Learn Spanish? Finally quit smoking? Become a better cook? Whatever you've decided to achieve next year, you know all too well that you're probably going to fail, and that list of beautiful, aspirational goals is staying unfulfilled. Sorry.
想要學好西班牙語？下定決心徹底戒煙？希望廚藝有所進步？不管來年的目標是什么，你再清楚不過了，這些目標很可能都不會實現。那一個個懷揣著美好希望和滿腔斗志的目標終究還是“目標”，無法實現。多么遺憾！

For this very reason some people forgo 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.
正因如此，一些人干脆打消了制定目標的念頭。但不用著急，本文會和大家分享幾個“小竅門”，讓實現目標成為可能。

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 mere 12 percent of them managed to achieve what they had set out to do. He looked into what the successful people were doing differently, and, based on their experience, devised a list of tips for others who want to stop failing miserably.
英國心理學家理查德·懷斯曼做過很多關于意志力的調查。2007年，他對3000人進行了追蹤調查，統計他們新年目標的實現情況，結果僅有12%的人完成了自己之前制定的目標。他又對成功實現目標的人做了進一步調查，發現了一些與眾不同的方法，最后他通過實驗得出了幾條建議，來幫助那些一度無法實現目標的人。

Before we get into the list, it turns out the number one thing to stop relying on is your own willpower - that's basically the worst approach to keeping a resolution, and is the reason why so many of us never start exercising more, continue eating all that fried chicken, and still can't speak a word of French.
在學習這些“竅門”之前，你要意識到無法實現目標的“罪魁禍首”就是依賴于意志力，這可以說是最差勁的辦法。想想你為什么無法加強鍛煉，無法抗拒炸雞的誘惑，無法說出一句法語，癥結就在于此吧。

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. Here’s the complete list of Wiseman’s advice:
那么，你應該怎么做呢？早在2013年懷斯曼就在博客上給出了答案：目標不必太大，要在能力范圍內，而且應該記錄下目標實現的過程，告訴別人你要做什么，最重要的是，不要被失敗擊倒。下面是懷斯曼給出的十大建議：

1) If possible, make only one resolution - changing a lot of things at once is more difficult.
盡可能只制定一個目標。一次性做太多改變是相當困難的。

2) Think about your resolutions in advance, and spend some time to reflect on them.
提前想好目標，然后花點時間好好地反復考慮。

3) Don’t re-visit past failures, but focus on new resolutions instead.
不要執著于之前的失敗，而要專注于當下的目標。

4) Focus on what you really want - don’t just go with what’s trendy.
認準真正想要的，不要隨波逐流。

5) Break your goal into manageable, concrete steps with specific deadlines.
將目標細化成一個個可達到的小目標，在規定時間內完成相應任務。

6) Go public - tell your friends, family, social networks about your goals, which will increase your fear of failure and also garner support.
開誠布公，把目標告訴朋友，家人以及社交圈，這樣會增加對失敗的懼怕，同時得到他們的支持。

7) Create a checklist focusing on how much better your life will be once you’ve achieved your goals.
一旦達成目標，列一張清單，展現現在的生活中好的改變。

8) Whenever you make progress on the steps towards your goal, give yourself a small reward.
只要取得了離目標更近的進步，哪怕一點點，都應給自己一點獎勵。

9) Document your journey - charts, spreadsheets, journals and other means of tracking your progress will keep it concrete.
記錄目標實現的過程：用圖表，電子表格，日記等等記錄下這段經歷可以將目標具體化。

10) Don’t beat yourself up and quit if you sometimes revert to old habits - treat it as a temporary setback.
即使時常會犯老毛病，不要氣餒，將它看成是暫時的挫折。

Good luck in 2016!
祝君2016年夢想成真！

Vocabulary

forgo: 放棄；對……斷念
garner: 獲得；使聚集

英文來源：sciencealert.com
譯者：孫慧
審校&編輯：丹妮