Fresh start

With Christmas on the way, it's also time to gear up for next year's resolutions. Forget all those promises you always make to go to bed early, stop swearing or lose weight, and make pledges that really will make a difference.

1 I will not eavesdrop on my employer's private conversations (unless they're really interesting).

The habit is considered, at the very least, to be incredibly bad-mannered, but a Cambridge scholar recently described eavesdropping as the 'primal human urge to know'. But deliberately lurking in order to hear about yourself or your work could provide a useful way of improving your skills and/or anticipating the needs of the child in your care. If you overhear your employer muttering to a friend that she's worried about what her child eats when in your care, you could draw up a list of ingredients to give to your employer so you can raise the healthy quotient in the child's diet. Or when you overhear your employer planning to give up work, it's time to start looking around yourself, rather than wait for her to tell you at the last minute. Be warned, though - as an eavesdropper you need a strong stomach and self-control to walk away when the subject clearly has nothing to do with you. It's also important not to get caught!