14 New Year’s (Digital) Resolution Ideas for .Me

A new year is just a day away and while you might have settled on your New Year’s resolutions for 2016, are you sure you know what your digital goals are for next year? Think about it: You spent so much time online and didn’t decide on some “digital” new year’s resolutions? There’s something wrong with that, but that’s why you have me: Here are just a couple of dozen digital resolution ideas to pick from:

1. I’ll Update My LinkedIn Profile Regularly

Yay, I got a new job! Woohoo, I passed that Google Adwords exam all while becoming an organizer of the local Lean in event series. Flash forward to 2016: Even you don’t remember accomplishing all that you did during the year because you didn’t have the time to write it down and make a note of it. While we do update our CVs, it tends to be just only days before we start looking for a new job.

The solution: Create a recurring calendar event in Google Calendar, Outlook or whatever calendar software you use and just name it “Update LinkedIn”. Now and then, you’ll get an email reminder or iPhone notification that will tell you to FINALLY UPDATE YOUR LINKEDIN. After a few… dozen of these reminders, updating your LinkedIn should become second nature.

2. Stop Smoking… and Going on Facebook

Smoking is bad for you and we all know that, right? Procrastinating and spending all your time on social networks and browsing various websites isn’t healthy either. While that Wikia entry on Star Wars or the .Me article on Darth Vader’s influence on personal branding is definitely interesting, try to stop the bad habit of browsing your life away. Relax and browse just a part of the day!

3. Visualize Just 2 Digital Goals, Not 10, You Want To Achieve

Website. Blog. Digital strategy. Tweeting. Now breathe. While I’m sure that the .Me blog has inspired you to take a lot of different actions regarding what you want to do on the web – we don’t think you need to do all of them at once.

If you decide to take on too many goals, you’ll be stretching yourself thin, which won’t help in achieving them. Instead of a dozen different digital objectives, settle on just the first two or three that you’ll focus on. After you finish them, you can quickly take on conquering Twitter and Facebook.

4. Get More Quality Sleep By Forgetting Technology

While we’ll mention how technology can help improve our health, it doesn’t mean you have to take your smartphone, tablet, phablet, laptop and everything else that you can click on in bed. Get a book, or a glass of water.

Gadgets end up keeping us awake until the early hours of the morning that isn’t the most healthy habit in the world. In fact, it can mess you up so much that you end up getting less and fewer hours sleep. You might want to watch Netflix before going to bed, but take our advice: Just don’t!

5. Meet New People (Doesn’t Have to Be IRL)

Do I mean Tinder? YES! Probably. Ok, maybe, but you don’t need to use Tinder as a “hooking up” service if you don’t think it’s practical for your needs. There are some messaging platforms that you can use to meet you people on, although the strength of the web has always been that you can easily find the right niche and the right type of people for yourself! Gamers that love candy? That’s me!

6. Learn To Cook… Epic… Meal…Time!

You don’t need the Food Network if you have YouTube open on your iPad or Android tablet. YouTube-only shows such as Epic Meal Time offer a different kind of cooking tutorial that you might like more than Jamie Oliver’s shows on TV. On the other hand, even Jamie is getting in on the YouTube action which shows that we’ll probably be cooking while watching Chromecast!

7. Earn More Money in the Gig Economy

While you might not be among the top 3% developers that form the TopTal development community that caters to Silicon Valley’s brightest companies, you probably have a skill that someone in the world needs.

We’ve written about the gig economy before as a “platform” that gives us all a new way of working for people and companies all around the world. While designers will use Envato Studio to offer their design skills, others can use Fiverr to provide any type of service that’s around $5. It’s a gig.

8. Learn a New Language Digitally

While we’ll mention Lynda as a service that you can use to learn new skills on, you can also use the web to find native speakers to learn new languages with! Dutch? Italian? Russian? Maybe English? Although then I think that you wouldn’t be reading this article – would you? Some platforms, including Rosetta Stone, give you lots of ways to learn new languages without the need to go to a local language course.

9. See Your Doctor… and Get a Health Gadget (Thanks, IoT)

Dentist. Doctor. Whatever your pain is, you should get it checked out. It’s horrible that we don’t take care of ourselves as much as we should, which ends up having a great strain on our bodies.

While everything in our lives might be digital, our bodies still aren’t – so we need to take care of ourselves. One way is using the latest in IoT technology such as Jawbone or Bellabeat in order to least make sure if we’re taking enough exercise and living a bit healthier. You’ll still need to visit your doctor at least once a year, but at least, it’s a start!

10. Volunteer and Support Projects on Kickstarter or Kiva

If you find yourself having a bit more extra time, while thinking that you aren’t giving back enough to the community – don’t worry – you can always give back in virtual ways as well. I don’t mean liking “protest” groups on Facebook which don’t change anything! While you might need to be in a certain location, you can look up projects from all around the world on websites such as the Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, or micro-loan platform Kiva. While the first one lets you support great, innovative projects, the later gives you a chance to fund up-and-coming entrepreneurs in countries where you can truly make a difference!

11. Pick Up Useful Skills or Fun Hobbies Thanks to Lynda

Want to learn how to cook? Or Photoshop like they do in the magazines? Or learn to core so you can develop a blog even better than this one (not that easy!)? Services such as Lynda let you learn skills faster by providing you with virtual classes and how-tos that you can easily go through while relaxing in the evening.

12. Travel More And See The World (Maybe a Cruise?)

If you find yourself fantasizing about traveling across the globe, you don’t need to go to an agency to think of the trip you want to go on. And you don’t need to settle for a hotel on Booking either. There are a lot of adventure tour services in the world and a lot of variety that you can choose from. One option is going on a cruise, and that’s where Cruise.Me shines!

13. Stop Being Late All The Time – Notifications: On!

Are you going to be late for your funeral, as well? Why would you ever be late with so many apps, gadgets and even smart pieces of jewelry that can remind you when you have to be in a certain place at a certain time?

In 2016., stop worrying about being late and what people will think of you and just use one of the simple pieces of technology to remind yourself to show up on time. Also, set up your apps, watches and everything else to notify you an extra 30 minute before – just in case!

14. What’s your digital New Year’s resolution we haven’t mentioned? 🙂