Okay. Christmas is over. Your hangover is wearing off, and it's
time to start thinking about how life is going to be different --
more sparkly, exciting and magical -- in 2015. The first step is a
new year's resolution -- research shows that resolutions rarely work, but we've got your
back. Here are five resolutions you can keep.
Back Up Everything
This one is easy. We won't lecture you on the
reasons why you should backup -- you know them already. But getting
started is easier than you think. First off, clean up -- plunge
into your Documents folder and delete anything you don't actually
need. The number one enemy of a good backup system is too much to
backup. Then move that folder in its entirety into a
Dropbox or
Google
Drive folder. That way all of your most important
stuff is always accessible from any web browser.
Step two is to sort out a physical backup system -- on
a Mac it's easy, find an external hard drive and configure Time Machine. On
Windows you can do almost the same thing -- Control Panel > Backup and Restore. If the external drive isn't connected
regularly, then set a calendar reminder to plug it in once a month
and let it do its thing.
Finally, you should really get a proper off-site
backup. This costs money, but if you've ever lost data you'll know
that you'd pay anything to get it back. As far as services go, we
like Backblaze, but
there are plenty of alternatives. $5 (£3) a month or $50 (£32) a year gets you
comprehensive but super-easy-to-set-up protection from house fires,
floods or other acts of a vengeful god. With that in place you're
set -- and with any luck, 2014 will be the last year you ever lose
data.
Learn to Code
A perennial WIRED exhortation is that everyone
should learn to code. 2015 is the year that you're actually going
to do it. It doesn't really matter what language you pick to start
with, as it's the principles that you're learning at first rather
than the commands themselves, but Python is often recommended as a
starting point.
There are hundreds of decent free coding courses
online. Reddit's /r/learnprogramming subreddit has a wiki
with some good recommendations. Follow a few courses on Sunday
afternoons until you're happy with building simple things. Then
dive in the deep end -- come up with an idea you want to build --
no matter how complex, and don't stop until you've made it perfect.
When you come out the other side, you'll be a decent coder
regardless of whether it was a success or not.
Cut your carbon footprint
It's pretty clear at this point that the greatest
hope for mitigating mankind's carbon emissions lies in
taking responsibility for
your own and doing your best to cut them. The good
news is there are plenty of easy ways to do so that'll make you
happier and healthier along the way.
Start with walking or taking public transport more
often, and think about reducing the number of flights you take --
is it feasible to take a train instead, or just do the whole thing
over Skype? In your home, a new boiler, some
insulation or a programmable thermostat can work wonders for dropping your
heating bill as well as your emissions, and properly sorting and
recycling your waste means fewer stinky bags of rubbish hanging
around until bin day.
That just leaves food. It's no secret that a
vegetarian diet is better for the planet than a meat one -- but
from an environmental perspective eating half as much meat is half
as good as eating no meat at all, so merely eating a few vegetarian meals a
week goes a long way. If you still can't face cutting down,
change up your meats -- poultry results in far lower emissions than
beef.
Switch to a standing desk
One of the worst things you can do to your body is force it to
sit down all day. We've been preaching the benefits of standing
desks for years, but getting one has until recently involved
shelling out a stack of cash or going the precarious DIY route.
Happily, IKEA has spotted an opportunity in the
market, and unleashed its economies of scale to drive the price
down to something affordable for real people. The Bekant
sit-stand desk costs £445 and has a motor that moves it up and
down at the press of a button, so you can choose on an hourly basis
whether you want to work from on high or not. Best of all, it's
totally modular -- so it works nicely with the rest of the Bekant range.
Quantify your life
If that all sounds a bit much for you, then perhaps
the best resolution you can make for 2015 is simply to track your
life so you know what needs improvement when 2016 rolls around.
The Quantified
Self movement is all about monitoring your behaviour
and spotting problems to fix.
The easiest place to start is an activity tracker of some sort. The Jawbone Up, Fitbit Flex and
Garmin Vivofit are all solid, affordable options. Pair them with
your smartphone and you'll get daily activity reports in your
pocket, as well as lots of longer-term graphs to pore over. But
fitness is just one aspect of the quantified self, and you don't
need to stop there.
You can also monitor your finances, your sleep, your
movement, your diet, your happiness and thousands of other
variables. Once you're hooked on one, it's easy to apply those
principles to other areas of your life. Just remember not to let it
take over your life completely. Be data-informed, not data-driven.
Those are our new year's resolutions here at WIRED, but we
want to hear yours. Share what's going to make you a better human
in 2015 with other readers in the comments section below.
Source Article from http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-12/30/wired-new-year-resolutions http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/d_f/Fire_4.jpg
WIRED's 2015 new year's resolutions
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