Resolves face high failure risk

London: Millions of us will fail to keep our New Year's resolutions because we are getting bad advice from self-help books and agony aunts, researchers say.

They found that four out of five of those who pledge to give up smoking, lose weight or start a new relationship are unwittingly setting themselves up for failure.

The study of 700 Britons led by psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman of Hertfordshire University, revealed that those who failed tended to dwell on the bad things that would happen and removed temptations.