few things are as empowering as independence, and it’s really not all that difficult to add a measure of self-sufficiency to your life. Whether it’s something literal like growing some food in your own backyard (or for the apartment dwellers out there, a windowsill herb garden), or something more metaphorical like simply living within your means and not having to rely on credit to get by, self sufficiency is a goal well worth your time.

14. Build up an emergency fund. I’m aiming for $3000 by the end of the year. Anything beyond that will go towards paying down debt.

15. Take an online course. Ever wanted to tell people you’ve studied at an Ivy League school? Well now you (sort of) can! A number of universities are now offering course materials online. Best of all, there’s no tutition fees to worry about – it’s pretty much all available 100% free of charge!

The world-famous MIT, for example, offers lecture notes, exams, and videos for literally hundreds of its courses for anyone and everyone to download at it’s OpenCourseWare website. We’re not just talking about technology related courses either – you can study all sorts of things from nearly 50 different departments!

Carnegie Melon, Stanford, Tufts, and UC Berkley are just a few of the many other institutions offering their courses online.

16. Read more. Reading is not only a good way to have some cheap fun, it’s also really great for your brain too. MRI and PET scans done on people reading show that their brains light up like Christmas trees!

Right now, as you read this passage of text, your occipital cortex is very active, processing all of the visual information you are encountering – the words, the letters, and the features of the letters. The frontal lobe of your neocortex is engaged in processing the meaning of the text you’re reading – the meanings of the words, the sentences, and the big picture, and it is working to relate what you are reading with what you already know. Surprisingly, your temporal lobe (particularly on the left side of your brain if you’re right handed) is also active right now, processing all of the “sounds” associated with reading – even though you’re reading silently to yourself, the areas of the brain that process speech sounds are active just like they would be if you were listening to somebody speak. Source.

17. Eat healthier. In this day and age, there’s really no excuse for not eating healthy. Apart from being good for your body and for your brain, it’s not particularly expensive or time-consuming, and you don’t exactly need to be a rocket scientist to pull it off.

18. Keep a daily Journal. A journal isn’t just good for posterity. Apart from being unbelievably cathartic, keeping a journal gets you thinking about yourself. It helps you to organize your thoughts, monitor your moods, and develop (and keep track of) your goals.

19. Start a side-business. A side business does more than just line your wallet. It’s a great way to learn (or improve) a skill, diversify your investments, and increase your independence. Check out our article on Side-hustles to get the creative juices flowing.

20. Spend more time with your Family & Friends. This one is a cliche for good reason.

21. Expand your social circle. Join a club, talk to strangers, and don’t be afraid to mingle at parties. There are some truly exceptional people out there.

22. Start meditating regularly. Despite what you may have heard, Meditation is not just for Buddhists and yuppies masquerading as Buddhists. Regular meditation improves your ability to focus and has a multitude of health benefits.

There are many different techniques, but the best one for beginners is known as concentrative meditation. In a nutshell, it’s about sitting quietly and focusing all of your attention on breathing slowly, deeply, and methodically. Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised at how difficult it is to quiet your mind for an extended period of time. As always, practise makes perfect!

23. Volunteer. It can be anything from working in a soup kitchen to cleaning up a stretch of land. Check out VolunteerMatch to get started.

24. Write out a budget (and stick to it). Budgeting may seem scary at first, but there’s really nothing to it, and once you have a budget that’s working for you, you won’t believe you ever lived without one!

25. Be more responsible.

26. Work Hard. I know this quote’s been used a zillion times before, but I don’t care: Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent persperation. No matter how naturally gifted (or ungifted as the case may be) you are, hard work will likely be the deciding factor in whether you achieve your objectives or not.

27. Play Hard. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Work hard, but don’t overwork – or you’ll find your overall levels of productivity will take a dive and you’ll burnout.

28. Spend more time outside. While too much time in the sun is bad for you, not enough is probably even worse. Sunlight actually plays a very important role when it comes to Vitamin D production and mood regulation.

29. Stop buying crap. I can’t even begin to think about all the useless junk I have ‘acquired’ over the past 12 months. In 2009, every time I’m tempted to buy something I’m going to ask myself the following questions:

• Will it bring me long term happiness, or is it something I will get sick of after a few weeks?
• Is it durable, or am I going to have to replace it before the year is out?
• Will I save a signficant amount of money by putting off the purchase for a while?
• Is it good value for money?
• Will buying it compromise my overall financial situation?
• Is there something better I could be spending the money on?
• Will buying it actually make my life better in any meaningful way?

That ought to put a stop to that buyer’s remorse!

30. Watch less TV. Research indicates that excessive television watching turns your brain matter into something closely resembling guacamole. Well ok, not really, but there’s ample evidence that shows TV affects your brain chemistry in a very profound way.

There’s a reason they call it the idiot-box!

31. Don’t Procrastinate. Why do something tomorrow when you can do it today?

32. Smile more. Apart from using less muscles than a frown (well ok, not really), recent scientific studies have shown that smiling at people and making eye contact increases your attractiveness. 

33. Expand your mind. If your mind isn’t expanding, it’s probably contracting. You don’t want your brain to shrink, do you?!? This post has some great ways to protect yourself from ‘brain-rot’, even though we’ve already covered a few of them.

34. Be sensible with your money.

35. Save up for something big.

36. Be Ambitious. Don’t be afraid to set yourself difficult goals – heck, the’yre not supposed to be easy.

37. Do something nice for a stranger every so often. Yes, believe it or not, doing something nice for someone you don’t know without an expectation of reward once in a while will actually make you feel pretty good about yourself. Put a couple of bucks in a parking meter that’s about to expire, pay the toll for the guy behind you – It’s one of those rare occasions where you can be both selfish and selfless simultaneously.

38. Plant something and nurture it. Ok, I’m not speaking metaphorically here – planting and nurturing something (I’m going for a fern, but hey, whatever floats your boat) lifts people’s overall sense of happyness. A nice plant brightens up a room (and your mood), but it’s also nice knowing that a living creature is depending on you for its survival. We all need to be needed, I guess!

39. Increase your means!

40. Laugh more. Well this pretty much speaks for itself. Laughing reduces endorphins (the body’s natural pleasure chemicals) and gives your abs a good workout and utilizes your cardio-vascular system.

41. Be Confident. This one’s a deal maker (or breaker) – you’d be surprised how far confidence gets you, and how much a lack of it holds you back. Absolutely NOTHING is more attractive to people than confidence. Work on building your self confidence every day. And if you don’t have it yet? Fake it until you do. W.C Fields said it best:

It aint what they call you that matters, it’s what you answer to.

As it happens, giving off the vibe of confidence, even when you’re scared stiff, isn’t as hard as you might think. It’s mostly about body language and the way you carry yourself. Dress nicely. Don’t be afraid to make eye contact. Maintain a good posture. Speak in a strong, commanding tone (but don’t scream!). More good tips are available here.

42. And finally: Start Early! Don’t wait until the January is behind us to start making changes in your life, make your first move today!

What do you guys think? Got any to add or expand upon?

Photo by Michael Mitstretta

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