2024 New Year's Not-Really-Resolutions

By: Carly Tino & Jake Hreha

It’s that time of year. We turn the page on another year and look forward to the next. We like to look at the future and imagine our personal growth, professional development, or many other changes. These changes are often declared in the form of new year's resolutions.

A new year's resolution is typically built around the idea of making a change in the upcoming year. Whether these goals are to eat healthier, manage stress better, improve your mental health, or boost your overall well being they tend to lack follow-through. You might have even been strategic by writing your new year's resolutions as SMART goals. While this is a step in the right direction it's often not enough. We tend to make our goals more like outcomes.

For example, one of your new resolutions may be to exercise five days a week. This is a great goal that leads to positive life changes but it's unclear and is a hard goal to stay motivated about. A better way to look at goal setting is to take a big goal and break it down.

According to GoSkills.com, the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions are as follows:

1. Exercise more
2. Lose weight
3. Get organized
4. Learn a new skill or hobby
5. Live life to the fullest
6. Save more money / spend less money
7. Quit smoking
8. Spend more time with family and friends
9. Travel more
10. Read more

Everyone has heard the discouraging statistics of how few people stick with their resolutions. If so many of us struggle to keep our resolutions, maybe it’s time we take a slightly different approach to this yearly ritual.

This year, instead of deciding to drastically alter our lives, let’s focus on bringing little bits of fun, laughter, and spontaneity into our existing lifestyle. No deadlines, no pressure, no scale.

2024 New Year’s Not-Really-Resolutions

1. Pronounce a common word slightly differently, like saying “shore” instead of “sure.”
2. Don’t wear jeans! Instead, get more creative with your wardrobe.
3. Prank more. When was the last time you really got someone?
4. Do a cartwheel. Why? Well, why not?
5. When at home, only drink out of bowls. (It would be weird to do this in public.)
6. Add a sophisticated title to your pets’ names. For example, “Congressman Obie.”
7. Create an incredible Domino sculpture and then knock it over immediately.
8. Rake your front yard when your neighbors are present (in the middle of winter when there are no leaves, only snow).
9. Go outside and do an activity that typically only children do. For example, build a snowman or play tag with a friend.
10. Write a letter, address it, and mail it. To yourself.

Let’s take off the pressure of losing 25 pounds and reading 25 books. The fact of the matter is this: You don’t need a new year to make huge lifestyle changes, so make your New Year’s Resolutions into Not-Really-Resolutions.

These fun resolutions are a great way to turn our big goals into smaller goals that are fun. Making resolutions doesn't have to be about the big, challenging changes. Too many resolutions fail when we create those kinds of goals. This year resolutions can be fun and exciting. You can disguise "exercise" in a goal like play pickleball with your friends in the summer. This goal is a lot more fun and makes the year ahead an exciting adventure rather than a mountain of daunting change.

Whatever you decide to do, don’t do it alone! Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to share your Not-Really-Resolution – we want to see it.

Who knows? Maybe the silly little things will add up the most.

At the end of the day, learning to laugh and smile more sounds like the ultimate self-improvement.

Carly Tino

Social Media Manager

Carly Tino grew up in Northeast Indiana and graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020, where she studied Strategic Communication and Media Communication. Carly’s favorite pleasures of life are morning pour-overs, traveling in her soon-to-be-finished camper and going to the lake with her family. She lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with her husband, two cats, and dog.

Jake Hreha

SEO Copywriter, IWU

Jake Hreha is a graduate of Ball State University, where he majored in advertising with a concentration in media presentation and design. He is passionate about design, and in his free time he enjoys cycling, traveling, and reading.