IELTS Reading: New Year's Resolutions

I usually write something about New Year's resolutions on January 1st, so here's some useful advice from a recent article on the Psychology Today website:
...

How to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

While New Year’s resolutions are popular – about 40 percent of people make them, according to one source – few people actually succeed at keeping their resolutions. Researchers were able to draw some conclusions about why some people are successful at keeping resolutions, while others aren’t.

The most important factor in predicting success was self-efficacy – the belief in one's ability to get the job done. That likely means that you have spent some time thinking about and planning how to achieve your resolution, and also whether your resolution is realistic.

There is one other important note: Researchers found that people who were successful at keeping their New Year’s resolutions slipped, or made mistakes. In fact, 71 percent of people who were successful in their resolutions slipped in the first month. Interestingly, people who were not successful slipped at the same rate. But the people who were successful didn’t quit after making a mistake. And in many cases, they doubled their efforts after the slip. This demonstrates that persistence is also key.
...

Note:
In short, the advice is to think about your goals, believe that you can achieve them, and keep trying, even if you slip or make a mistake. Good advice for IELTS preparation.

Happy New Year!

Comments

[sami]

Hello Simon,
Happy New Year 2018!

Here is wishing ​your family​ and you​ the most promising and fulfilling New Year 2018! May god bless you with everything you desire and ​I hope that you ​will​ lead a long, healthy, happy and​ wonderful life!
Thank you SO MUCH ​for teaching us the most useful lessons and being the most helpful person and​ the most supportive teacher to us.
If you hadn’t helped me, we, learners, wouldn’t be able to follow my dreams in life. Thank you for everything.

[Jane Park]

Thank you Simon!Hope I can get a good mark on next week IELTS test..^_^ I'm so nervous about my writing test...

[Phong]

Happy new year!
Thank you Simon.
Wish the good things come to you and your family as the good you are doing here and elsewhere.

[Yolanda]

Happy New Year!! Simon. Thank you for putting effort into this website that helps me preparing IELTS. I wish I can pass IELTS in 2018!!

[Phielts]

Simon Corcoran should resolve to spend less time on the internet

[huong]

Happy New Year! Simon.
You have been pushing lots of learners in their IELTS path by your own blog. I love the way you show your opinions throughout this blog, like this article. I wanna say a thing from the deep down of my heart : Thank you so much!!

[Siham]

Happy New Year Simon,
I wish if I knew about you few years ago, I would definitely achieved the required score. Bless you

[Gigi]

@Siham

"I wish if I knew .." -> I wish I had known...ago; I definitely would have achieved..
OR Had I known ... I would have definitely achieved ...

[NguyenKao]

Happy New Year Simon.

I wish you the best.

Thank you so much for helping me with your lessons and advice. This benefits me a lot.

[Xuân Đức]

Happy New Year Simon,

Thank you so much for your useful site.
Wish you and your family new year with health, pleasure and prosperity.

[Kawshalya dulanjani]

Happy new year sir
Thank you for your every effort. It is really important to get high score for IELTS exams.

[Khoa Nguyen]

Happy new year to you, Simon.
This is the first time that I've ever written some comments on your website.
Your effort to deliver us useful ideas, lessons and advice means a thousand words.
Anyway, I hope that I can do well in an ielts test ahead. Cheers!

[Simon]

Happy New Year guys!

[Aman]

Happy new year sir.