New Year's Resolutions That You Can Keep

At the end of each December, many people vow to make promises to change their lives for the better, such as losing weight, starting a new diet, alleviating stress or making a key lifestyle change. What about your professional development? A New Year's resolution doesn't have to only involve your personal life.

Stretch your career aspirations a little bit with five easy ways you can create a new you that gets noticed by an employer, a manager or a business owner. Even achieving one simple New Year's resolution may empower you to grow as a business professional and move forward in your career.

1. Read One Book Every Four Months

If you read one book every four months, that means you read three books per year. Make each tome about some aspect of your professional development, whether you choose books on motivation, leadership skills, your chosen industry or entrepreneurship. Accomplish this New Year's resolution one page or chapter at a time. Just reading three pages per day equals 360 pages in four months, which easily eclipses the length of most books.

2. Learn a New Tech Skill

Companies always need tech skills. Take at least one class, online course or self-tutorial on some technological skill that an employer may need from you in the future. For example, if you wonder how your IT guys master saving your huge amount of data on a computer, enroll in a class on database architecture at a community college. If you want to know how to troubleshoot your company's website, learn how to write Java from an online course. The possibilities are endless, and a tech skill enhances your resume.

3. Stretch Your Mind

Engage in one new experience that stretches your mind and gives you a new perspective on your industry as a powerful New Year's resolution. Use your imagination for this one. Speak at the company picnic. Volunteer to run a booth at an industry conference. Do something outside your comfort zone that gets people to notice you and your company's brand in a relevant, hands-on way.

4. Learn Something That's Not Practical

A New Year's resolution can include learning a skill that has nothing to do with your vocation, yet it's something you wanted to do in the past. This gets your mind off of work and into something passionate so you can refresh your spirit. Splurge by teaching yourself how to fix a car, brew your own beer, build a shed out of wood or whatever you want. This passion may turn into a business opportunity if you dive in head first and become very good at what you do.

5. Unplug for Two Days

Indulge once a year on a vacation that unplugs your life from the Internet, cell phones, Wi-Fi connections and iPods. Go camping in the wilderness or simply have your spouse lock up your cell phone in some remote part of the house. You may discover how refreshing it feels to just let go of your connected life for 48 hours.

A New Year's resolution doesn't have to be elaborate for you to improve yourself. When you realize how easy it is to accomplish a goal, these small self-improvement projects can help create an entirely new you in a couple of years.

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