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Odds are, you've made New Year's resolutions before.
很可能你已经定好了新年目标。
And they probably sounded great at the time.
它们当时可能听起来很棒。
Hooray!
万岁！
I'm gonna be a better me!
我要成为更好的自己！
But how often do you stick to those resolutions, really?
但你能真正坚持多久呢？
Maybe you're motivated to hit the gym for the first couple of weeks of the year, but by February you've already forgotten where you put your ID card.
可能在年初的头几个星期去健身房很来劲，但2月份就忘记会员卡放哪了。
As frustrating as that can be, psychologists do have some insights into why it's so hard for us to stick to our resolutions — and some advices for how to actually accomplish them this time around.
这不禁令人沮丧，为什么自己下的决心却很难坚持下去，对此，心理学家确实有一些见解，而且这次还就如何真正坚持实现目标给出了一些建议。
The biggest problem seems to be the kinds of resolutions we make.
最大的问题似乎在于我们下的决心是什么类型的。
Researchers have been trying to pin down what makes a goal motivating for a long time.
研究者一直想弄清，究竟什么能让目标源源不断的激发动力。
According to the commonly-accepted goal-setting theory, specific and challenging goals make us work the hardest and perform well — much better than, say, being told to "do your best." The specific part makes sense—that way, your successes are measurable.
根据公认的目标设定理论，设置具体且有难度的目标能让人尽最大努力去实现，并且成效最明显，远比“尽力而为”这样空洞的说教好的多。把目标具体化的意义在于，这样人们取得的进步才可衡量。
Over and over again, studies have shown that measurable goals work because they allow you to see how things are coming along, so you don't give up right away or feel like you'll never accomplish as much as you want to.
研究结果反复表明，设定可衡量的目标是有效的，因为这能让人看到自己在进步，也就不会立马放弃或者觉得自己永远无法实现目标。
So if you want to lose weight, for example, your best bet would be to decide how much weight and by when, rather than just saying you'd like to be thinner.
举个例子，如果想减肥，最佳办法是想事先清楚自己在什么时间节点要减重多少，而不是仅仅说想变瘦。
Or if want to be more adventurous, you could commit to trying one new activity a month.
或者，如果想更富冒险精神，你可以承诺每个月尝试一项新的活动。
But the idea that we're more likely to succeed with challenging goals is a little less intuitive.
但是，对于“有难度的目标更容易让人成功”这样的的想法，人们不太容易理解。
You'd think the easier the goal, the more likely you'd be to achieve it.
你会认为目标越简单，实现的可能性就越大。
But it turns out that's not the case.
但事实并非如此。
For example, way back in 1976, researchers had 96 people take reading comprehension tests.
例如，早在1976年，研究者组织了96个人参加阅读理解测试。
Some were asked to try to answer 18 questions correctly, some were asked to try for 5 questions, and the rest were told to just "do their best."
研究者要求其中一些人尽量答对18个问题，要求另一些人尽量答对5题，剩下的人则被告知“尽力而为”即可。
They were also split into a timed group and an untimed one.
他们还被分成了限时答题组和不限时答题组。
Those told to try to get 18 right predicted that they'd answer more questions correctly — and then they did!
那些要求答对18题的人预测自己答对的将不止这么多，结果确实如此！
They also put in more effort.
他们也相应的下了更大功夫。
Untimed participants who were given the hard goal spent 33% more time working on the questions than those who were given the easy goal, and 57% more time than those who were just told to do their best.
在不限时答题组中，与那些目标定的低的参与者相比，目标定的高的人在答题上花费的时间要多33%，而比仅需要“尽力而为”的人则多57%。
Since then, lots of other studies have found the same thing:you're more likely to be successful if you aim high — as long as the goal is still within your reach.
从那时候开始，大量其它研究都发现了相同的结果：如果目标设定的高，只要仍然在可能实现的范围内，那成功的几率就更大。
That's actually a pretty big caveat.
这实际上是一个巨大的警示。
Because generally speaking, goals are a lot harder and take longer to achieve than we think.
因为一般来说，目标比我们认为的要难得多，并且需要花更久的时间才能实现。
That miserable depression you feel when you ultimately fail to achieve an impossible goal?
