UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

Copied from The Art of Manliness website, which is a very good site:

1. Keeping up with the news
Think about all the news stories you’ve kept up with in the last ten years — the wars, disasters, elections, and so on. How much did those events affect your life, and how much were you able to influence them by being informed? Chances are, the answer is close to zero on both counts. Staying a little abreast of news is important for being a sound citizen, but you can drop about 95% of its consumption without hurting yourself or society. Your life will in fact improve without this stress-inducing, time-sucking, almost entirely pointless distraction.

***

3. Looking at your phone right when you wake up
Rolling over and grabbing your phone first thing hands the steering wheel of your day to whoever emailed, posted, or tweeted overnight. You start the morning reactive, not proactive, and that sets the tone for the rest of the day. Use a real alarm clock to wake up and wait thirty minutes before you check your phone, allowing your brain to boot up on its own terms.

***

5. Mindlessly scrolling your phone
We’ve all been there. You’re bored, so you pick up your phone and start scrolling through your various apps. “Just five minutes,” you tell yourself. But five minutes turns into thirty, and you don’t even remember the content that flicked across your screen during that time. What a waste! Break your smartphone habit this year, and you’ll slowly start to feel your brain come back to life.

***

7. Saying you’re too busy to read books
You’ve got plenty of time to read books. Being “too busy to read” is usually just a failure of priorities. You’ve given up mindlessly scrolling. Use that time to read a book. You can get a lot of books read when you break it up into 5 to 15 minute chunks throughout the day.

***

9. Letting minor annoyances ruin your mood
Slow drivers, long lines, glitchy Wi-Fi, inept customer service reps. These minor inconveniences and annoyances aren’t personal attacks. Sure, they’re annoying, but those annoyances probably won’t matter in ten minutes, so stop letting them ruin your mood for the rest of the day.

***

13. Letting algorithms choose what you read and watch
Algorithms are everywhere, from your social media feeds to your streaming platforms, serving up things they think you’d like based on what you already like. But sometimes we don’t know what we like until we’ve tried it. Open your life to new flavors and delight-inducing serendipity. Browse bookstores. Wander record shops. Pick a movie at random. Choose articles and podcasts based on interest, not just recency or virality. Rediscover the joy of surprise.

14. Being cynical (this one applies to most of you)
Cynicism masquerades as manly intelligence, but it’s mostly just emotional armor. It keeps you from being disappointed by keeping you detached and aloof. The problem is that cynicism also keeps you from being moved and inspired — from the emotional investments that give life its richness and depth. This year, trade cynicism for love. You’ll notice that your life becomes bigger and more vibrant.

***

17. Trying to win every argument (oh man, does this one apply)
Winning arguments often means losing goodwill. Not every disagreement needs a verdict. Sometimes the better move is to try to understand the other person and agree to disagree.

***

24. Being too proud to say you’re sorry
Apologizing is hard; it’s never easy to admit you’re to blame. You feel like you lose status and face. But shirking responsibility costs you more in how people see you. You’d be surprised how much respect you can gain from others with a clean, unqualified “I messed up and I’m sorry.”


Link: AOM New Year's Resolutions