Start a bullet journal? Finally quit smoking? Be nicer to others? Whatever you've decided¹ to achieve next year, you know all too well that you're probably going to fail, and that list of beautiful, aspirational² goals is staying unfulfilled. Sorry.

想要开始记子弹笔记？终于想戒烟了？想对别人更好一点？不管你为来年定了什么目标，你都很清楚，你大概是要失败的，你那壮志满怀的愿望清单估计是要进冷宫的。抱歉。

For this very reason some people forgo³ making any resolutions altogether, so we're here to help - this year you might actually have a chance, with help from a few tricks of the mind.

就因为这个原因，有些人干脆就不在新年下决心了，而我们正是要帮你解决这个问题——今年，通过运用一些心理层面的小诀窍，你或许真的有翻身的机会。

British psychologist Richard Wiseman has done several surveys on willpower - in 2007 he tracked the success of 3,000 people's New Year's resolutions, only to find that a mere⁴ 12 percent of them managed to achieve what they had set out to do.

英国的心理学家Richard Wiseman做了很多有关意志力的调查，他在2007年跟踪调查了3000个人的新年决心完成状况，最终发现只有12%的人完成了自己设定的目标。

What should you be doing instead? As Wiseman explained on his blog back in 2013, your goals should be small and manageable, you should document your success, tell others about your intentions, and, importantly, not beat yourself up for failing.

那么你要怎么做才能解决这个问题呢？Wiseman在他2013年的博客中是这样写的：你设定的目标应该要小、要可控，你应该记录自己取得的成功，你应该跟别人讲你的打算，最重要的是你不能因为害怕失败就打退堂鼓。

Here's the complete list of Wiseman's advice:

Wiseman清单的完整版是这样的：

1)If possible, make only one resolution - changing a lot of things at once is more difficult.

如果可能，只定一个目标——一次改变很多事会更困难。

2)Think about your resolutions in advance, and spend some time to reflect on them.

提前开始思考你下的这些决心，多花些时间揣摩它们。

3)Don't re-visit past failures, but focus on new resolutions instead.

不要重复去看过去的失败，把注意力集中在新的目标上。

4)Focus on what you really want - don't just go with what's trendy.

想清楚你到底想要什么，不要仅仅去跟风。

5)Break your goal into manageable, concrete steps with specific deadlines.

把你的目标分解成可控、具体的步骤，并且设定明确的截止日期。

6)Go public - tell your friends, family, social networks about your goals, which will increase your fear of failure and also garner⁵ support.

把这件事公开，把你的目标告诉你的朋友、家人以及社交网络中的其他人。这虽然会让你更害怕失败，但也会给你带来力量。

7)Create a checklist focusing on how much better your life will be once you've achieved your goals.

制作一个清单，列举你达成目标之后生活会如何变好。

8)Whenever you make progress on the steps towards your goal, give yourself a small reward.

每当你完成一个步骤，给自己一个小奖励。

9)Document your journey - charts, spreadsheets, journals and other means of tracking your progress will keep it concrete.

记录自己的旅程——用图表、Excel、日志或者其他方式来记录自己的进步，这会让这些进步变得切实起来。

10)Don't beat yourself up and quit if you sometimes revert⁶ to old habits - treat it as a temporary setback⁷.

如果你偶尔倒退到老的习惯当中，不要妄自菲薄，把它们看做暂时的倒退就好。