(토요모임) [Dec. 26, 2015] Saturday meeting topic

[Scarlet]

Howdy ! 

It's me Scarlett !   

This week we have 3 topics. 

◈ Entertainment : 10 Inspirational Quotes From The Star Wars Series

◈ Social affairs : Information Warfare

- What is information warfare?

- Governments don't understand cyber warfare. We need hackers

◈ Self management : New Year's Resolutions

- Five New Year's Resolutions That Will Change Your Life

- Top 10 Commonly Broken New Year's Resolutions

- 50 New Year’s Resolution Ideas And How To Achieve Each Of Them

Hope you enjoy the topics. 

With luv 

Scarlett 

---

10 Inspirational Quotes From The Star Wars Series

http://www.lifehack.org/349576/10-inspirational-quotes-from-the-star-wars-series

---

<Questions> 

Q1. Did you watch the movie 'Star Wars' series? Which one was the most impressive one? 

Q2. Do you have any memorable quotes until now from Star Wars series? Why do you like that sentence? 

Q3. In the states, Star wars series are so popular but not that much in Korea. Why?

Q4. Among 10 quotes, do you agree with the no. 8 sentence which is 'Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering'. If you have someone you hate deadly, could you forgive him/ her for your peaceful mind?

Q5. Currently, which movie is the most impressive to you? And why? 

---

What is information warfare?

By David Stupples/ Dec 3 2015

In the 21st century the familiar form of warfare in which physical damage is meted out against the opponent’s military forces and infrastructure has become only one form of attack. Instead, states are increasingly launching non-lethal attacks against an enemy’s information systems – this is the rise of information warfare.

Dan Kuehl of the National Defence University defined information warfare as the “conflict or struggle between two or more groups in the information environment”. You might say that just sounds like a fancier way of describing hacking. In fact it’s a lot more sinister and a lot more dangerous than its somewhat tame name implies.

Western leaders are investing billions to develop capabilities matching those of China and Russia, establishing military commands for attacking, defending and exploiting the vulnerabilities of electronic communications networks. Information warfare combines electronic warfare, cyberwarfare and psy-ops (psychological operations) into a single fighting organisation, and this will be central to all warfare in the future.

The anatomy of information warfare

The free flow of information within and between nation states is essential to business, international relations and social cohesion, as much as information is essential to a military force’s ability to fight. Communications today lean heavily on the internet, or via communications using various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum (such as radio or microwaves) through terrestrial communications networks or satellite networks in space. We live in a highly connected world, but it doesn’t take much to tip over into instability or even chaos.

Electronic warfare is used to disrupt or neutralise these electromagnetic transmissions. These might be electronic counter measures and jamming used to cripple military communications or weapons guidance systems. Or it can include civil uses, for example the ADS-B air traffic control system used by aircraft to avoid in-flight collisions, or the recently adopted European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) that replaces railway trackside signalling and provides full control of trains. Jamming or degrading either of these would cause chaos.

We have become familiar with cyber-attacks launched through the internet against digital networks, which can make it impossible for businesses to operate. Enormous damage can follow, in cost and reputation, as seen from attacks on Sony Pictures and TalkTalk. Bringing down a stock exchange could cause massive financial losses. Cyber-attacks can also be directed at industrial control systems used in manufacturing plants or in power, water and gas utilities. With the capacity to affect such a wide range of national infrastructure lives would be put at risk.

Psy-ops are aimed more at degrading the morale and well-being of a nation’s citizens. This might include spreading false information, rumour and fear through social media and news outlets. The great level of connectedness that populations have today is a strength, but being instantly connected means that misinformation and fear can also spread rapidly, resulting in panic.

Information warfare, then, is the integration of electronic warfare, cyberwarfare and psychological operations, for both attack and defence.

Information war has already broken out

It’s suspected that Russia has launched increasingly sophisticated non-lethal attacks on its neighbours, for example against Estonia, Georgia and Ukraine, which experienced an integrated onslaught of electronic, cyber-attacks and psychological operations.

