When speaking of setting a goal, most of us feel highly excited to set goals that are seemingly attainable for the new year, such as losing weight or quitting smoking. We tend to be very ambitious when writing down our plans, looking forward to achieving breakthroughs in the new year. However, in reality, we just end up giving up on them and put it behind us much before the end of the year.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology showed that about 50 percent of people make new-year plans, but 88 percent of them failed in the end. A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 7 out of every 10 smokers in the US express that they want to quit smoking. However, in reality, less than 15 percent really manage to do it. Barack Obama is one of them. When he served as the senator of Illinois, he resolved to quit smoking, and Michelle Obama gave him an ironclad demand that he should not succumb even during the stresses of the campaign. But the New York Times reported at the end of 2008 that “his good-humored waffling in various interviews about smoking made it plain that Mr. Obama, like many who have vowed to quit at this time of year, had not truly done so.”

Why do we always fail to reach our goals despite so many of the plans we make? Why is it so hard to implement them, despite our strong will and motivation? What actually determines our success and failure? If we want to reach our goals successfully, what should we do exactly? Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals will help us answer these questions.