It’s inevitable that at the start of any new year, we sit back and make a mental list of things we can do to make our lives better.

Save with SPP had a look around to see what people are thinking about doing, resolution-wise, in 2022, excluding financial resolutions which we covered off in another post.

The Mirror notes that 46 per cent of U.K. men, and 51 per cent of the country’s women, have made a pledge to get fit in 2022. The newspaper suggests that eating “five fruit and veg a day,” as well as trying three new activities and cutting back on alcohol can help fitness goals.

Other top picks across the pond for resolutions were to be happy and to “stop being so hard on yourself,” The Mirror reports.

Closer to home, the Burnaby News offers up some environmental resolutions. “Learn something new about nature “and how to reduce harm to the environment and yourself,” the paper advises. Other tips – “spend more time with family and friends in nature,” and speaking up to help “promote environmental protection and social justice,” will help you and the world you live in, the News suggests.

Global News reports that a top resolution for Albertans is learning a musical instrument. “Music is really cool because it’s so multi-faceted,” James Zeck of the Lethbridge Music Academy tells Global News. “It’s a great way to sort of (intellectually) keep things fresh, it’s really good for your mind and your brain, but it’s also a great way to learn… personal accountability and diligence.”

Other top resolutions cited in the Global News story include “quitting smoking, getting finances in order… (and) spending more time with family.”

The Huffington Post, via Yahoo!, offers up some more, all framed in the suggestion that rather than focusing on resolutions to lose weight, resolutions should focus on steps to get you there.

These healthy resolution ideas include “stop assigning a moral value to your food,” as well as “move your body,” and “habit stacking.”

The food-focused resolution basically means that you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you slipped up and ordered a triple cheeseburger and a milkshake. But, the article points out, foods are not good or bad, and if you assign such moral values to food, you risk “conflating what you put in your mouth with your value as a person.”

“Habit stacking” refers to identifying good habits you have — and doing them more often.

“For example, you might decide to “meditate for just one minute while brewing your coffee,” the article states. “Do that until it becomes a daily habit, then you can stack on another one.”

Finally, the CTV tells us to not lose sight of the fact that any resolution is a directional hope rather than some sort of legalistic/moral contract.

“Resolutions help if we see them correctly,” Dr. Ganz Ferrance tells CTV. “If we see them as things we must hit otherwise we are failures, then they’re not. They’re just another tool for us to beat ourselves up with.”

So, putting this all together – if you set resolutions for 2022, pick things that are achievable steps to larger goals, rather than the harder-to-achieve large goals themselves. That way, your resolutions will lead to personal progress. As they stay, every long voyage begins with the first step.

A good example of “habit stacking” might be making contributions to your Saskatchewan Pension Plan account. If you are making the occasional contribution to your own retirement security, that’s great – but why not do it a little more often? Small amounts contributed today will add up to a bigger income when your future hands you your parking pass and makes that final commute home. Check out SPP today!

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