There is convincing circumstantial evidence that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan gas pipeline in Georgia was targeted using a sophisticated computer virus which caused an uncontrolled pressure build-up that led to an explosion. Even the so-called Islamic State has shown it has a good understanding of how to use and manipulate social media for use in psychological warfare. IS is reportedly building greater cyberwar and electronic warfare capabilities, as it recognises that winning the information war is key.

A response to unconventional warfare

In response to the threat of information war the British Army has established two new formations: the 77th Brigade for dealing with psychological operations, and the 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade which combines electronic warfare and intelligence. Hundreds of computer experts will be recruited as reservists, trained with the help of GCHQ’s Joint Cyber Unit.

These are moves in the right direction, but the approach is too piecemeal. A recent RAND Corporation report argued for a highly integrated approach to all aspects of information warfare in order to present an effective defence force. In the US, Admiral Michael S. Rogers released a Cyber Command vision statement, describing how it would defend Department of Defence networks, systems and information against cyber attacks and provide support to military and contingency operations. The US approach is more integrated but this is only the case within the military – from a national perspective both countries lack an overall integrated approach with a common command structure that includes threats to civilian infrastructure.

So while the concept of information war appears to be well understood the aspects of it are not being addressed together, and such siloed thinking could lead to gaps in our security. Western governments have failed to fully grasp the vulnerability of electronic communications and the enormous risks this poses to critical infrastructure, transport, and the safety of civilians.

The US director of intelligence has emphasised the enormity of the cyber-threat facing the US, while British General Sir Nicholas Houghton in a speech at Chatham House observed that most acts of physical war today incorporate an online aspect, where social networks are exploited to manipulate opinion and perception. He also acknowledged that the tactics employed by Russia combine aspects of information war and also counter-intelligence, espionage, economic warfare and the sponsoring of proxies.

We need to better understand the full scope of information warfare as it evolves, identify where we are most vulnerable, and then establish a single point of responsibility to implement defence mechanisms. Because those adversaries that are unconstrained by western policies, or by ethical or legal codes, can and will exploit our vulnerabilities.

Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Author: David Stupples is a Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Director of Electronic Warfare Research at the City University London.

Image: An illustration picture shows a projection of binary code on a man holding a laptop computer. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel. 

Article source : https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/12/what-is-information-warfare/?utm_content=buffer7c378&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

---

Governments don't understand cyber warfare. We need hackers

2015.06 / Rodrigo Bijou

In 2008, Burhan Hassan, age 17, boarded a flight from Minneapolis to the Horn of Africa. And while Burhan was the youngest recruit, he was not alone. Al-Shabaab managed to recruit over two dozen young men in their late teens and early 20s with a heavy presence on social media platforms like Facebook. With the Internet and other technologies, they've changed our everyday lives, but they've also changed recruitment, radicalization and the front lines of conflict today.

What about the links connecting Twitter, Google and protesters fighting for democracy? These numbers represent Google's public DNS servers, effectively the only digital border crossing protesters had and could use to communicate with each other, to reach the outside world and to spread viral awareness of what was happening in their own country.

Today, conflict is essentially borderless. If there are bounds to conflict today, they're bound by digital, not physical geography. And under all this is a vacuum of power where non-state actors, individuals and private organizations have the advantage over slow, outdated military and intelligence agencies. And this is because, in the digital age of conflict, there exists a feedback loop where new technologies, platforms like the ones I mentioned, and more disruptive ones, can be adapted, learned, and deployed by individuals and organizations faster than governments can react.

To understand the pace of our own government thinking on this, I like to turn to something aptly named the Worldwide Threat Assessment, where every year the Director of National Intelligence in the US looks at the global threat landscape, and he says, "These are the threats, these are the details, and this is how we rank them." In 2007, there was absolutely no mention of cyber security. It took until 2011, when it came at the end, where other things, like West African drug trafficking, took precedence. In 2012, it crept up, still behind things like terrorism and proliferation. In 2013, it became the top threat, in 2014 and for the foreseeable future.

What things like that show us is that there is a fundamental inability today on the part of governments to adapt and learn in digital conflict, where conflict can be immaterial, borderless, often wholly untraceable. And conflict isn't just online to offline, as we see with terrorist radicalization, but it goes the other way as well.

