How to stick with your New Year resolutions beyond January

January is a test of mental strength. We’re now 15 long days into 2018 and those resolutions you made two weeks ago are quickly losing their novelty.

No wonder: a salad lacks appeal on a cold winter day, job-hunting is testing when Netflix calls and marathon training feels insurmountable when you can barely make it to three miles without feeling dizzy. You’re still waiting for the day you wake up feeling like an Olympic hero.

But realistically, morphing into Mo Farah won’t help you to achieve your resolutions anyway. In fact, according to a new book, Stick With It: The Science of Lasting Behaviour, by Sean Young, a professor at UCLA, you don’t need to change who you are as a person to make change last: you just need to understand the science behind lasting behaviour.

This is a guide to sticking with it beyond January.

Step by step

The behavioural science shows that focusing on small steps improve your chance of success, but few realise just how small the steps should be. “Small means tiny,” explains Young. He advises creating mental “stepladders” made up of goals and steps: a goal should take no more than a week to accomplish, and a step should take two days max.

“A teacher’s dream might be to change the world by teaching students to become successful world leaders,” Young says. “His goal could be to get a struggling student interested in maths by the end of this week. His initial steps might be to find a student who is struggling at maths, invite the student to meet with him, and have them both block off times to get together.”

This can be applied to other examples like marathon training — a step could be to learn breathing techniques — or to losing weight, in which a step could be to buy a food diary.

Hack your brain

Telling yourself this year will be different is pointless, says Young. Instead, change your actions and the mind will follow. As you have “chosen” to make the change, this convinces the brain that the action must be important and it also tricks your mind into thinking it’s part of your identity. Young calls these mental shortcuts “neurohacks”.

Take your new year’s resolution to stop procrastinating: the neurohack approach would be to start a podcast on how to stop procrastinating. “Leading other people in how to stop procrastinating can make it easier for the leader to stop procrastinating, too,” Young observes

Play the game

You’re more likely to keep your resolutions if they come with rewards — so “gamify” them. Make sure it’s not just any reward, says Young, but one that is “captivating”. Gamify your new fitness routine: download Strava and challenge yourself against your friends. If you’re motivated by money, create a commitment contract with your mum for your new diet: she’ll pay you a pound if you lose a pound, and you’ll pay her if you gain weight. Brutal, but effective.

End decision fatigue

Many successful people say their success wasn’t down entirely to talent, but also to using their time efficiently. Young calls this “routinising”: sticking to a standard formula so you can limit the number of decisions you need to make.

The theory has high profile disciples: Barack Obama was known for routinising his meals and sticking to the same “uniform” of grey or blue suits, which saved time and energy for important decisions; Mark Zuckerberg owns about 20 versions of the same shirt so he doesn’t have to make outfit decisions in the morning.

Young suggests routinising your resolutions. Plan your gym sessions: write them in your diary and set an alarm. If you’re trying to be more productive at work, set aside your first five minutes of every day to desk meditate and mentally plan out your day ahead.