The science of setting goals.

It’s the time of year when we think to ourselves: our New Year’s resolutions will totally work out this time. 【小题1】. But what if this year really could be different? Kelly McGonigal, a psychologist, shares four tips.            

Choose a goal that matters, not just an easy win. Our brains love rewards, so we often set simple goals that make it easy to check off boxes. But if that’s all are about, no wonder we end up abandoning them so quickly. A meaningful goal requires going deeper. 【小题2】. For example, if you want to quit eating junk food, ask why you want to quit it. Then, if you want to quit it for your health, ask why you want good health.

【小题3】.When we set goals, it’s easy to focus on that magical ending. But we can’t control outcomes. We have to inch toward them, one choice at a time. Ask yourself, “What is the smallest thing I can do today that helps me reach my goal?” If you make daily choices that are consistent with your goal over and over again, you will eventually reach it.

Frame your goals positively. Focusing on what you want to bring into your life –not what you want to avoid — will make you more likely to actually pursue it. “Any sort of avoidance is going to trigger inhibition systems. 【小题4】,” says McGonigal.

Prepare for failure. Moments of failure are inevitable, but most of us abandon the goal entirely when minor failures and setbacks start piling up. Your task is not to avoid failures, but to plan for them. Ask yourself, “How am I likely to fail?” For example, if you’re likely to choose unhealthy meals when you’re hungry, carry a light snack that can tide you over. 【小题5】.

Tips on Learning Math

While you are sitting in a math class listening to your teacher multiplying (乘以) and adding endless numbers, math can become boring and uninteresting quickly.【小题1】. Here are some tips that can help you.

Learn math tricks. There are many tricks in math that save you enormous time. For example, adding up all the numbers from 1 to 100 is a lot of work. But, check out this easy way to do it: 100+1=101 and 99+2=101, right? So does 98+3, 97+4, 96+5, etc. So, if you multiply 101 by the number of these pairs, you’ll get the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 100, which is 5050.【小题2】.

Make math easy. Math can be difficult to learn because students are often taught to learn math by memorizing formulas (公式). However, by learning math this way, students aren’t taught the principles and concepts. But the principles and concepts are needed to understand why a particular formula is being used.【小题3】. You can ask your teacher why and how a particular formula works, while others do not.

【小题4】. For example, if you’re interested in historical landmarks, learn about the math involved in building these landmarks.

Connect math to everyday life.【小题5】. For example, if you have an alarm clock, chances are that you will figure out how many extra minutes you can sleep before you get out of bed once you hit the snooze button (贪睡按钮). Try to notice the different ways you do math in your day-to-day tasks.

Get Better at Saying No

“No” is a short, simple word that can cause anxiety for the person trying to say it. The following strategies can help you get better at saying no.

【小题1】 Sure — but as psychologist Vanessa Bohns points out, leaving it at that is often pretty uncomfortable. Instead, she advises communicating three things: “It’s not because of me, it’s not because of you, and it’s not because of us.” 【小题2】 This reassures them that they didn’t do anything wrong by asking. Then, follow up with a short explanation: “I wish I could, but I just don’t have the time right now.” That helps make it clear that your “no” isn’t a poor reflection of your own character; it’s not the other person; and it’s not a disapproval of the relationship, Bohns says.

Not every situation, of course, calls for such a thoughtful approach. Think through times when you’ve gotten stressed over delivering a quick “no”, and then brainstorm phrases you could use in the future. Bohns, for example, is often asked to donate to some cause or another as she checks out at the grocery store. 【小题3】 “It’s true, and it’s a way of saying, essentially, that I’m still a good person,” she says.

There’s always that one guy who won’t take no for an answer. If someone is applying undue pressure, adopt what psychologist Ellen Hendriksen describes as the broken-record technique. 【小题5】 Occasionally, the asker will get irritated (恼火的), she says — but usually after repeating yourself two or three times, even the most persistent (执著的) people will get the message.