We all know the horrible events that unfolded in Paris this year with the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks. What an individual hacker or a small group of anonymous individuals did was enter those social media conversations that so many of us took part in. #JeSuisCharlie. On Facebook, on Twitter, on Google, all sorts of places where millions of people, myself included, were talking about the events and saw images like this, the emotional, poignant image of a baby with "Je suis Charlie" on its wrist. And this turned into a weapon. What the hackers did was weaponize this image, where unsuspecting victims, like all of us in those conversations, saw this image, downloaded it but it was embedded with malware. And so when you downloaded this image, it hacked your system. It took six days to deploy a global malware campaign. The divide between physical and digital domains today ceases to exist, where we have offline attacks like those in Paris appropriated for online hacks.

And it goes the other way as well, with recruitment. We see online radicalization of teens, who can then be deployed globally for offline terrorist attacks.

With all of this, we see that there's a new 21st century battle brewing, and governments don't necessarily take a part.

So in another case, Anonymous vs. Los Zetas. In early September 2011 in Mexico, Los Zetas, one of the most powerful drug cartels, hung two bloggers with a sign that said, "This is what will happen to all Internet busybodies." A week later, they beheaded a young girl. They severed her head, put it on top of her computer with a similar note. And taking the digital counteroffensive because governments couldn't even understand what was going on or act, Anonymous, a group we might not associate as the most positive force in the world, took action, not in cyber attacks, but threatening information to be free. On social media, they said, "We will release information that ties prosecutors and governors to corrupt drug deals with the cartel." And escalating that conflict, Los Zetas said, "We will kill 10 people for every bit of information you release." And so it ended there because it would become too gruesome to continue. But what was powerful about this was that anonymous individuals, not federal policia, not military, not politicians, could strike fear deep into the heart of one of the most powerful, violent organizations in the world. And so we live in an era that lacks the clarity of the past in conflict, in who we're fighting, in the motivations behind attacks, in the tools and techniques used, and how quickly they evolve. And the question still remains: what can individuals, organizations and governments do?

For answers to these questions, it starts with individuals, and I think peer-to-peer security is the answer. Those people in relationships that bought over teens online, we can do that with peer-to-peer security. Individuals have more power than ever before to affect national and international security. And we can create those positive peer-to-peer relationships on and offline, we can support and educate the next generation of hackers, like myself, instead of saying, "You can either be a criminal or join the NSA." That matters today. And it's not just individuals -- it's organizations, corporations even. They have an advantage to act across more borders, more effectively and more rapidly than governments can, and there's a set of real incentives there. It's profitable and valuable to be seen as trustworthy in the digital age, and will only be more so in future generations to come.

But we still can't ignore government, because that's who we turn to for collective action to keep us safe and secure. But we see where that's gotten us so far, where there's an inability to adapt and learn in digital conflict, where at the highest levels of leadership, the Director of the CIA, Secretary of Defense, they say, "Cyber Pearl Harbor will happen." "Cyber 9/11 is imminent." But this only makes us more fearful, not more secure. By banning encryption in favor of mass surveillance and mass hacking, sure, GCHQ and the NSA can spy on you. But that doesn't mean that they're the only ones that can. Capabilities are cheap, even free. Technical ability is rising around the world, and individuals and small groups have the advantage. So today it might just be the NSA and GCHQ, but who's to say that the Chinese can't find that backdoor? Or in another generation, some kid in his basement in Estonia?

And so I would say that it's not what governments can do, it's that they can't. Governments today need to give up power and control in order to help make us more secure. Giving up mass surveillance and hacking and instead fixing those backdoors means that, yeah, they can't spy on us, but neither can the Chinese or that hacker in Estonia a generation from now. And government support for technologies like Tor and Bitcoin mean giving up control, but it means that developers, translators, anybody with an Internet connection, in countries like Cuba, Iran and China, can sell their skills, their products, in the global marketplace, but more importantly sell their ideas, show us what's happening in their own countries.

And so it should be not fearful, it should be inspiring to the same governments that fought for civil rights, free speech and democracy in the great wars of the last century, that today, for the first time in human history, we have a technical opportunity to make billions of people safer around the world that we've never had before in human history. It should be inspiring.

