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Odds are, you've made New Year's resolutions before.
很有可能你已經下定新年決心了。
And they probably sounded great at the time.
它們當時聽起來很不錯。
Hooray! I'm going to be a better me!
萬歲！我要變得更好！
But how often do you stick to those resolutions, really?
但是你多久一次堅持這些決心呢，真的嗎？
Maybe you're motivated to hit the gym for the first couple of weeks of the year,
也許你有動力在今年的頭幾個星期去健身房，
but by February you've already forgotten where you put your ID card.
但到了二月，你已經忘了身份證放哪兒了。
As frustrating as that can be,
令人沮喪的是，
psychologists do have some insights into why it's so hard for us to stick to our resolutions,
心理學家確實對我們為什么難以堅持自己的決心有一些洞見，
and some advice for how to actually accomplish them this time around.
這次還提出一些如何完成它們的建議。
The biggest problem seems to be the kinds of resolutions we make.
最大的問題似乎是我們制定的各種決心。
Researchers have been trying to pin down what makes a goal motivating for a long time.
長期以來，研究人員一直試圖確定目標的激勵因素。
According to the commonly-accepted goal-setting theory,
根據普遍接受的目標設定理論，
specific and challenging goals make us work the hardest and perform well,
具體而富有挑戰性的目標讓我們工作最努力，而且表現出色，
much better than, say, being told to "do your best".
比被告訴“盡力而為”要好得多。
The specific part makes sense, that way, your successes are measurable.
目標具體是有意義的，這樣，成功就可以衡量了。
Over and over again, studies have shown that measurable goals work
一次又一次的研究表明，可測量目標是有效的，
because they allow you to see how things are coming along,
因為它們能讓你看到事情的進展，
so you don't give up right away or feel like you'll never accomplish as much as you want to.
這樣你就不會馬上放棄，或感覺你永遠都不會達到自己想要的程度。
So if you want to lose weight, for example,
比如，如果你想減肥，
your best bet would be to decide how much weight and by when,
最好的方法是決定達到多少重量和截止時間，
rather than just saying you'd like to be thinner.
而不是說你想變瘦。
Or if want to be more adventurous, you could commit to trying one new activity a month.
或者，如果你想要更冒險，可以承諾一個月嘗試一項新活動。
But the idea that we're more likely to succeed with challenging goals is a little less intuitive.
但是，我們更有可能成功完成具有挑戰性目標的想法不那么直觀。
You'd think the easier the goal, the more likely you'd be to achieve it.
你會認為目標越簡單，就越有可能實現它。
But it turns out that's not the case.
但事實并非如此。
For example, way back in 1976, researchers had 96 people take reading comprehension tests.
例如，1976年，研究人員要96人參加閱讀理解測試。
Some were asked to try to answer 18 questions correctly,
一些人被要求正確回答18個問題，
some were asked to try for 5 questions, and the rest were told to just "do their best".
一些人被要求正確回答5個問題，其余人被告訴說“盡力而為”。
They were also split into a timed group and an untimed one.
他們也被分成了一個定時小組和一個不定時的小組。
Those told to try to get 18 right predicted that they'd answer more questions correctly, and then they did!
那些被告知試著得到18個正確答案的人預測，自己會回答更多正確答案，然后他們就做到了。
They also put in more effort.
他們也付出了更多努力。
Untimed participants who were given the hard goal
被給了硬性目標的不定時參與者
spent 33% more time working on the questions than those who were given the easy goal,
比那些給了簡單目標的人在問題上花的時間多了33%，
and 57% more time than those who were just told do their best.
同時比那些被告知盡力而為的人花的時間多了57%。
Since then, lots of other studies have found the same thing:
從那時起，許多其他研究也發現了同樣的問題：
you're more likely to be successful if you aim high,
如果你目標遠大，就更有可能成功，
as long as the goal is still within your reach.
只要目標還在你的范圍之內。
That's actually a pretty big caveat.
這實際是一個很大的警告。
Because generally speaking, goals are a lot harder and take longer to achieve that we think.
因為一般來說，目標比我們認為得要困難得多，花得時間更長。
That miserable depression you feel when you ultimately fail to achieve an impossible goal,
當你最終無法實現一個不可能的目標時，你感覺到的痛苦抑郁
it has a special name: false-hope syndrome.
有一個特殊的名字叫做虛假希望綜合征。
Obviously, you don't make resolutions thinking you'll fail.
