In an earlier posts I've commented on the difference between first-order and second-order desires and on the usefulness of thinking of oneself as a sequence of "I"s over time. Both concepts come into play with new year's resolutions, and the two together illuminate why such resolutions are usually unsuccessful. A resolution is something the current you wants, but doesn't expect, future yous to do, and so the current you tries to coerce future yous to act a certain way. In other words, the current you has a second-order desire that it wants to impose upon future yous by changing their first-order desires. For a variety of reasons (most coiled up in our DNA), second-order desires are rarely capable of changing first-order desires, and for most people, the future yous will do whatever they want. If you genuinely want your new year's resolutions to be successful, the most effective technique is to change the reward/punishment matrix of future yous so that the option the current you prefers becomes the best one for future yous. For example, consider signing a binding agreement requiring you to give a friend a certain amount of money if you violate your new year's resolution. Make it enough so that sticking with the resolution becomes the best option for future yous, but not so much that if you simply can't keep the resolution you get angry with me for having suggesting this idea.