Well, well, well. You’ve almost made it: Just a few more days, and it’ll be 2016. A new year. Tabula rasa – a new slate. What will you make of yours?
Every year, January 1 rolls around and with it, our country makes promises. We call them resolutions, and we imbue them with all our hopes and dreams for the coming year. But often, they’ve fallen to the wayside by the time February 1 dawns.
This year, we challenge you to uphold your resolutions. Of course, that means starting with resolutions you really want to keep – things that have been on your list for months (or years), and for which you’ve created a plan of action. Join an accountability group. Make a schedule. Create a personal rewards system for meeting your goals. Do what you have to do.
In the spirit of the season, we polled the office. Here are a few of the most popular resolutions bouncing around our cubicles:
Get More Exercise
Even more than the eternal promise to “lose weight,” our resolve focuses on exercise. We want to walk more, take longer runs, meet lifting goals, and see our gyms more often.
Tackle the Project List
What homeowner doesn’t have a miles-long, ever-growing list of projects to tackle? If you take My Alarm Center as your sample, the answer is exactly zero: we all seem to have a long, long list of must-do and wish-we’d-do projects we keep promising to finish. This year, we’re going to get professional quotes, book a few jobs, and even tackle some of the DIY projects that clutter our Pinterest boards.
Beef Up Our Home Security
Obviously, we all have home alarms, but some of us admit to not having updated our equipment to the newest, cutting-edge technologies. This year, we’re going to upgrade our sensors and alarms, check out the newest security cameras, and maybe even hard-wire our CO2 and smoke detectors.
Make Our Homes Smarter
Have you been meaning to add smart-home features to your home security system? We have, too. It’s one of those things we really, really want to do but never carve out enough time to plan. In 2016, a bunch of us have committed to exploring all the smart-home features and options, and deciding which are best for our families and homes.
Organize, Organize, Organize
Spring cleaning? Um… our last time was probably in 2009. It’s gotten overwhelming, so the plan is this: every month, we’ll tackle a small project. SMALL. Seriously. For example, in January we’ll do the coat closet; in February, we’ll clean out the catch-all kitchen drawer. By the time next December rolls around, we’ll be ready for the attic. We hope.
Do Something New
We love this resolution because it’s completely doable: learn or do something, anything new. It can be as simple as picking up an adult coloring book for the first time (they’re surprisingly relaxing, we promise!) or taking a new hiking route. Or, go big and learn a new skill like woodworking or cooking or knitting or baking or… well, what have you always wished you could do?
Happy 2016!