Tis’ the season to be jolly, which means there are presents to be bought and wrapped, Christmas parties to make a fool of yourself at, and more food and alcohol than you can shake a stick at, hurrah! It’s beer o'clock!
And after another year of Covid related gloom and doom, who can blame us all for wanting to fill our boots with great food, a smashing wine or a quality beer with which to end the year with a hangover?
Not me, I will be doing my best to eat and drink with two hands to maximise my intake of Christmas gruel and may even partake of a sherry, in the interest of goodwill to all men of course.
But come to New Year's Eve, what’s your plan for your annual, soon to be broken resolution? Stop smoking? Lay off the wine and spirits? I’m pretty sure some of you said that last year. And you may even be reading this with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, after all, it is Christmas…
But what about this year, instead of looking for something to stop doing, you look for something to start doing? After giving up smoking every year for a decade, and curbing the booze if not cutting it out altogether, why not find that thing you wanted to learn or start, and finally do it?
Below is a list of 5 New Year’s Resolutions that could really turn your 2022 around, the world is changing, don’t you think it’s time you changed with it? Either that or stop smoking, again.
5. Investing Your Money Rather Than Drinking/Smoking It
Everyone knows that one guy or girl that plays the stock market, you can’t pass them in the street without them braying at you like a donkey about buying that penny stock that will change your life.
It’s a sure-fire thing, you’ll make 2500% profit easy. Doubtless, they know a man “on the inside”. But if your Gordon Gecko friend is such a wizard on the markets, why are they still working at Burger King as well? Stay clear of friends with tips about stocks and horse races, but there are ways to invest your money in relative safety.
From savings bonds to ETF’s, Crypto and Stocks, Index funds are a great place to invest too. If you are new to investing, do your research first to see what’s best for you. I’m not an investment expert, I do however drip funds into an Index fund rather than spend it on random things I don’t even need.
If funds are tight, an ETF could be the way to go, as you can get in with lower amounts, and some brokers don’t charge a commission, but again, always look at what is best for your circumstances.
Done correctly, investing your money can reap the rewards, I prefer long term returns over a quick buck, I know my personality, and know I can’t handle the fluctuations inherent in day trading or single stocks. Because Index funds can only be bought for a price at the end of each day, the lower volatility suits me down to the ground.
If speculation is your thing, why not have a look into Crypto? There are much higher risks, but the highs can get really high. It’s the lower than low dips that you need to be wary of. I started investing with really small amounts in certain Crypto, and I intend to keep it that way.
Make 2022 the year your money, limited funds they may be, work for you. Investing isn't just for the rich, so get looking into it now, there is a real kick to be had in watching your money passively work for you.
4. Learn A New Skill
New Year’s Eve 2019 was the first year I made a resolution that I actually stuck with, every year I would declare that this was the year I would become a millionaire, or stop smoking, or stop drinking. As I sit here, a pauper with a smoke haze around me, nursing my vodka, I look back and despair.
But not complete despair, as that year's resolution finally broke my habit of trying to cut out bad behaviours, and finally looked to start a new positive one. I had written articles before, done sales emails that had proved effective, and had a passion for reading quality writing.
As a parent with bills to pay, and a job to hold down, going back to school was impossible for me, but thanks to online learning, cheap online learning I may add, I now get paid to write for others. Youtube, Udemy, Coursera, there are a plethora of options available to you, with varying costs and timescales that you can work around your life.
Why not make 2022 the year you take that course you always wanted, it doesn’t have to be for a new job, you might just want that new skillset to make you a more rounded person. You could even sign up to Masterclass, and have Gordon Ramsey teach you how to cook, or learn how to be a leader from Bill “What do you mean it’s still classed as sex?” Clinton.
3. Get Fit, Get Healthy, Get Hot
Oh dear, does it involve exercise or sweating? Snacking is my arch enemy, I forage like a bear sadly. However, in light of our list being things to do in 2022 rather than things we don’t do, how can we leave fitness off the list?
Before I actually started working on my fitness, I had heard that gym work and a good exercise regime is not only great for your body, it’s great for your mental wellbeing too. I immediately took this tomfoolery for utter nonsense, a trick to try and get me to my first hernia by friends who wanted to see me sweating and suffering.
And I was wrong, very wrong. I urge you to try it for a month or two, if you can last that long you’ll probably stick with it. I noticed my energy levels rise dramatically, I felt great within myself for the first time in what seemed a decade.
The gravity well around the fridge in our home seemed to diminish, I was able to walk within 10 feet of it without being sucked into the vortex, emerging with cake, sweets and diet coke like a baffled tornado victim.
Starting a diet or exercise is a big commitment, I read many fitness and men’s blogs online, occasionally scan Facebook to see people posting about their efforts to lose weight, and usually have a box of chocolates to see me through the urge to lose 20 pounds of stomach fat.
But if you can muster the courage to make a start, you will look better, sleep better, and I think, most importantly, feel better mentally too. Even if it’s just a 30-minute run followed by some press-ups in your living room, give it a shot for a month, you’ll feel the benefits.
2. Get A New Job, Hippie!
They call it the Great Resignation, as people worldwide are quitting their jobs to find something new, be it a new job, a new purpose, or simply because they’ve had enough.
36.3 million Americans quit their jobs this year, and the trend shows no sign of stopping. In the UK, 2.6 million have quit their jobs in order to care for a loved one, some will be due to the Covid Pandemic admittedly, and a Microsoft survey of over 30,000 global workers has shown 41% plan to quit their jobs in 2022.
As alarming a trend as this is, there is also opportunity there for those who look for it. If people are leaving their jobs, someone else must fill that role. If you hate, or at best dont love your job, perhaps 2022 is your year to finally take that leap of faith?
There has been a depressing feeling that workers have been unheard throughout Covid, their safety concerns not heard, or their hard work in difficult circumstances not being rewarded. The great migration of employees has begun, to new industries entirely, or to simply not go to work at all.
You could make this year's resolution to learn a new skill and use that skill to find a new career for yourself. There is always risk involved when moving jobs, the grass, as they say, is not always greener. But given the uncertainty around these days maybe 2022 could be your year for self-improvement.
Ultimately you have two choices, you can keep going as you are, which is great if you love your life, or you can make changes now, It is easy to live with blinkers on, we all do it; “this is my lane, and this is my role in it, and that’s all I need to see thankyouverymuch”.
If you’ve followed the previous four steps on our resolutions list, you have now started to make your money work for you, you’ve learnt the banjo and know how to cook a nice pasta bake, you're in the best shape of your life, which is good because your new job is both demanding and rewarding.
Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Even one out of the four would be great, so let's see what number 1 on our list is, and go for all of them in 2022. Alright, maybe not all 5.
1. Spending Time With Actual People
I don’t know about you, but since Covid struck, the number of actual people I see face to face has dropped dramatically. Apart from work, due to restrictions, spending time with friends has dropped right down on my list.
My New Year’s Resolution for 2022 is twofold, I am going to learn another skill to better help me invest in myself, and I’m going to spend more of my time with the people I want to spend time with.
The more time spent apart from friends and family, the harder you find it to actually step back into that world. Mental health issues have always been around, and sadly always will be. Covid still shows little sign of leaving us alone, and people feel isolated as they are trapped at home for long periods.
I am not immune to that either, so my goal is to make sure that at least once a month at a minimum I spend time with friends or family, especially now I'm a super fit investor with a degree in astrology and a job at Google. We could eat my pasta bake!
I hope you enjoyed my New Year’s Resolutions list for 2022, if you have any cool ideas about what to do for 2022, drop a comment in,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year all