A new year beautifully symbolizes a new chapter opening in the book that is your life. But while so many people like you aspire to achieve ambitious goals, only 12% of you will ever experience the taste of victory. Sound bad? It is. 156 million people (that’s 156,000,000) will probably give up on their resolution before you can say “confetti.” Keep on reading to learn why New Year’s resolutions fail (and how to succeed).
新的一年美好象征着崭新的生活篇章。许多人会立下雄心勃勃的目标，可最终能实现目标的却只有12%。听起来不尽人意吧？千真万确。全球1.56亿人等不及喝彩就放弃了坚持他们的新年计划。为什么新年计划总是失败？怎样保证计划成功实现呢？请继续往下读。
Note: Since losing weight is the most common New Year’s resolution, I chose to focus on weight loss (but these principles can be applied to just about any goal you think of — make it work for you!).
注意：鉴于“减肥”是最常见的新年计划，我重点以此为例。不过下面这些方法也适用于其他目标，试试吧！
1. You’re treating a marathon like a sprint
你把“马拉松”当成了“短跑”
Slow and steady habit change might not be sexy, but it’s a lot more effective than the “I want it ALL and I want it NOW!” mentality. Small changes stick better because they aren’t intimidating (if you do it right, you’ll barely even notice them!).
循序渐进的改变或许不那么风光，却比“立刻就要得到”的心态更奏效。小改变更容易坚持，因为它们不会让你心生畏惧；而且如果方法得当，你甚至都难以察觉这些变化！
If you have a lot of bad habits today, the last thing you need to do is remodel your entire life overnight. Want to lose weight? Stop it with the crash diets and excessive exercise plans. Instead of following a super restrictive plan that bans anything fun, add one positive habit per week. For example, you could start with something easy like drinking more water during your first week. The following week, you could move on to eating 3 fruits and veggies every day. And the next week, you could aim to eat a fistful of protein at every meal.
如果你现在有很多坏毛病，最不可能的就是一夜之间焕然一新。想减肥吗？那就别再搞什么速成节食和极端锻炼计划了。与其遵循毫无乐趣的严苛计划，不如选择每周养成一个好习惯。例如，你可以先从简单做起，第一周只要记得多喝水就行；到下一周，你可以尝试每天吃3个水果并多吃蔬菜；再下一周，你可以试着限制每餐的蛋白质摄入量。
2. You put the cart before the horse
你本末倒置
“Supplementing” a crappy diet is stupid, so don’t even think about it. Focus on the actions that produce the overwhelming amount of results. If it’s not important, don’t worry about it.
多吃垃圾食品很不好，所以想都别想。请选择能带来益处的计划，至于不重要的部分，那就直接忽略掉吧。
3. You don’t believe in yourself
你不相信自己
A failure to act can cripple you before you leave the starting line. If you’ve tried (and failed) to set a New Year’s resolution (or several) in the past, I know it might be hard to believe in yourself. Doubt is a nagging voice in your head that will resist personal growth with every ounce of its being. The only way to defeat doubt is to believe in yourself. Who cares if you’ve failed a time or two? This year, you can try again (but better this time).
没有行动意味着在起跑线上就输掉了。如果你以前制定过新年计划却未能实现，我相信，你肯定很受挫。内心喋喋不休的怀疑会一点一点阻碍个人成长。说实话，你输了一次还是两次，又有谁会在乎呢？今年，何不再试一次？相信今年能做得更好！
4. Too much thinking, not enough doing
想得太多，做得不够
The best self-help book in the world can’t save you if you fail to take action. Yes, seek inspiration and knowledge, but only as much as you can realistically apply to your life. If you can put just one thing you learn from every book or article you read into practice, you’ll be on the fast track to success.
如果不采取行动，就算世上最好的自助书也帮不了你。没错，你要寻求灵感与知识，可只有实际运用才能见效。如果你能把从书籍或文章中学到的知识加以实践，那你离成功也不远了。
5. You’re in too much of a hurry
你太急躁
If it was quick-and-easy, everybody would do it, so it’s in your best interest to exercise your patience muscles.
如果事情能又快又轻松地搞定，那么谁都能成功了。所以，你最好学会耐心。