当你最终未能实现一个本就不可能完成的目标时，会感到痛苦和沮丧吗？
It has a special name: false hope syndrome.
它有个专门的名称：虚假希望综合症。
Obviously, you don't make resolutions thinking you'll fail.
显然，你下决心的时候不会认为自己会失败。
You pick things that you think you have control over, and because being in control feels good, making resolutions feels good, too.
你会选择自认为胜券在握的事情，因为一切尽在掌握的感觉很好，这就让下决心也感觉很好。
That confidence in your ability to exert control over your behaviors and actions, also known as self-efficacy, is a key factor in achieving goals.
对控制自身行为和行动能力的信心，也叫自我效能，是实现目标的关键因素。
But it can also make you too cocky.
但它也会让你夜郎自大。
Studies have found that the warm and fuzzies that come with goal-setting can fade quickly, and when people don't meet those goals, they're more likely to feel badly about themselves or consider themselves failures.
研究表明，设定目标带来的满腔热忱以及盲目乐观会很快消失殆尽，当人们没能实现目标时，他们很可能就会感觉自己很差劲，或者承认自己很失败。
The best solution, researchers say, is to channel Goldilocks and choose resolutions that aren't too easy or too hard, but just right.
研究者称，最好的解决办法是引入适度原则，选择的目标既不要太容易，也不要太难，刚刚好就行。
Unfortunately, this can be a bit of a guessing game.
可惜的是，这可能有点像猜谜游戏。
Tracking your progress and getting feedback on how you're doing can help you pinpoint where that sweet spot is.
实时跟进并获得对自己表现的反馈，能帮你找准最佳目标。
Research on goal-setting theory has also found some other tricks that might help you stick to your guns.
针对目标设定理论的研究还发现一些其它技巧，也许能帮你坚持到底。
Making your resolution a part of your routine, so there's something consistent reminding you to keep it up, can increase your chance of success.
把目标融入日常生活中，这样就能不断得到提醒坚持下去，从而增加成功的几率。
So can telling other people what you're up to.
告诉别人你在做什么也是一个技巧。
We tend to not want to look inconsistent or like failures in front of other people, so making our goals public has been shown to increase our commitment to them.
我们往往不想在别人面前显得自己心口不一或者像失败者一样，所以事实已经证明，公开自己的目标可以促使我们坚持下去。
And don't worry too much about failure or setbacks.
但不要过于担心失败或者挫折。
How you frame your successes and failures is really important.
如何定义成功和失败非常重要。
Hard goals aren't as motivating if you're worried about failing, and being able to set aside temporary failures makes a big difference in finally succeeding.
如果担心失败，难以实现的目标就没办法激发动力，而能够将暂时的失败搁置一旁，则对于最终成功至关重要。
But while you're working towards keeping that resolution, it's worth keeping in mind that goals can have negative effects, too.
但当你在努力兑现承诺时，需要记住，目标也会产生负面效应。
When you're focusing on one thing, sometimes that comes at the expense of others.
全身心扑在一件事情上，有时会以牺牲其它事情为代价。
And focusing on a short-term goal might cause you to overlook long-term consequences.
而专注于一个短期目标可能会导致忽略长远的后果。
Plus, goals can destroy intrinsic motivation, meaning that you stop doing something because you want to and start doing it because you have to.
此外，目标会破坏内生动力，也就是说你会停止做那些可做可不做的事情，而着手做必须要做的事情。
These pitfalls are mainly tied to reward systems, which is why it might not be a good idea to try to motivate yourself with a shiny prize for keeping your resolution.
这些容易犯的错误主要与奖励机制有关，所以为了保持决心而试图用“大奖”来激励自己可能不是一个好办法。
So like, don't commit to learning French because you'll reward yourself with a trip to Paris.
比如，不要因为想奖励自己一趟巴黎之旅而决定学法语。
Decide you want to learn French, then set up a plan for how many segments of that online course you'll finish by June, or whatever.
而应该先决定学法语，然后再制定一个计划，安排在6月份前完成多少在线课程，或者其它什么。
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