With the new year just a few days away, many of us are thinking about resolutions and how we want to improve our lives in 2014. It’s certainly a cliché to jot down a long list of goals, but I’d like to believe that it helps everyone start the new year on the right foot.

This year, my list is light, although I started with about 85 things. For me, a long list of goals is daunting and also distracting, so I focused on cutting it down to a clean and obtainable top 10 list.

1.) Stop biting your finger nails.

2.) Use each hour of the day deliberately. This means planning and scheduling every single hour.

3.) Be more direct, deliberate, and honest when communicating with friends, family, and business contacts.

4.) Call people instead of texting and emailing. Stop being afraid to answer the phone when it rings — someone just wants to talk.

5.) Find yourself 2 mentors.

6.) Stop comparing yourself to others. Just focus on your own personal goals and try your best to improve the lives of the people around you.

7.) Find 30 minutes every day to disconnect from technology entirely. Walk, read, exercise, eat, etc. No technology.

8.) Be open to criticism no matter where it comes from. There are powerful learnings to be had when someone takes the time to tell you how you’re screwing it up.

9.) Spend more intentional and focused time with Susie, friends, and family.

10.) Stop posturing and pretending to be someone else. There is no shame in being yourself. Live your life and not someone else's.

BONUS: Be open and vulnerable. Write with honesty and sincerity, share ideas that might make you sound foolish, converse with smarter people and just do your best to keep up and take it all in. Communicate and share from passion and emotion, and spend less time calculating the risks associated with stepping outside of your comfort zone. Laugh and smile often, 2014 will only be here once.

What’s on your list?