25 New Years Resolution Ideas For College Students

Hello, everyone. Merry Christmas! I don’t celebrate Christmas, so I’ve been thinking about the New Year since Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. This is a pre-written post, as I will be in Bangladesh when you read this. I am currently in an Airport lounge in Istanbul, Turkey, writing this for you all. I hope this gives you ideas for your college goals for the New Year.

(P.S. There may be spelling and grammar errors because I am sleep deprived and in a hurry)

1.//Drink Half My Body Weight In Ounces Of Water

This is the recommended daily intake of water. Dehydration is scary guys. Look up the side effects on Google. It’s not pretty. Drinking more water is one of the best ways to start getting healthy in the New Year.

*Update 9/10/18

I’m going through and rereading all my old blog posts and I thought of a story to tell you. An old friend of mine started college recently and became severely dehydrated. As in she was shivering in her sleep and was having hallucinations. After going to the doctor’s office, she found out the reason for all these symptoms was because she wasn’t drinking enough water, so don’t take dehydration likely guys.

2.//Create An Assignment List At The Beginning Of The Semester

This will improve your college organization immensely, which will, in turn, improve your grades. Use your syllabus to combine all your class assignments into one document. Print it out so that you’ll have a chronological list of the semester assignments.

3.//Put $1000 In Savings

If you don’t have an emergency fund, $1000 is a great place to start. You want to be financially prepared for any hiccups that come up. Even if you already have an emergency fund, save another $1000 for something you want to buy or for post-grad life (because the pretty apartment furniture on your Pinterest board isn’t going to pay for itself). Creating a future fund will improve your financial stability by a lot.

4.//Only Eat Out Three Times A Week

This is both a financial goal and a health goal. Eating out costs a lot of money and isn’t good for your cholesterol (trust me, I know). I cut back on how much I ate out after the first week of Freshman year because I saw how expensive it was. I started packing my own lunch and limited eating out to twice a week.

5.//Go To A Live Show Or Concert

These are such fun experiences. I did both this past year and they will be memories I won’t soon forget. Spend more money and time on experiences because that’s what college is about.

Related – My Broadway Show Bucket List

6.//Work Out Twice A Week

It would be better to work out more than three times a week. A trainer told me that less than three times per week is more maintenance than change, but we all have to start somewhere.

7.//Visit A National Park

I think everyone should set some sort of travel goal each year. (Mine for this year was Bangladesh.) If you live in the United States, visiting a National Park is an easier option. Look up the nearest National Park to where you live and save money to go there this year.

Related – Smoky Mountains Trip Recap

8.//Floss Teeth Daily

A few years ago, I went to the dentist and I had a lot of cavities (I don’t remember the number, but it was more than five). I brushed my teeth every day but literally NEVER flossed. Every single one of those cavities were in between my teeth. Since I started flossing regularly, I haven’t gotten a cavity since. I know flossing is annoying, but we should start listening to our dentists.

9.//Volunteer More

There’s a difference between donating money and donating your time. There are so many organizations that can use more volunteers. Volunteering dies down after the holidays, so be one of those people who show up at soup kitchens in January (because not a lot of people do)

10.//Clean Out Email Inbox

Checking your email will be significantly less stressful and it’ll give you peace of mind. You’ll also be less likely to miss an important email.

11.//Begin Daily Yoga And/Or Meditation

I feel like this has been a goal of many people I know. You don’t need me to give you the spiel on the benefits of yoga and meditation. I personally hate American yoga simply because I’ve learned the real Indian yoga. I’m never taking an American yoga class again. it seemed super fake. I’m not selling this at all, am I?

Well, if yoga is done well and properly, there are many health benefits. (Even in the American version.) It’s also been proven that meditation grows grey matter in the brain, so that should be a good enough reason.

Both will also help with stress relief and we all know that college students can use some stress relief.

12.//Get 6-8 Hours Of Sleep Every Night

I preach this all the time to you, but I’m currently in Istanbul after staying awake for 27 straight hours, so I shouldn’t be saying anything right now about this, but I do usually get 8 hours of sleep. I couldn’t function if I only got six hours of sleep every day. Once in a while is fine, but I’d get burned out super quicky.

My dad told me about a Ted Talk he saw recently. It was about sleep. The speaker was talking about how whenever we wake up and check our phones and see it’s not fully charged, we get upset and it defines the rest of the day. But the thing is, we go around with only 60% or 80% of our “charge” each day too, and we don’t ever think about it the same way we think about our phone battery.

Once you start getting 8 hours of sleep regularly, you’ll notice the difference. You’ll have so much more energy and be far more productive.

