From Time:
Yes, behavior change is difficult, but a lot of recent science and data show that it is absolutely possible when done right. The key is to base the process on tiny, incremental, daily changes that cumulatively become healthier habits. As Dr. Kevin Volpp, Director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, and Alisa Camplin-Warner, a two-time Olympic medalist, wrote in a paper about what elite athletes can teach us about healthier behaviors: “Coaches try to break goals down to a point that the first levels of goal achievement are almost guaranteed… Psychologists call this goal gradients—the idea that people work much harder to achieve goals that are seen as being in reach.”