5 science-backed tips for actually achieving your goals

Researchers say we have more control over our willpower than we think

Believing in your own abilities can propel you toward successfully achieving your goals.
(Image credit: iStock)

It's May. Do you know where your New Year's resolutions are?

There's a reason we rarely talk about long-term goals after January: We don't want to be reminded that our stick-to-it determination is, in fact, not so sticky. Most of us think of willpower as a fixed commodity, something we are either blessed with at birth, or doomed to suffer without for life. But psychologists who study willpower and self-control say that's not the case. We have more control over willpower than we think, and we can game the system in our favor.

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Tammy Kennon
Tammy Kennon is a career journalist whose work appears in The New York Times, USA Today and Cruising World magazine, among others. After traveling aboard her sailboat for three years, she moved to Seattle where she writes about mental health, travel, and things too interesting to ignore.