(Applause)

Article source : https://www.ted.com/talks/rodrigo_bijou_governments_don_t_understand_cyber_warfare_we_need_hackers/transcript?language=en

---

<Questions> 

Q1. What is the 'Cyber warfare'? Do you know what the 'Psy-ops'? 

Q2. If your social connection is highly related to the Internet or SNS, you should worry about cyber attacking or psychological operations. How do you connect with others or information mostly? 

Q3. Do you think your perceptions are soly connected to the internet? Then do you have any intention to broaden your connection into different sources for better information safety? 

Q4. If you realized that you were exposed to the information with psychological operations, how would you react to it? 

Q5. Do we need 'Cyber security'? Do we need a 'white hacker'? 

Q6. Now, we live in Korea which is a highly connected society through the internet. What if our society is ruined and halted by some cyber attack? Have you ever imagine those situation? 

Q7. Compare to the other nations, what security measures do we have ? 

Q8. Do you think our country is best prepared for cyber attacking? 

Q9. Have you ever been hacked by someone? How did you react to it?

---

Five New Year's Resolutions That Will Change Your Life

JAN 10, 2015 @ 01:05 PM/ Shane Robinson , CONTRIBUTOR

We all likely have many more than five goals we’d like to accomplish this year, but in keeping with the lean mentality, I’ll keep things simple and give you just five, which, if done mindfully can have dramatic ripple effects on your health, happiness and professional success—and perhaps all the other goals you’ve set for yourself.

1: Smile more. 

It is well known among social psychologists now that the simple act of smiling can make you happier and healthier, even if your smile is a forced one—so practice more in 2015! This effect apparently happens for two main reasons. According to the facial feedback hypothesis, smiling activates the release of dopamine, endorphins and serotonin, neurotransmitters that help reduce stress and elicit positive emotions. In other words, while your brain usually controls your muscles, your muscles (i.e., smiling!) can actually influence your brain. In essence, the brain senses the flexion of our facial muscles and, concluding that we must be happy about something, starts to make us feel happier.

Smiling works for another more obvious reason—it is contagious, literally. According to a Swedish study, when people are exposed to emotional facial expressions, they tend to unconsciously mimic those expressions, positive or negative, which as just discussed may influence their emotions. The key takeaway: when you smile, you may appear more inviting, attractive, relaxed and sincere to others. And when you don’t smile, the impression you give may be the opposite. (For other great tips on how changing your body language can have a profound impact on your life, check out Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk.)

2: Maintain a health and fitness regimen. 

The health impacts of regular physical exercise are widely known (and very important to your success as a leader). But, in addition to reducing stress, fighting disease and improving mood, energy and sleep, getting regular exercise and eating healthier can also make you appear to be a better leader.  In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, healthy-looking individuals are perceived as better leaders than even intelligent-looking people.

3: Schedule personal time. 

That’s right, schedule your personal time. Many of us are used to scheduling, but for some reason only seem to do so in the context of work (e.g., meetings, project deadlines, etc.). However, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the most productive people are not actually the busiest but rather those who prioritize their free time—for personal passions, for family, for activities completely unrelated to their jobs.

As reported by Fast Company, social networking company Draugiem Group recently used the productivity app DeskTime to determine which habits distinguished their most productive employees from everyone else. They discovered that the top 10% of their most productive employees not only didn’t put in longer hours than anyone else but also didn’t even work full eight-hour days. Instead, they took 17-minute breaks for every 52 minutes worked, spending those breaks completely away from their work and email.

What the Draugiem Group results show is something that researchers have increasingly been concluding: that the best way to improve performance and focus is to reserve time to refresh yourself. In the New Year, schedule time for family, friends and passions. Your work will improve, your relationships will improve, and you never know what meaningless knowledge you’ll accumulate in the process—of scuba, Star Trek, baking, or any other hobby—that will help you form great new relationships.

4. Don’t commit to things you can’t do. 

There’s quite a bit of literature out there about the fake-it-until-you-make-it mentality—that is, committing to things outside your comfort zone in an effort to grow and improve. But in this case, I’m referring more to those activities you just know you can’t do. Can’t make it to dinner with your friend next week but prefer to say ‘maybe’ so you can delay the disappointment? Just say you can’t. Not overextending yourself will save you time and consternation down the road, and when you do commit, you’ll actually follow through—and become known as a person whose word means something.

