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）.

    积极改变。如果你想克服自己现在一个坏的习惯，譬如抽烟，最好的办法就是用一个积极的习惯去替换它。

    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.

    给自己定一个30天的计划。要求自己每天都这样做，在每天都同一个时间，坚持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，不要告诉自己你应该去做这件事，或你可以做这件事，而是你必须做这件事。把自己100%的精力放在这件事上。放在你的博客上，这些正面的压力会激励你。

    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.

    犒劳自己。最好在第一个星期结束的时候犒劳自己，接着是第一个月，这样继续，这样会激励你。

    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.

    抑制放弃的冲动。每个人都有想放弃的时候，把这些原因写下来，做别的事情来分散它，譬如深呼吸，喝水，等等，放弃的冲动很快就会消失。

    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.

    记录进步。通过日志或者博客记录自己的成长。这样你可以清楚地知道自己离目标还有多远。