13.//Start A Blog Or YouTube Channel

This is a fun goal to have. Having a blog helps me get all my creative energy out and has made me a little money on the side. In 2018, I want to start treating my blog more like a business, so I decided to get more of my creative energy out through a YouTube channel. I don’t feel the same creative spark I used to from blogging simply because I’ve gotten used to it. I want to try something new. And I am 100% sure I’ll hate it at first. I have no idea what I’m doing and if you told me even 6 months ago that I’d be doing this, I’d have laughed in your face.

I was going to launch it this month, but with finals and all the traveling I’ll be doing, it wasn’t going to happen. I’m planning to launch at the end of January 2018. (I’ve already taken the channel name “Making My Way”)

14.//Wake Up At The Same Time Every Day

This is one of my goals for next year. I used to be so good about waking up early, but that has definitely changed in the last few months. Once my classes got shifted to later times, so did my wake up time. I could barely drag myself out of bed at 9 o’clock, let alone 8.

I love waking up early, even though it’s one of the hardest things for me to do. I love getting a head start to the day.

15.//Eat At Least 5 Servings Of Fruits And Vegetables

I know so many people who don’t incorporate fruit regularly into their diet. Most people remember to begrudgingly keep vegetables in their diets but don’t actively add fruit. I didn’t realize how little fruit I ate until sixth grade when the P.E teacher made us track everything we ate. I noticed that I rarely ate enough (or any) fruit most days. I told my mom to start cutting up fruit for my after-school snack every day instead of unhealthy salty things and that habit has stuck with me through college.

16.//Travel To A New Country

One of my goals in life is to travel to more countries than my grandfather (He’s been to 47, but he says it’s over 50 because he includes stopovers, which I think is valid.), so traveling to a new country every year is a good goal for me. My travel goal for 2017 was Bangladesh. I’ll announce my 2018 travel goal next week.

17.//Learn A New Skill (Piano, Guitar, Knitting, Photography)

When you’re in college, it’s easy to get stuck following a course plan and not branching out. Taking classes outside your major will make you a far more well-rounded student. You could also learn a new skill without taking a college course. Check out books from the library or use tools like skillshare to learn something new and fun.

18.//Read 12 New Books/Watch 12 New Movies

This is one of my goals for 2018. When you’re in college, it’s easy to put reading and other recreational activities on the backburner, so reading one book per month is doable. I also put watch 12 new movies to my list because I love movies, new and classic, but I haven’t seen a few super famous ones like The Godfather or Casablanca, so that seemed like a fun goal to add. I try to read a lot of books anyway, but it’s been hard to start new books recently, so “NEW” is an important word here.

Related – My Favorite Disney Movies

19.//Spend More Time With Your Family (Call Parents)

Many college students put this off because they want to “be independent,” but don’t forget that you are where you are today because of your parents. Give them a call. Spend time with them. Don’t be rude and stand-offish.

20.//Have A New Experience Once A Month

This idea came from that girl from The Fosters who tried to do something that scared her every day. Doing that every day seems a bit extreme, but trying a new experience every month is doable. Especially for a college student. With all the events and weird clubs on campus, it shouldn’t be hard to find unique experiences to enjoy.

21.//Apply To Your Dream Internship

Internships can lead to future job opportunities, which is why you should apply to as many as you can while in college. Even if you don’t get the internship, it’s still a worthy learning experience (writing a resume and cover letter, interviews, etc.).

22.//Declutter Your Life (Closet, Books, Makeup, Etc.

I try to declutter at least once a year, but it’s usually every six months. Doing this year after year has allowed me to decrease the amount of stuff I own by a lot. It also helps me be more intentional about my purchases.

Decluttering will also save you a lot of time because you won’t have to spend as much time looking through or organizing as much stuff. Cleaning out my closet always gives me a fresh feeling because one, it’s cleaner, and two, I don’t have to feel guilty about having so much stuff I don’t use.

23.//Send Handmade Birthday Cards

I used to do this all the time but stopped making them near the end of high school. I want to start doing this again because it’s a way to be more intentional about my friendships and put more effort into gift giving.

24.//Create A Budget

If you don’t have a budget, make 2018 your year to become financially stable. Track your spending, learn where your money goes and make a monthly plan so that you are saving for the long term.

25.//Start A Gratitude Journal

I plan on starting one someday. It’s good to be consciously grateful for everything you have, but writing everything down has its own finality to it. When you write what you are grateful for into a notebook opposed to an app, you’re more likely to elaborate and think about things and digress. It doesn’t have to be super pretty and put together. Writing who and what you are grateful for is so good for you and will make the new year even better.

Well, I guess I’m done. Merry Christmas and almost New Year. I’m going to check into my flight to Bangladesh in like half an hour, so I’m glad to have this scheduled. Happy holidays guys! I will be sharing my 2018 goals next Monday on January 1st, so stay tuned.

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What New Years Resolution Ideas can you add to this list? What are your new year’s goals as a college student?