16 New Year’s Resolution Ideas You Can Complete In A Single Day

There's a lot of pressure around coming up with a great set of New Year's resolutions — and I'm not even talking about the pressure associated with actually accomplishing those resolutions. As soon as that clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31 (and possibly even before that), you're bound to start fielding resolutions-related questions. "Have you started planning for 2018?" "Do you have any resolutions?" We live in a world of bloggers and oversharers, which seems to make these questions somehow acceptable. But actually answering them can be trickier, especially when the goals you have in mind for the year ahead have you feeling a little intimidated. To help you avoid the stress, here are 16 New Year's resolutions you can achieve in a day. That's right — a single day.

You'd be amazed by how much headway you can make on a resolution in a single 24-hour period. Even those goals that can't be tackled completely in a day can see some serious progress in that time, as long as you're willing to take the small steps that are going to commit you (financially, logistically, or otherwise) to the long haul. So if you're scrambling to figure out what your resolutions should be for the new year and want something easy to tackle, look no further.

Take A Stand

If, like me, you're feeling caught up in the cycles of frustration and anxiety that are practically indistinguishable from today's news and politics, you may have resolved to reenergize around an important cause in the new year. Sign up for an activist group, make a donation to the ACLU, or write a letter to a local politician. One day is more than enough to take these important baby steps.

Stop Procrastinating

Choose one thing that you know is actually pretty easy to manage that you've been putting off for a while — and just do it! See? You stopped procrastinating.

Declutter

If your whole life feels like it's generally a mess, clearing the physical clutter is an easy first step toward streamlining the bigger picture chaos. Pick one room of your house or a few drawers of your desk to tackle at a time. If you stay focused, you can probably handle it all in a single day.

Streamline Social Media

It's a new year, and you don't need to hang on to any of that icky social media energy that's been bringing you down. Pruning your Facebook friend list and unfollowing negative Instagram accounts will literally take you a matter of minutes.

Reconnect With An Old Friend

Assuming there hasn't been a major falling out — and sometimes, even then — all it takes to make things right with someone you haven't spoken to in a while is a single conversation. Get over your phone anxiety (trust me — I have it too) and just make the call. You'll feel much better kicking off the new year with that reconnection made.

Recycle

Buy yourself a recycling bin (or recover the one you already have from the back of the closet) and use it. The environment will thank you.

Be Nicer To Your Parents

Call your mom just to see how her day was or drop your dad an email to give him an additional thank-you for the awesome holiday gift he gave you. You can start showing your parents a little more love over the course of a single day, which will set you up (hopefully) to be kinder to them in the future.

Spend Less Time On Your Phone

Only time will tell if you can actually reduce the time you spend scrolling through your phone in a sustained way, but what you can do in a single day is make a plan. Pay a little extra attention over the course of a 24-hour period to when and how you use your phone, and figure out where — specifically — you can commit to cutting back. Plus, any single day that you spend less time on your phone is technically a day that you've achieved your resolution!

Meet New People

Grab a friend and get a drink at a bar you've never been to or spend the day at a cool museum or park in town. All it takes to successfully meet new people is to, well, meet a new person!

Get A Library Card

Need to do a little more reading and a little less binge watching in the new year? Getting a library card — whether you actually go to your local brick and mortar library or subscribe to an e-reader lending service like Overdrive — is a great first step in achieving that resolution.

Learn Something New

Take an online course or spend a few hours reading up about a topic that you're interested in. We have so much information at our fingertips, and there's no reason that you can't learn a new skill or pick up the basics of a new hobby in a day.

Practice More Gratitude

Buy yourself a blank journal and go to work writing down what you've appreciated over the course of a day. Kicking off a daily practice like this will go a long way toward helping you see the world through glass-half-full lenses.

Travel

Take a spontaneous day trip or — if you're already thinking bigger — go ahead and book tickets for an adventure to a new place later this year.

Fix Something Around The House

I'm guessing there's at least one thing at your house or apartment that needs to be fixed... and it might even be as simple as a dead lightbulb. Most of these minor repairs are one-day jobs.

Volunteer

Writing a check to an important cause is obviously a nice gesture, but if you're feeling like you want to get your hands a little dirtier in 2018 by giving of your time, all it takes is one day of volunteering. See what community service opportunities are available in your area, grab a friend, and go do some good.

Stop Running Up A Credit Card Bill

Eliminate the temptation to overspend by taking your credit cards out of your wallet and stashing them in your desk or safe instead. In extreme situations, you might consider freezing them in a bowl of water, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here.