At the end of every year, we conscientiously think about how we can make the following year better, both for ourselves and others. One year, we may promise to go to the gym several times every week. The next year, we may push ourselves to finally make it to that same gym to cancel our membership because of the previously failed resolution.

On a personal level, due to a 2018 Christmas and 2019 New Years Day spent at the hospital with my wife–as well as Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, my birthday and Mother’s Day with the premature birth of our son, a stay that ended just before Father’s Day–any 2019 resolutions were completely suspended. In all honesty, they probably never existed (being discharged from the hospital isn’t a resolution, it’s a milestone).

But at the conclusion of what was both the hardest year and the greatest year of our lives, I’ve had time to seriously consider how I can push myself to be a better man, father, husband, creative and professional, and realize that my goals as a new dad are ones that everyone can do for their own benefit, but few actually do.

Here are my daddy resolutions for a better, killer and healthier 2020 that you should adopt as yours as well:

1. Get healthy, stay healthy
Health is pretty much why we consider resolutions in the first place every year. We talk about exercise and going to the gym because we want to lose weight or (for bachelors) get ripped. But these resolutions fade away every year both with the intensity of our own aspirations and how busy our lives in this modern day have become. And for those young professionals in the flourishing age of craft beer, this health resolution disappears by the growler.

Although America is still considered one of the world’s fattest, exercise should not be for the sake of appearance, but rather for the sake of your own stability, longevity, and ability to naturally detox both your mind and body. Whether you were once a natural competitive athlete or just want to live longer and healthier for yourself and family, regular exercise needs to be a mainstay in your schedule. Even a slow walk through your neighborhood helps clear your heart and body of toxins and your mind of stress.

Also, keep your drinking in moderation. Studies have always shown that outdoing it can basically kill you. But studies also show that wine and beer have great health benefits too. So don’t drink too much…but don’t drink to little either.

2. Get your time management in order
We speak it, we preach it, but how many of us have actually managed our time effectively at home or at work? As a new dad, it may seem like your butt barely touches the couch before mommy or baby make a request to fetch something or help with a baby-related task like feeding or working with him on the floor. And if you’re in a position that’s grown more and more dual across two departments with multiple deadlines and responsibilities, time management has become an incredibly critical skill that may seem utterly impossible. But part of that impossibility is due to our mindset of feeling we need to say yes to everything. We fall under this mindset for two reasons: we want our peers, managers and supervisors to see us as reliable and integral to the organization, but we also fear the aftermath if we say no. Whether the hats you wear come from many different departments, or if you want to get personal projects done in a busy household, setting boundaries is critical to success. Just be sure the boundaries you set are both reasonable and not a means of avoiding others.

3. Grow your network
During our time at the hospital, with our little 24-weeker living at the NICU for the first 5 ½ months of his life, mommy and I received numerous inquiries on his well being, his progress, how mommy was doing, what life was like at the NICU, when and how people could visit or when was the hospital going to change the rules to allow more visitors. We truly connected with the doctors, the nurses, the administrative staff and the other new parents enduring NICU stays of greater or lesser time, and keep in touch even after discharge, providing support in any way we can. We were and still are surrounded by great people investing their own time and effort to seeing that we were doing ok, and were ready to do whatever it took to fix things when we weren’t ok.

Your professional network and the connections you make on LinkedIn and in life are your NICU group. These are the people who are ready to invest their time and effort to help make both your work and their work better overall and, when your lost, they’re there to help guide you back to where you left off. My old mentor Zeev Wexler is a huge proponent of maintaining relationships, growing your network and attending different events, and I witnessed both him living out this great lesson, and saw the fruit that it produced, from creating great client and partner relationships to becoming a top trend setter in marketing and sales. On the day of my son’s G-tube surgery–a year after I had left his company–he still texted me personally to wish me a happy birthday (I still owe you a call, my friend).

Let 2020 be the year you plunge into attending events and meeting professional strangers. I’ll see you there.

4. Volunteer
Here’s something else we seem to never have time for. New working dads such as myself feel that the time for giving ourselves to others in free service during our time off is over, as the new responsibilities of parenting seem to trump everything.

But studies show that charity work and volunteering–really just doing something good–is great for your mental health and confidence. It also provides an appropriate podium for you to become a positive figure in both your family and your community. For those who’ve done good to and for you, let 2020 be the year you begin to pay that love forward.

5. See it, write it, share it
Today, it’s both a great surprise and a reality that so many professionals struggle with writing, even writers, as it is usually the very first chance to make a good impression. Regular writing is a great practice, and you’re not going to get any better at it unless you keep at it. Don’t send emails with a single question in the subject line and no body. Be full and concise in depicting your inquiry or thought process.

Not everyone is in the creative field, but we’re all born to create, and everyone across the globe is looking for new content, new ideas, or just something new and positive where there is so much negative energy everywhere. Writing things down is the simplest and the best practice you can employ for yourself and others. Share your knowledge; share your experiences; share your story

Whether you’re new to it or you already blog or record at your current company, make 2020 the year you return to or start that blog that’s for you and people like you. Make 2020 that year you start that podcast. Platforms like WordPress and Anchor have made these kinds of projects incredibly easy to start, and I enjoy every moment I see Zeev and Akash Patel doing what they do for all to see and learn.

The world is your audience, the words your paint at your keyboard the paintbrush. We’ve been waiting a long time to hear from you, so speak!

6. Take time for yourself, no questions asked
In light of our duties to our employers, our network, our friends and our families, we often neglect to take time for ourselves as individuals, and our duties towards the people just mentioned make seem like there is no time to do so.

But there is. You don’t just have to find it. Sometimes you just have to ask. Ask your wife if you need to be alone for a bit. Check in with your boss if you need to step away. No matter how our work or our lives are, we need to be able to get in touch with our own bodies. We need that time alone to embrace ourselves and the parts of ourselves for what they are–our gratefulness, our sorrows, our fears. It’s in these moments where we can get a glimpse not only of what lies in our future, but how we can prepare for it effectively, holistically, wisely and as the best person we can be.