5. Use your calendar. 

One of the best ways to stay on top of your goals is to schedule—relentlessly. Managing your to-do list in an online calendar will help you miss fewer deadlines, keep you organized, and ensure that you are prioritizing your most important tasks. Key non-work items to schedule include seeing family and friends, reading the news and books, engaging in personal hobbies and checking personal finances.

The point is to think of your personal to-do list the way a software development team might think of an agile project, breaking large tasks into incremental, iterative projects and continuously eval‎uating whether you must reprioritize. Get your time management app or calendar of choice, assign a time to your tasks and then continuously prioritize based on importance. Countless interviews suggest that the most successful CEOs are often the ones who most actively manage their to-dos.

Don’t Just Set, Maintain

Success with resolutions, as with business objectives, isn’t merely about setting goals but maintaining them. Come up with your own system to periodically monitor your progress and assess whether a change in strategy is necessary. That requires will power, discipline and a fluctuation in mindset between living in the moment and planning.

And, sure, you can have a much longer list of goals this year, but these five resolutions are about creating overall alignment—between your goals and reality, and between your identity and others’ perceptions of you—and becoming a more well-rounded leader with a 360-degree understanding of yourself and consequently your organization.

Article source : http://www.forbes.com/sites/shanerobinson/2015/01/10/five-new-years-resolutions-that-will-change-your-life/

---

Top 10 Commonly Broken New Year's Resolutions

Happy 2012! As we all vow to do a whole host of things most of us will not follow through on, TIME brings you the resolutions most often forgotten

Promises, Promises

Lose Weight and Get Fit

Quit Smoking

Learn Something New

Eat Healthier and Diet

Get Out of Debt and Save Money

Spend More Time with Family

Travel to New Places

Be Less Stressed

Volunteer

Drink Less

Aricle source: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2040218,00.html

---

50 New Year’s Resolution Ideas And How To Achieve Each Of Them

The New Year is slowly nearing, and with the holiday season already upon us many people are indulging in retrospection and reeval‎uating some of their life choices. New Year’s resolutions are the perfect opportunity for all those who have failed to start making the changes that they said they would make next week, next month, or perhaps when winter starts.

Well, now’s your chance to sit down and prepare a list of important lifestyle changes you want to make, and being the charitable and caring bunch that we are here at Lifehack, we’ve decided to give you a bit of help – because since the majority of people fail to stick to their resolution, you’ll need all the help you can get.

What follows is a list of 50 common New Year’s resolutions with a piece of advice and plenty of links to useful articles that deal with the issue in greater detail. If you are looking for effective ways of changing your life for the better, then you’ll be sure to find tons of useful information here.

1. Get in shape: 

Losing weight is the top resolution for Americans, and combined with “exercise more” and “stay fit and healthy” it is something that over a third of the population wishes to achieve. It’s easy enough to start an exercise and diet program, but the trick is to find a decent one that will give you steady results and will be easy to stick to in the long run. Have a look at these tricks, hacks, exercises and mistakes to avoid to make the best our of your resolution.

2. Start eating healthier food, and less food overall: 

This is usually an extension of the previous resolution. Switching to a healthier diet can be incredibly tricky when we are surrounded by cheap junk food. However, with a good amount of determination and some basic tips you can slowly develop healthier eating habits. Learn to control emotional eating, be aware of reasons for diets to fail, make use of these tricks and have a look at these awesome and healthy recipes.

3. Stop procrastinating: 

The biggest barrier that keeps most people from reaching their goals is the desire to relax and do something fun instead of working hard. Once you get used to procrastinating it’s difficult to snap yourself out of it, so you’ll need to put in a lot of work to change this bad habit. There are many useful tips out there to find your way to stop procrastinating. There are also tools which can help you achieve this task.

4. Improve your concentration and mental skills: 

People have been trying to find ways to improve their focus and cognitive capacities for thousands of years, and most ancient civilizations had some combination of mental exercise and herbal medicine to help them reach this goal. Today we can use anything from apps to ancient meditation techniques to boost concentration and hone our mental skills. If you go through with this, you will be able to control your mood, learn faster and have an easier time solving problems.