很明顯，你下定決心，認為自己不會失敗，
You pick things that you think you have control over,
你選擇自己認為可以控制的事，
and because being in control feels good, making resolutions feels good, too.
因為掌控的感覺很好，下定決心的感覺也很好。
That confidence in your ability to exert control over your behaviors and actions,
你有能力控制行為和舉止的信心
also known as self-efficacy, is a key factor in achieving goals.
也被稱為自我效能感，是實現目標的關鍵因素。
But it can also make you too cocky.
但它也會讓你過于自大。
Studies have found that the warm and fuzzies that come with goal-setting can fade quickly,
研究發現，目標設定的熱情和模糊很快就會消失，
and when people don't meet those goals,
當人們沒有達到這些目標時，
they're more likely to feel badly about themselves or consider themselves failures.
他們更有可能自我感覺不好，或者認為自己失敗了。
The best solution, researchers say, is to channel Goldilocks
研究人員說，最好的解決辦法是引導“金發女孩”，
and choose resolutions that aren't too easy or too hard, but juuuuust right.
選擇那些不太難又不太容易，剛剛好的決心。
Unfortunately, this can be a bit of a guessing game.
不幸的是，這可能有點兒像猜謎游戲。
Tracking your progress and getting feedback on how you're doing can help you pinpoint where that sweet spot is.
跟蹤你的進展并得到你所做事情的反饋，可以幫助你確定哪里是“甜蜜點”。
Research on goal-setting theory has also found some other tricks that might help you stick to your guns.
對目標設定理論的研究也發現了一些其他技巧，可以幫助你堅持自己的目標。
Making your resolution a part of your routine,
讓你的決心成為日常生活的一部分，
so there's something consistent reminding you to keep it up, can increase your chance of success.
這樣就會有東西一直提醒你要堅持下去，能增加成功的機會。
So can telling other people what you're up to.
告訴其他人你在做什么也可以。
We tend to not want to look inconsistent or like failures in front of other people,
我們往往不想在他人面前表現出不一致或失敗的樣子，
so making our goals public has been shown to increase our commitment to them.
因此，公開目標已經證明能增加我們對它們的承諾。
And don't worry too much about failure or setbacks.
不要過于擔心失敗或挫折。
How you frame your successes and failures is really important.
你如何定義成功和失敗真得非常重要。
Hard goals aren't as motivating if you're worried about failing,
如果你擔心失敗，硬性目標并不能激勵你，
and being able to set aside temporary failures makes a big difference in finally succeeding.
而能夠拋開暫時的失敗，對最終成功有很大影響。
But while you're working towards keeping that resolution,
但當你努力堅持決心的時候，
it's worth keeping in mind that goals can have negative effects, too.
要記住，目標也會產生負面影響。
When you're focusing on one thing, sometimes that comes at the expense of others.
當你專注一件事時，有時會以犧牲他人為代價。
And focusing on a short-term goal might cause you to overlook long-term consequences.
專注短期目標可能會讓你忽視長期的后果。
Plus, goals can destroy intrinsic motivation,
另外，目標可能會摧毀內在動力，
meaning that you stop doing something because you want to and start doing it because you have to.
這意味著，因為你要做被迫做的事，停下你想做的事。
These pitfalls are mainly tied to reward systems,
這些陷阱主要與獎勵系統有關，
which is why it might not be a good idea to try to motivate yourself with a shiny prize for keeping your resolution.
為了保持決心，你用閃亮的獎品來激勵自己，這就是它可能不是一個好主意的原因，
So like, don't commit to learning French because you'll reward yourself with a trip to Paris.
比如，不要學法語，因為你會用去巴黎的一次旅行來獎勵自己。
Decide you want to learn French,
你決定想學法語，
then set up a plan for how many segments of that online course you'll finish by June, or whatever.
然后為在線課程的課時制定一個計劃，比如到6月完成，等等。
And if you're really stuck on what to resolve,
如果你真的堅持要解決的問題，
you could always decide to watch every single episode of SciShow!
你可以決定看每一集的科學秀。
It's specific, measurable, and you'll have tons of fascinating facts to share with your friends!
它具體、可測量，你會有很多有趣的事實和朋友分享！
In the meantime, thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych,
與此同時，感謝收看您本期的“心理科學秀”，
and if you want to learn more about how we think we control the world way more than we actually do,
我們對世界的掌控比實際的要多，如果你想了解更多，
you can check out our episode on perceived control.
你可以查看我們關于知覺控制的那期節目。
