内容来源：https://lifehacker.com/work/add-cues-to-new-years-resolutions?utm_medium=RSS

内容总结：

每逢新年伊始，健身房的动感单车课程总是座无虚席，但这样的热闹景象往往持续不到二月——随着“一月加入者”陆续离开，课堂又恢复了往常的规模。作为长期执教该课程的教练，我虽为这些新面孔的流失感到惋惜，却始终相信：新年计划绝非注定失败，关键在于找到科学的执行策略。

研究表明，将具体行动与生活场景深度绑定，能显著提升计划达成率。这种方法的核心在于“情境提示”——通过将新习惯嵌入既有生活节奏，使其逐渐自动化。例如：

• 若计划储蓄，可设定“每消费X元，即转入Y元至储蓄账户”；
• 若想提升工作效率，可尝试“每工作25分钟，休息5分钟”的番茄钟法则；
• 将“下班后换上运动鞋直奔健身房”与工作日结束信号相关联。

这些策略融合了目标管理的SMART原则（具体、可衡量、可操作、现实、有时限）与“习惯叠加”技巧：把想培养的新习惯（如每日回复邮件）与已固化的旧习惯（如早晨喝咖啡）相结合，让旧习惯成为新行动的天然触发器。就像我们清晨会自动煮咖啡、出门前会下意识拿钥匙一样，当行动提示与生活场景紧密挂钩，目标实现将更水到渠成。

成功实施需注意三个要点：

1. 提前铺陈执行条件（如提前将运动装备放入通勤包）；
2. 利用日历提醒等可视化工具强化提示；
3. 预留调整空间——习惯养成平均需两个月，期间可优化提示时机（如将“洗碗时给家人打电话”调整为“早晨开车上班途中通话”）。

新年计划从来不是空洞的决心游戏。当抽象愿望转化为与生活脉络交织的具体行动，改变才真正开始生根发芽。

中文翻译：

多亏了我在动感单车工作室兼职授课，得以近距离观察到一个年年上演的现象：年初那几周，由于人们纷纷许下新年决心，我的课堂总是爆满；可一到二月中旬，学员规模便恢复正常，留下的老学员都庆幸那些"一月加入者"终于散去。不过，看到新面孔消失我总会感到遗憾，因为我始终相信，许下新年决心并持之以恒是可能实现的——即便这并非普遍现象。

临近新年时，你可以在健身内外设定各种自我提升目标，但无论你决心做什么，制定确保落实的执行策略都至关重要。提高成功率的方法之一，就是为你的决心附加"触发点"。以下是其原理与实践方法。

如何为新年决心设置触发点

目标越具体，实现效果越好。这几乎是普适真理，因此我建议从学习到个人效率规划等所有事项都采用SMART目标原则。简而言之，SMART目标需具备明确性、可衡量性、可操作性、现实性和时限性。例如："今年前三个月，我每周会准备四餐便当，之后评估是否可增加数量或维持现状。"显然这比"今年开始备餐"的模糊表述更有效——但SMART目标仅是选项之一，我们还有更多方法值得探索。

假设周六早晨你想整理居住空间，明确"打扫卧室"比笼统的"打扫房子"更容易成功，对吗？对于需要规划全年改变的新年决心而言，这种具体性尤为重要。与其说"要吃得健康"，不如明确饮食中缺乏的元素并细化目标，比如："我每天要增加10克蛋白质摄入量。"

这正是触发点体现价值之处。研究表明，为目标添加触发点（即预设行动触发器）能提升执行效果。微观层面，我常通过"习惯叠加法"推荐这种策略：将想培养的新习惯（如每日处理未读邮件）与已固化的习惯（如晨间冲泡咖啡）绑定执行。在重复旧习惯时同步进行新习惯，久而久之新习惯便会根深蒂固。

触发点如何运作

我们依赖自动化程序处理日常事务，比如起床后自动开启咖啡机、出门前顺手取钥匙。这些场景中，起床和出门动作本身就是触发大脑执行后续步骤的信号。围绕触发点构建决心，同样能使其转化为本能习惯。例如：

• 若新年决心是在十二月前攒够特定金额，可设定为："每消费X元，就转存Y元到储蓄账户。"
• 若想提升工作效率，可将番茄工作法转化为决心："每工作25分钟，就休息5分钟。"
• "坐到办公桌前时，立即回复所有新邮件。"
• "会议结束后，冥想5分钟。"
• "下班后，换上运动鞋直奔健身房。"
• "晚间6点新闻结束时，给母亲打电话。"

这种方式既融合了现实目标设定所需的具体性，又结合了久经考验的习惯叠加法，比模糊的"多锻炼""常联系家人"等愿望更能导向成功。

触发点策略的有效性原理

将决心与现有触发点绑定能提升坚持概率，原因有三：首先，你正在大脑中创建自动化程序，如同条件反射般让潜意识在触发点出现时自动行动。虽然需要数周有意识的努力，但你已经明确知晓执行新习惯的时机，这相当于成功了一半。

其次，这种方式能减少失误空间。若没有明确的日程和触发点，很容易遗忘或主动回避新任务。在日历设置提醒同样有效：推送通知能强化执行时机，可视化提醒还能避免时间冲突。例如，若设定"下班打卡即去健身房"的触发点，可能需要数周来养成拒绝下班酒局邀请的习惯，而每日在日历标注该时段能帮助你保持正轨。

不过，你需要通过若干准备确保触发点与行动切实可行。前文"下班后换上运动鞋"的例子中，必须提前将运动鞋装入通勤包才能实现。若需先回家再去健身房，很可能因惰性放弃锻炼。过去几个月我的目标是养成晨练习惯，为此调整了生活方式，其中最关键的步骤就是前一晚摊开运动服、鞋袜和健身配件，这样醒来只需穿戴整齐即可出发。

