New Weeks’ Resolutions

If you need help coming up with new weeks’ resolutions, local experts suggest the following short-term commitments to help promote mental, physical and spiritual well-being. Feel free to renew as desired.

Mind

From Christine Lundeen

Update your résumé to include your latest accomplishments and achievements. That way you’ll be prepared for performance reviews and job interviews.

Join an online professional networking site such as LinkedIn to keep in touch with people you meet at professional development events, as well as past and present coworkers.

Schedule an informational interview to learn more about a job or company you’re interested in.

Attend a conference to get updated on current topics in your field and to network. Check with local professional organizations for upcoming events. Here’s a link to a list of Washington associations and organizations: http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/wa_organizations.aspx.

Read a career self-help book such as “What Color Is Your Parachute? 2010” to explore various job options.

Create a five-year career goal and brainstorm concrete steps that will move you closer to achieving it.

Read a blog on your industry to stay current on issues in the field. Here’s a link to Time’s list of the top 25 blogs of 2009: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1879276,00.html.

Show initiative and leadership at work by scheduling a meeting with your supervisor to discuss your willingness to take on new projects, ideas you have or a problem you have discovered that you think you can solve.

Meet with a career counselor to discuss your goals and get feedback on your résumé.

Be a career mentor. Call your local university or community college’s career services center and offer to be a resource for career panels or informational interviews.

From Karen Herrema

Be strategic with your shopping. If you need a lot of clothes, don’t just purchase random separates. Instead, buy a group of clothing items, such as two tops, two bottoms and a jacket, in one color scheme. That way you can mix and match.

From Rinatta Paries

For singles, expand your horizons by going to three social events you’ve never been to before, such as a Meetup.com group gathering, a singles group function or a professional networking event.

From Sue Vanlaanen

Get a library card.

Read to your children every night.

Go through the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District’s Web site, http://www.fvrl.org, to access a database and research a topic of interest, anything from health to auto repair to genealogy.

From Dennis Breitenstein

Meet with a financial adviser to assess your goals and spending habits.

Clip coupons to use at the grocery store.

Save all your receipts and track your purchases to better understand where your money goes.

Make a shopping list before you go to the store to help curb impulse buying.

Take a budgeting or investing class through Clark College or Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation.

Start or contribute to an existing emergency fund.

Review your auto insurance, as well as your homeowners or renters policy, and shop around for better deals.

Replace old light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs as they burn out to save on your energy bill.

Buy a coupon book such as the 2010 Entertainment Book (on sale for $19.99 at http://portland.entertainment.com). It quickly can pay for itself with discounts at movie theaters, restaurants, shops, hotels and attractions.

Body

From Dr. James Heid

If you want to lose weight, keep goals realistic. Sustainable weight loss is one-half to one pound a week.

Try working out with a buddy to increase accountability. It’s harder to press snooze on the alarm clock when someone is waiting for you at the gym.

If you’re a smoker, cut out one cigarette a day. If you typically smoke half a pack a day, that’s 10 cigarettes. So this week, smoke nine a day. If you renew this goal, smoke eight a day next week, and so on until you’re down to zero cigarettes.

Get to bed an hour earlier than usual each night.

Pack your own lunch for work. You’ll save money and calories.

From Sherri McMillan

If you have a desk job where you’re sitting a lot, set an alarm to remind yourself to get up and stretch once an hour. This will help relieve back pain and improve circulation.

When watching television, do core-strengthening exercises such as planks, V-sits and crunches during commercials.

Take a 20-minute walk during your lunch hour.

Spend your break time at work walking the stairs for 10 minutes.

Try a group exercise class that sounds fun, whether it’s spinning, kickboxing, hip-hop or zydeco. Pay any registration fees upfront because you’re less likely to skip classes on which you’ve already spent money.

From Jendy Newman

Supersize your servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner to increase food volume and nutrients without adding a lot of calories.

Avoid sweetened beverages such as sodas and coffee drinks, which pack empty calories. Stick to water and nonfat milk instead.

Eat fish such as salmon and albacore tuna, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, twice a week to help prevent heart disease and other health problems.

Limit extras such as candy, pastries, alcohol and additional servings of fat to 100-300 calories per day, depending on your daily caloric needs.

From Dennis Breitenstein

Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That’s where you’ll find more healthful, less-processed foods such as produce, meat, bread and dairy products. You’ll also save money by avoiding prepackaged items.

Live off the food in your refrigerator, freezer and pantry. Buy only essentials such as milk, juice and eggs.

From Karen Herrema

Make the most of your body in its current shape by dressing well. Go through your closet and pull out all clothes that are outdated, visibly worn or no longer fit because you’ve lost weight. Donate, consign or throw them out as appropriate.

Spirit

From Dr. James Heid

Sit down with the family for dinner each night. Leave the television off and talk to each other about what’s going on in your lives.

From Bill Ritchie

Make a “thankfulness sandwich.” Begin and end each day by thinking of — and, if possible, jotting down — one person or thing for which you’re thankful.

Work on strengthening your relationships. Take a co-worker out to coffee and talk about anything but work. Surprise a neighbor with a nice loaf of artisan bread. Spend the evening coloring with your children.

From Toby “Pepper” Link

Make a donation of money or time to a charitable organization.

Practice random acts of kindness, whether it’s opening doors for people or helping someone carry his or her groceries.

Ask people what you can do to help them and contribute to their lives.

Replace feelings of anger and irritability with acceptance.

For parents, instead of being punitive when children act out, have a conversation about the problem and work toward understanding.

Do the right thing even when no one is looking.

Offer genuine compliments to recognize people’s gifts and efforts.

From Bobbi Casanova

Register with Volunteer Connections, a Human Services Council program that matches volunteers with nonprofit organizations in need of help. Volunteers frequently are needed for short-term projects and special events. An application, interview and background check are required. For more information, call 360-735-3683 or go to http://www.volunteerclarkcounty.org.

From Karen Herrema

Get out of your rut by pairing two items from your closet you wouldn’t normally wear together.

From Rinatta Paries

Spend 30 minutes a day with your spouse or significant other without distractions such as cell phones, televisions, computers and children. Give all your time, attention and focus to each other in that half hour.

Do one thing a day you know your partner would like but that you’ve resisted doing (for example, baking cookies, paying a bill or taking out the garbage).

For singles, be on the lookout for examples of great partners. Even if they’re taken, this will change your perception that there are no good men or no good women out there.

For couples, increase intimacy by having sex everyday.

Look in the mirror every day and tell yourself that you’re good enough and worthy of love.

From Keith Hackett

Every day, ask your partner what you can do to make his or her life more fun.

Have a fun date with your partner, whether it’s going to the theater, playing a board game or taking a walk along the Columbia River.

Do something to improve your relationship, whether it’s attending a couples counseling session or reading a self-help book.