101 New Year’s Resolutions for 2025

New Year’s Resolutions are a time honoured tradition that barely any of us stick with. You start the year with the best of intentions, planning to hit the gym everyday or read six books a month. By March you’ve remembered your preference for lying on the couch and watching television. To help you out we’ve devised 101 easy-peasy New Year’s Resolutions! Pick one and next New Year’s Eve can you proudly tell everyone you kept your resolution. They don’t need to know what that resolution was.

School

1. Finish all readings before class, not during class
2. Refrain from using the word “exemplified” more than five times in one essay
3. Make it to 9:00 a.m. classes no more than five minutes late
4. Stop enrolling in 9:00 a.m. classes you know you’ll always be late to
5. Study for more than 45 minutes without going on your phone 
6. Don’t stay up late watching Netflix on school nights 
7. Proofread your essays instead of turning them in and hoping for the best
8. Memorize citation styles so you don’t have to look up an example for every assignment
9. Attend your professor’s office hours for once … maybe
10. Pay attention in class instead of scrolling through Pinterest
11. Somehow make it off campus before sunset everyday
12. Bond with at least one classmate over how much you hate your shared class
13. Refrain from dropping a class every time you get a less than amazing grade
14. Bring a packed lunch for longer than two weeks into the semester 
15. Avoid buying an iced coffee on campus everyday
16. Always remember to charge your laptop the night before
17. Have at least one pen that works
18. Pay your tuition on time
19. Don’t lose your bus pass or student ID until at least March
20. Ask a question when you’re confused instead of suffering in silence
21. Start working on assignments before the night they’re due
22. Read at least one syllabus fully
23. Listen to educational podcasts instead of only celebrity gossip ones
24. Find new study spots around campus
25. Actually read the book you’ve had in your backpack since September
26. Stop staring at other peoples’ laptops during lectures 
27. Delete the endless PDFs from your laptop desktop
28. Actually read your textbooks
29. Clean out your backpack
30. Stop hiding in the back of the classroom and get your participation mark
31. Compliment a classmate’s outfit
32. Walk through HUB mall without stopping to get a treat
33. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you get a bad grade
34. Stop online shopping during class 
35. Try to go to every library on campus at least once
36. Regularly remind yourself that you’re trying really hard, and are doing a great job
37. Update your computer so it doesn’t crash when you go to submit that research paper
38. Clean out your inbox and organize your emails
39. Talk to at least one person in every class on the first day of the semester
40. Make it from Tory to ECHA in less than 10 minutes
41. Complete all the SPOT surveys at the end of the semester
42. Check out the rock-climbing gym

Residence

1. Eat something else rather than pizza or something from the Deli bar
2. Don’t forget your towel when you go to shower 
3. Don’t file a noise complaint
4. Don’t get a noise complaint filed about you 
5. Go for breakfast for one week straight 
6. Attend an event hosted by residence 
7. Check your mailbox once a week 
8. Stop procrastinating doing your laundry

Student Life

1. Eat something other than ramen noodles at least once a week
2. Buy — and actually eat — fruits and veggies
3. Start going to sleep before 3:00 a.m.
4. Refrain from buying yourself a sweet treat anytime something goes slightly wrong
5. Actually get out of bed the first time your alarm goes off
6. Try not to fall on the ice while running for the bus
7. Clean your bathroom at least every two weeks
8. Meet up with friends on campus for coffee once a week
9. Ask for your campus crush for their number
10. Read a book for fun instead of scrolling through TikTok
11. Pick up a new hobby and actually stick with it, at least until midterms
12. Don’t try the next viral TikTok food trend
13. Try a campus recreational fitness class 
14. Attend one league game for every U of A sports team
15. Take a walk around the entire campus instead of just one quad 
16. Call your mom at least once a month, she misses you
17. Actually drink water (no coffee doesn’t count)
18. Say thank you when you get off the bus
19. Wipe the snow off your boots when entering buildings — nobody likes sludge, outdoors or indoors
20. Keep a plant alive for longer than one week
21. Wear an appropriate winter coat when it’s -40 degrees Celsius out
22. Try to avoid the temptation of buying a Subway cookie every day
23. Join a club
24. Attend the club meetings more than twice a semester 
25. Actually talk to people at these club meetings
26. Don’t leave planning next year’s schedule to the last minute
27. Start making a weekly spending budget 

Unserious

1. Visit Guba in the bookstore at least once a week
2. Always be wearing at least one piece of U of A merch. School spirit is important
3. Finally fill out a SUBMart slurpee stamp card and claim your free slurpee
4. Get to SUBMart before they run out of your favourite chips
5. Do every Perks app activity so you can finally get that Gatecrasher
6. Stop saying you’re going to drop out at every minor inconvenience
7. Stop going to the mall, you know you’re going to spend too much money
8. Win a celebrity look-a-like contest
9. Stop saying you’re going to kidnap every cute dog you see
10. Learn every path for walking indoors during winter on campus 
11. Build a snowman in the main quad 
12. Write a song about your university experience at the U of A 
13. Make friends with the campus geese
14. Avoid HUB at all costs
15. Listen to at least one “Rory Gilmore” study playlist
16. Make friends with the campus squirrels 

The Gateway

1. Read thegatewayonline.ca everyday
2. Attend every Gateway to Cinema. It is free after all
3. Write one article for The Gateway
4. Attend a Gateway meeting 
5. Attend open house and not just for the free pizza
6. Write an article for a section you wouldn’t normally write for 
7. Say hi to The Gateway at the Winter Warm-up
8. Put a Gateway sticker on your laptop