5. Meet new people: 

When we get stuck in a rut, we usually end up staying at home most of the time, missing out on a lot of interesting opportunities for networking and having fun. Meeting new people can be beneficial to your mental well-being and help your career, so don’t be afraid to get out there and make some friends. Overcome your shyness, get some knowledge and go and get to know new and interesting people.

6. Become more active: 

Some people don’t really have a big weight problem, and they even get some exercise a few times a week, but they just sit around the most of the time at home and at work, which can have a negative effect on their posture and health. In that case, all you need is to find ways of moving around more throughout the day instead of staying hunched over the computer. It’s even more fun if you share your activity with friends and family.

7. Become more confident and take some chances:

 If you are confident other people notice it, and it is much easier to have your opinions heard, ask people out on dates and get ahead at work. A good dose of self-confidence will help you lead a much happier life overall. Don’t hesitate to get some input on ways to boost your confidence.

8. Earn more money: 

Even billionaires are always looking for ways to earn more money, and we common folk can definitely use an additional source of income to make life a bit more comfortable. Fortunately there are plenty of options available, like having sidejobs, working as a freelancer or using the internet to your advantage.

Polite society

9. Become more polite: 

Good manners have always been an important part of a civilized society. They make it easier to connect with others, avoid offending people and will ensure that others perceive you as a good and trustworthy person. So know the etiquette, be prepared or other manners in other countries, deal with rude people in the right way and learn how to say no.

10. Reduce stress: 

They say that stress is one of the biggest killers out there, and it can have a very destructive effect on your relationships as well as your health. It may be an unavoidable side effect of our hectic modern lifestyles, but it can be effectively managed with the help of useful, unconventional and easy to practice tricks for stress management.

11. Learn to be happier with your life: 

Even those that are in decent shape, make a good living and have stress under control can still be unhappy. It takes time and patience to learn how to find joy in the little things and not to let problems bring you down.

12. Get more quality sleep:

 With big TV’s, computers, smartphones, tablets and all sorts of gadgets with glowing lights and beeping alerts, it can be hard to get enough sleep at night. You should be gunning for at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and there are fairly simple ways to achieve this number if you make use of science and everday hacks.

13. Give up cigarettes: 

A bit of bad habit that a lot of people don’t know how to kick, smoking will not only endanger your health, but can burn a hole in your wallet as well. Just be prepared to dedicate a lot of will power to giving up cigarettes once and for all.

14. Watch less TV: 

The average person wastes a lot of time in front of the TV, time that could have been better spent developing skills, learning or keeping your body active. Once you manage to cut down on TV time, you will realize just how long and productive a day can really be.

15. Read more: 

Books are an excellent way to gain a lot of knowledge on a huge variety of topics, and are also a great exercise for your brain. It’s not that difficult to go through 20 or more books in a year – you only need to make it a habit, discover your type of books and find a bit of time for reading here and there.

16. Find a significant other: 

We all need someone to hold at night, talk to and share our deepest secrets with, but finding the right person is a matter of trial and error. We need to go out and get to know a bunch of potential partners before we can find the one that we can get along with really well. Get inspired on your way towards love by these tips on the best places to meet people, asking someone out, and having an amazing and original first date.

17. Have better sex: 

Any healthy relationship requires a good deal of intimacy, and sex can actually help keep us mentally and physically healthy. The idea is to make it a fun and rewarding experience, and this is something that comes with practice and exercise.

18. Become tidier: 

There are a lot of slobs out there who can’t really get their stuff organized, and a cluttered desk or chaotic home will negatively affect your productivity and even your mood, so it helps to clear the clutter, clean your house and lead a tidier and more organized life.

19. Learn how to dress with style: 

The way you dress can say a lot about you, and wearing the right clothes can make you seem powerful and confident, which in turn can help you land a job, get promoted, and catch the eye of a lovely guy or girl. No matter if you’re male or female, know the dresscode and live with style.

20. Spend more time with the people that matter:

There is just too little time in this life for us to waste it on insincere, duplicitous and toxic people. We should focus on the people who we care about deeply and who care about us, as this is the best way to stay happy.

A glass of beer

21. Start drinking in moderation or quit drinking altogether: 

While it is completely safe and healthy to drink one or two servings of an alcoholic beverage of your choice per day, not a lot of people can say that they can follow this rule effectively. Getting your drinking under control has plenty of benefits, but it can be a difficult process.

22. Get out of debt: 

You can’t really move forward in life if you are weighed down by debt. The road to financial freedom is a rocky one, but it is definitely manageable with a bit of planning and self-restraint. Take a look at these strategies and methods and pay off your debt. You won’t believe how good it will feel.

23. Start saving money: 

Once you have your debt under control, it’s time to start putting some money aside. A rainy day fund and some extra money that can go towards traveling abroad, fixing up the house or buying a new car are a welcome change of pace. Make use of these hacks and apps to save money efficiently.

24. Learn a new language: 

Not only will learning a new language help improve your communication skills, it will also look great on your resume and possibly open up some doors for you. These days there are plenty of resources that allow you to learn a language for free and in your spare time.

25. Volunteer and give more to charity: 

To devote your time and energy to helping those in need is a noble gesture and a reward in itself, but it is also an opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills and boost your resume. Here’s how you can find time to volunteer in your busy life.

26. Pick up useful skills or fun hobbies: 

Just sitting around all day won’t get you anywhere. It is much better to use your free time in a constructive manner and pick up new skills while having fun at the same time. The Future-You will be glad that you did. No matter if you’re interested in communication skills or sports, find out how to learn new skills and hobbies in a short time.

27. Learn to let go of grudges and avoid moping: 

Times can be hard, and it may take a lot to overcome adversity, but sitting around and moping about it is just counterproductive. If you have a big fight with someone and fall out or get hurt over a small issue, you will only lose a friend or life partner and remain sad and bitter. Forgiveness is a much healthier way to deal with issues that should be left in the past.

28. Adopt a cute pet: 

There are tons of animal lovers out there that would be great at caring for a pet, but they often overthink things, while some people just rush out and get a pet without understanding the responsibility involved. Be sure you know what you are in for and find a pet that fits your living conditions and lifestyle.

29. Become more organized:

 It doesn’t matter how much time you have on your hands if you can’t manage it properly – you’ll just spend most of the day running around aimlessly. When you get organized there will suddenly be more time to spare and things will start falling into place. Make it a habit, get help from apps and tools and enjoy your newly found leisure-time.

30. Travel more and see the world: 

You’ll need to have your finances in order, get the right equipment and invest some time and effort before you consider traveling across the globe, but there are ways of experiencing different cultures and visiting faraway places even on a tighter budget.

31. Learn to cook: 

Cooking is one of the essential skill that every man and woman should possess. It allows you to save money, eat the food you love just the way you like it and impress dates with lovely meals shared under candlelight. If you go through useful tips, keep your kitchen clean and avoid common mistakes, nothing stands between you an your 3-course-meal.

32. Go see your doctor more often: 

Staying healthy should be your top priority, but many people seem frighten of doctors and don’t go to the hospital nearly as often as they should, often waiting for their condition to significantly worsen. Regular checkups are a must, no matter how healthy you feel at the moment.

33. Reinvent yourself:

 If you don’t feel quite happy no matter what you do, it is perhaps time to make some serious changes in your life. Reinventing yourself can give you a whole new perspective on life and take you in directions you may never have dreamed were possible.

34. Stop being late all the time: 

Punctuality is a virtue that is held in high regard in our society. Being on time is a mark of a true professional, a dependable friend and caring partner, so it is a good idea to pick up a few tricks that can help you stay on time.

35. Learn how to be more self-reliant:

Technology, a relatively decent government and corporations offering cheap ready-to-eat food and all manner of useful tools – these things have made us somewhat spoiled, and we often get well into adulthood without having what it takes to be independent and self-reliant. These skills are important to learn.

36. Turn your hobby into a career:

 If we could all manage to marry fun and productivity, and be able to make money doing what we love, we’d be a much more content and well-balanced society. This may not always be possible, but there are cases where a hobby can be turned into a lucrative career.

37. Get over an ex:

 It may be better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved, but it still hurts like crazy. Healing a broken heart is a process that takes time, but there are ways  and tricks to make it through this difficult time without too much pain.

38. Learn to control your emotions: 

Uncontrolled anger can get you into a lot of trouble, but things like jealousy and pride are destructive in all circumstances. Gaining control over your feelings allows you to keep a level head and think more rationally, even during emotionally charged conflict situations.

39. Start being more responsible: 

A big part of growing up into a mature adult is the ability to think before making a decision. It is important to take responsibility for ones actions and avoid blaming everything on someone else, just as it is important to protect your family and provide for them.

40. Learn more about art, music, culture etc.:

 The best way to fit in when talking to a variety of people from different backgrounds is to have a well-rounded education. Topics like art, music, history and culture often baffle people, but they can be easy to comprehend if you spend enough time learning about them using helpful websites and online courses.

41. Spend less time on social media: 

Some people might not spend hours in front of the TV, or playing video games, but social media has become a serious addiction among a wide range of demographics. It’s fine to stay in touch with friends and family, but if you consistently spend more than an hour every day on social media, it’s time to make a change.

42. Learn how to defend yourself: 

Being able to ensure your own safety, and the safety of those you love, is a very important skillset to have. It’s not all about groin kicks and palm strikes, however. You need to learn how to conduct yourself and what kind of behavior to look out for in others.

43. Become more romantic: 

Romance is often the first casualty in longer, more serious relationships, but it doesn’t have to wither away. A few romantic gestures here and there can keep the passion going for decades. It will be fun, even if you’re not the romantic type.

44. Start remembering important dates: 

Speaking about romance and keeping a serious relationship fun, you don’t want to keep forgetting birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates. There are plenty of memory tricks that take very little time to master, so you’ll never forget another date again.

45. Become more social: 

Being a man, or woman, about town has its perks. You get to have fun, meet new people and find out interesting things, but you can also develop leadership skills and learn to work in a team. Even if you are an introvert  or very shy and feel uncomfortable talking to others, there are ways to become a fairly active member of a community.

46. Start being more creative:

There are times when we get mentally fatigued and our creativity just goes out the window. This is particularly bad if your job or hobby depends on you coming up with fresh ideas and thinking outside the box. As with anything else, there are many ressources that help you spark your creativity in a number of different ways.

47. Start expressing yourself artistically: 

While some of us are more logical, with a scientific mind, most people still have a bit of a creative spark in them. Expressing yourself in some creative artistic way is a great form of stress relief and helps keep your mind sharp. Some of these activities will also help you stay active and burn some calories. So go in the arts, write, craft, make DIYprojects – whatever makes your soul free.

48. Face your fears and insecurities: 

You will find this particular point masked beneath other New Year’s resolutions, but fear and insecurity are often the cause of several problems that we want to address. You need to think of it as surviving and controlling your fear rather than overcoming it, and it will enable you to shed off a lot of the insecurities that you have.

49. Start writing a that book/journal: 

You’d be surprised to know just how many people out there have an interesting story to tell, but lack the confidence and skill to write everything down. Even if it is just a few random thoughts scribbled daily in a journal, you shouldn’t be afraid to give writing a go with a few tips and tricks.

50. Stick to the good healthy habits you’ve developed: 

The last, and most important point to mention is that all the positive changes you make have to be permanent. You will need to work on sticking with the good habits you have adopted, until they just become a natural part of who you are. That is how you achieve true self-improvement.

Well, there you have it – an extensive list of advice, tips and tricks to help you see your New Year’s resolution through and make some long-term changes in your life. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Article source : http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/50-new-years-resolution-ideas-and-how-achieve-each-them.html

---

<Questions> 

Q1. How many resolutions did you achieve this year? 

Q2. Do you have any commonly broken New year's Resolutions?

Q3. According to an first article, 5 new year's resolutions will help you change your life. And 5 resolutions are 'Smile more', 'Maintain a health and fitness regimen', 'Schedule personal rime', 'Don't commit to things you can't do' and 'Use your calendar', Which one is the most useful to you ? 

Q4. Do you use calendar? Can you find any advantages and disadvantages for using your own calendar? 

Q5. Can you name your Top 5 New year's Resolutions for 2016 ?