We've all faced the disappointment and guilt that comes from setting a goal and giving up on it after a couple of weeks. Sustaining motivation for a long-term goal is hard to achieve, and yet the best goals can usually only be accomplished in a few months or even years.

    How do you change your habits? Focus on one habit at a time, and follow these steps:

    Positive changes. If you're trying to change a negative habit （quit smoking）, replace it with a positive habit （running for stress relief, for example）.

    積極改變。如果你想克服自己現在一個壞的習慣，譬如抽煙，最好的辦法就是用一個積極的習慣去替換它。

    Take on a 30-day challenge. Tell yourself that you're going to do this habit every day, at the same time every day, for 30 straight days without fail. Once you're past that 30-day mark, the habit will become much easier. If you fail, do not beat yourself up. Start again on a new 30-day challenge. Practice until you succeed.

    給自己定一個30天的計劃。要求自己每天都這樣做，在每天都同一個時間，堅持30天。

    Commit yourself completely. Don't just tell yourself that you might or should do this. Tell the world that DEFINITELY will do this. Put yourself into this 100 percent. Tell everyone you know. Email them. Put it on your blog. Post it up at your home and work place. This positive public pressure will help motivate you.

    全身心的做一件事，不要告訴自己你應該去做這件事，或你可以做這件事，而是你必須做這件事。把自己100%的精力放在這件事上。放在你的博客上，這些正面的壓力會激勵你。

    Set up rewards. It's best to reward yourself often the first week, and then reward yourself every week for that first month. Make sure these are good rewards, that will help motivate you to stay on track.

    犒勞自己。最好在第一個星期結束的時候犒勞自己，接著是第一個月，這樣繼續，這樣會激勵你。

    Plan to beat your urges. It's best to start out by monitoring your urges, so you become more aware of them. Track them for a couple days, putting a tally mark in a small notebook every time you get an urge. Write out a plan, before you get the urges, with strategies to beat them. We all have urges to quit - how will you overcome it? What helps me most are deep breathing and drinking water. You can get through an urge - it will pass.

    抑制放棄的沖動。每個人都有想放棄的時候，把這些原因寫下來，做別的事情來分散它，譬如深呼吸，喝水，等等，放棄的沖動很快就會消失。

    Track and report your progress. Keep a log or journal or chart so that you can see your progress over time. I used a running log for my marathon training, and a quit meter when I quit smoking. It's very motivating to see how far you've come. Also, if you can join an online group and report your progress each day, or email family and friends on your progress, that will help motivate you.

    記錄進步。通過日志或者博客記錄自己的成長。這樣你可以清楚地知道自己離目標還有多遠。