The hack for making your resolutions stick

Plus, ideas for how to have a fulfilling year.

View this email online January 15, 2023 This week, we look at one behavioral scientist’s tips for changing our habits in the new year. Plus, a few achievable ideas for making this year great. Scott’s weekly weigh-in A good weekend to you. The journalism community confronts an existential crisis. Optics and outcomes are concerning. Cliches and jargon are impactful. To contextualize, thought leaders are at a skillset inflection point. With an abundance of caution, I will try to curate and unpack cliches with a granular deep dive. At the end of the day, I’ll try not to normalize them.    Got that? George Orwell’s 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language,” cautioned against writing with cliches or academic, corporate, scientific and polemical jargon. He believed such language doesn’t communicate, elucidate or inform. It simply strings together pre-approved phrases to sound important. (I came across this headline while writing: “Let’s Get Granular: Why Granularity Impacts Role-Based Access Control.”) I therefore offer a vow for 2023:   I will try not to say “skill set” when I mean skills. Or “optics” unless I’m talking about how a camera works. Or “granular” unless its sand or salt. I will try not to call a 5-minute radio story a “deep dive” unless it’s about scuba diving. I won’t say “unpack” unless it’s in reference to a suitcase, or “price point” when I just mean what something costs, or “baked in” unless it’s a chocolate chip cookie. I won’t say “inflection point” when I mean a change in direction, or “curate” when I just mean put together. I won’t say “end of the day” until 6 p.m. And I’ll try not to call almost any group of people with something in common a “community” — Merriam-Webster: People with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society — unless, of course, they’re actually living together, or at least close by.   This week we talked to John Hendrickson about his moving memoir about life with a stutter. And this week’s essay remembers a great poet, Charles Simic. Now, I’m out of bandwidth. Scott Simon Scott Simon is one of NPR's most renowned news anchors. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and one of the hosts of the morning news podcast Up First. Be sure to listen to him every Saturday on your local NPR station, and follow him on Twitter. Newsletter continues after sponsor message Want to build a fulfilling 2023? Start small.   Beck Harlan/NPR The new year ushers in a convenient time to plot new goals. But it can also bring a lingering worry about whether we’ll have the vim and vigor to really accomplish them. Our success might just come down to one thing: forming tiny habits. The concept is simple, according to behavioral scientist BJ Fogg: Take any habit you want to adopt — then break it down into a smaller unit. Let’s say you want to read more. Well, start with reading one paragraph. Then plug that tiny habit into one of your existing routines: Maybe reading is a natural accompaniment to your first sips of coffee in the morning, or your train ride home from work. By changing our habits through smaller steps, we’re able to hit and surpass our expectations, even if our motivation ebbs, Fogg says. "It can even be fun if you do it in the right way."   So, what do you want to accomplish this year? Below you’ll find a selection of inspiring and practical guides to help you tap into latent interests, create new routines or learn new skills: Life How to start a creative hobby How to find your purpose Health How to start exercising How to create a better bedtime routine   Home How to reduce food waste How to split household chores   Relationships  How to make new friends How to break up   Finance How to write a will How to plan a budget   Goal setting How to examine your regrets How to stop procrastinating Click here for the full list of 40+ ways to grow this year. Before you go...   Alicia Sampson A 9-year-old girl got fossil-hunting gear for Christmas. Almost instantly, she found a rare shark tooth that’s 15 million years old. A Canadian accountant was ordered to pay $2,756 after software installed on her work computer revealed she misrepresented her hours. People who lose track of time may just be listening to their inner timekeeper — and living by “event time” has some benefits. We asked an astronomer to outline the most exciting celestial events in store for us this year — from eclipses to meteor showers. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Daily News, Politics, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Best of NPR emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy