2024 New Year’s Resolutions Outside The Insurance World
Every year, I publish New Year’s resolutions for Workers Comp and Self-Insureds. This year, let us start the 2024 New Year’s resolutions that are not part of the insurance world or WC. These resolutions are the ones that I have made over the last 25+ years for myself.
A few on the list are interrelated and may have some elements of insurance. Some of these have appeared as articles on this website. These are not listed in any order of importance.
The 2024 New Year’s resolutions below center on learning and saving time.
Top 10 Resolutions
- Hire An Intern – One of the best ways to find out about your company is to bring in a college intern and pay them for their time. Even though you may not plan to hire them after the internship, a letter of recommendation for their first professional job is priceless. Be ready for what you will hear from a different angle. We still use some of the ideas the interns came up with many years ago.
- Take a Class or Course – Most insurance and insurance-related professions require CEUs for licensing. The best one that I have taken in the last few years was Advanced Excel. The course was not for a CEU. I use Excel every day so it improved me overall.
- Attend a Non-insurance/Safety/Risk Management Conference – Social Fresh was one of my favorites. The group decided to not hold an annual conference for a few years. One local one reminded me how far I was behind in IT. All Things Open made me realize that I needed to attend it for a few years. Fortunately, the conference is held in Raleigh. See the pic below for more info.
- BOD – So many Boards need people to assist them post-Covid. Being on a Board of Directors can be a rewarding experience and looks great on a CV.
- Volunteer – I will not go into this one very much. One can volunteer to be on a BOD even in a minor role. The payback on volunteering will amaze you with the right group of people.
- Buy Liability Insurance – in the age of high litigiousness and responsibility-sharing, one of my friends called it “sleep at night” insurance. If you own your own business, this is one critical area to cover in your 2024 New Year’s Resolutions.
- Write An Article – publishing an article remains one of my most rewarding experiences. If you want to try to have it published by the press, keep it to 600 words or less. Avoid using AI to write it. Use your article publishing muse.
- Set Up A Website – this one will help any business or side hustle if one comes up with a unique name. If you do not have the time, try posting the website job on Upwork. Once you are serious about your business, a graphic artist will be needed to differentiate your website from your competitors. As with the article writing, AI-generated websites are not recommended.
- Assist People Without Charging Them – We receive many calls from non-clients asking for free advice. J&L very often answers their questions without charging the potential client. Answering a simple question will always pay you back at some point.
- Become an expert in using your smartphone – I used to use my phone for just texting/chatting and calls. Slowly switching away from laptops remains one of my personal 2024 New Year’s resolutions.
