 Hey psyched goers, welcome back to our channel. It's a new year and a new you, right? Well, it may seem easy enough to make and start your New Year's resolutions, but keeping them is an entirely different challenge. According to researcher John Norcross, it takes around three months for a change in one's life to become a part of their routine, though the real goal is six months. Norcross, who's a psychology professor at Scranton University and author of Changeology, Five Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions, says about 40% of people will stick to their New Year's resolutions after six months. With a good plan, focus, and enough determination, these resolutions will likely stay with you for life, and they'll no longer need to be defined as resolutions. They'll simply be a part of who you are. So, what plan should you take to really keep your resolutions? Well, here are six psychological tricks that may just make your New Year's resolutions stick. Number one, start with one goal first. Have you ever been so excited to make your resolutions that you started off with too many? The first week of your new year, you may start off with multiple goals to achieve for the week. This will likely overwhelm you and leave you depleted of any energy or motivation. We need to be rewarded for achieving one goal first. That goal needs to already be down the path to becoming a routine before we throw in another one. Start with one goal for the week. Then, if you feel confident in the success of that goal, toss in another one as a companion. Then, maybe two weeks from there, add another one. You can still achieve all of your resolutions, but for the first week or month, start with implementing just one. Number two, plan ahead. While it's a great feeling and idea to make a wish on New Year's Eve at midnight, it's not the only thing you should do. We should always plan for our resolutions and not just expect them to happen when we feel like it. Most successful resolutioners, resolutionaries, people who are successful with their resolutions, usually plan a week in advance of New Year's Eve. You can start anytime, but make sure you have a plan. A resolution isn't a wish. It's not a dream, nor cross-reminds. It's identifiable behavior that you can work on. So, let's say you want to learn French. Don't give yourself the pressure of having a resolution be to speak fluent French by the end of the year. Instead, your resolution should be practicing French every day, each week. Sooner or later, you'll be saying, Bonjour, c'est Gores. La victoire est la mienne. Number three, use your brain's reward system. We all love rewards. We love to earn something that reminds us of our accomplishments. So why don't we simply use our brain's classic reward system to our advantage? According to Elliot Berkman, director of the University of Oregon's Social and Effective Neuroscience Lab, you'll need to replace a negative habit with a positive one. Meaning, if you want the darkness to go, open your drapes and bring in some sunshine. Berkman further explains that habits are behaviors that become entrenched because of our very evolutionary ancient reward learning system. So isn't reward a good thing? Well, a habit is first formed when we are consistently rewarded for doing a certain action. Sooner or later, voila, it becomes a habit. So reward yourself for not doing something bad and when you're doing something good. If you feel the urge to watch TV when you're trying to turn down your TV time, remind yourself you'll be rewarded with your favorite snack when you click off the television and instead go study. We got some French to learn. Number four, make a list and keep a daily planner. Writing your goals and your plans for them down can make them seem clearer. If you know you have a hard time keeping track of your plans or habits, it's best to make a list or write in a planner. Try to track your goals through smaller steps and write them down on a to-do list. Then when you complete one step in achieving your goal for the day, check it off as a reward. Research focused on motivating consumers from loyalty programs found giving consumers two free punches on a frequent buyer card encouraged repeat business. So go ahead and give yourself an easy step to start off with for your list. Perhaps like making a list. You can also write down your tasks for the day and their rewards in a daily planner. Number five, adjust your environment. Our environment can give us little reminders to what we should be doing. Use this to your advantage. If your goal is to eat healthier, try placing the unhealthy food at the back of the cupboard or fridge. Instead, place your healthy meal up front and make your healthy meal look scrumptious. Delicious lettuce wraps. What an amazing creation. If you have more reading or French to get to, then place a book by your bedside or put your French book under your alarm clock. We need those visual reminders. Number six, remove environmental triggers. Just as we want to add healthy reminders to forge new habits, we also want to eliminate the things around us that can trigger bad habits. So if you know you're spending too much time playing among us on your phone, maybe it's time to delete the app. Too much screen time in general? Store your phone away for the day if you know you won't be expecting any important calls. What about those delicious Cheeto puffs you eat too much of? You know what to do. Bring out the lettuce wraps. So what are your New Year's resolutions? Which will you implement first? And which tricks will you use to make them stick? Share with us in the comments. We'd love to hear your story on why this resolution is important to you. And when all else fails, remind yourself of why you wanted this resolution in the first place. Imagine how excited you'll be when you achieve it. It may just spark excitement and motivation in you. That is, if your list's two free punches didn't. If you found this video helpful, don't forget to click the like button and share this video with someone who might need it. Subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon for more content like this. As always, thanks for watching and we'll see you soon.