坚持与调整

最初几周请坚持触发点策略，但也要留出调整空间。你可能会发现预设的时机与现有日程冲突。若无法协调，目标就很难持续。研究显示，采用触发点法形成习惯平均需要两个月，这段时间正好用来记录哪些方法有效、哪些无效、哪些需要调整。例如，若想加强与亲友联系，最初设定"每晚洗碗时打电话"，却发现晚上过于疲惫或外出就餐频繁导致难以执行。此时不妨将触发点调整为"早晨坐进通勤车时联系家人"。关键在于，找到最佳时机后就要持之以恒地执行。

英文来源：

Thanks to my gig teaching spin classes, I have a front-row seat to a reliable annual phenomenon: My classes are packed for the first few weeks of the year as people make New Year's resolutions—but by mid-February, I'm back to teaching normal-sized groups of people who are grateful the "January joiners" have cleared out. I'm always sad to see the new faces go, though, because I do think it's possible to set a New Year's resolution and stick to it, even if it's not the norm.
There are plenty of self-betterment goals you can set as a new year approaches, both in and out of the gym, but no matter what you endeavor to do, it's important to have an implementation strategy that ensures you'll actually get it done. One way you can better situate yourself for success is by attaching "cues" to your resolutions. Here's why it works, and how to do it.
How to tie your New Year's resolutions to cues
The more specific your goals are, the better they'll turn out. This is true for pretty much everything, which is why I recommend SMART goals for everything from studying to mapping out your personal productivity roadmap. For the unfamiliar, a SMART goal is a well-defined goal that includes specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound elements, like, "I will meal prep four meals per week every week for the first three months of the year, then determine if I have the capacity to add more or should stay at four." Already, you can see how that's better than, "I will start meal prepping this year"—but SMART goals are just one option and we have more to explore.
If you wake up on a Saturday morning and want to tidy up your living space, you'll have more success defining a room you want to clean up than attempting to just generally "clean the house," right? When it comes to New Year's resolutions, that specificity is important, since you're planning for 12 months of change and you'll need some kind of road map. Instead of saying your resolution is to "eat healthier," you should define what your diet is missing, then drill down on it: "I want to eat 10 more grams of protein every day," for example.
This is where cues are going to become valuable. Research shows that adding a cue—literally, a set trigger for action—to your goals can help you implement them better. On a smaller scale, I've recommended this kind of approach through something called "habit stacking," which you can do when you attach a habit you want to build (like answering all of your outstanding emails every day) with one you already have down pat (like making and drinking your morning coffee). You carry out the new habit while doing the old one and, over time, the new habit becomes engrained, too.
The Daily Newsletter
We rely on automatic processes to do the standard stuff in our daily lives, like how we just automatically turn on the coffee pot after waking up or grab keys on the way out the door. In those cases, waking up and walking out the door are actually cues that signal to our brains it's time to fulfill the second half of the process. Building your resolutions around cues will help them become second-nature habits, too. Here are some examples:
If your New Year's resolution is to save a certain amount of money by December, make it something like, "When I spend $X, I'll move $Y into savings."
If you want to be more productive at work, try turning the Pomodoro technique into a resolution: "When I work for 25 minutes, I'll take a five-minute break."
"When I sit down at my desk, I'll answer all new emails."
"When my meetings end, I'll take five minutes for meditation."
"When work is over, I'll put on my sneakers and head straight to the gym."
"When the 6:00 news ends, I'll call my mom."
Doing it this way combines the specificity needed for realistic goal-setting with the tried-and-true method of habit stacking, setting you up for more success than a vague desire to "work out more" or "call home more" ever could.
Why cues work for New Year's resolutions
There are a few reasons tying your resolutions to existing cues will help you stick with them. First, you're creating those automatic processes in your brain, basically Pavlov-ing your subconscious self into taking action whenever your trigger occurs. It will take a few weeks of conscious effort, yes, but you will already know when you're supposed to act on your new habit, which is half the battle.
Operating this way also leaves less room for error. If you don't have a defined schedule and cues in place, you can easily forget to do your new task—or maybe even actively avoid it. Sticking reminders into your calendar can help here, too, since the push alert can further emphasize that it's time to get down to business—plus, seeing a visual reminder that you have something to do can stop you from double-booking. If your cue to go to the gym is clocking out at 5, it will take a few weeks for you to get into the habit of declining an invitation to go for after-work drinks, so having it blocked out on the calendar every day after work will keep you on track. You'll need to set yourself up for success by taking a few steps to make sure your cue and action are possible, though. In the example above—"When work is over, I'll put on my sneakers..."—you need to have your gym shoes packed in your commute bag for it to work. If you have to go home between the office and the gym, you might not be so easily roused into going back out to complete the workout. My goal over the past few months has been to be more of a morning exerciser. I did a lot of lifestyle restructuring to make that possible, but among the most crucial steps was laying out my activewear, sneakers, and gym accessories the night before so when I wake up, all I have to do is put them on and leave.
Stick with your cues, but give yourself some space those first few weeks. You might find that the timing you set up doesn't work well with your existing schedule. You just won't stick to the goal as well if you can't make it work. Research shows that if you're following the cue method, it will take about two months, on average, for the habit to form, so use that time to take note of what's working, what isn't, and what could be changed. If you have a goal of being more connected to friends and family, for instance, you might align your cue to call home with the time you spend doing the dishes every night, only to find you're too tired in the evening or eat out too frequently for that one to stick. Switching the cue to calling home when you get in the car to head to work in the morning might work better. Just make sure you stick to it once you figure out the best timing.