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Monitor Your Behavior
[9] I've been reading research studies on self-monitoring for 20 years, and I've conducted some myself. To be honest, I still don't fully understand why this technique works, but it does, and remarkably well for most people. The fact is, if you monitor what you do, you'll probably do better.
[10] Weigh yourself regularly and you may well start to lose weight. Keep a record of what you eat and you'll probably start eating more wisely.
[11] Use gizmos. If you say "you know" too much, wear a golf counter on your wrist, and press the button whenever you catch yourself saying "you know". I'll bet you say it less frequently in just a few days. If a wrist counter is embarrassing, then make a small tear in a piece of paper in your pocket each time you say "you know". The result is the same : you become more aware of what you're doing, and that makes you perform better.
[12] If techniques like this sound silly, keep in mind that the power of self-monitoring has been demonstrated by a variety of research conducted over the last four decades. In a study I published in 1978 with Claire Goss, for example, we taught a disruptive fifth-grade boy to rate his own class-room behavior twice a day. He simply checked off a score for himself, indicating how well-behaved he had been in the morning or afternoon. With his awareness increased, he stayed in his seat more than usual, completed more assignments and rarely got in trouble.
[13] A similar study by Canadian researchers Thomas McKenzie and Brent Rushall showed that teenagers arrived more promptly at a swim practice when they were given an attendance sheet to record their arrival times. Working with emotionally disturbed children, Sonya Carr of Southeastern Louisiana University and Rebecca Punzo, a New Orleans teacher reported that self-monitoring improves academic performance in reading, mathematics and spelling. Recent research even demonstrated that students will compose better stories given a simple checklist that includes elements of good writing. Dozens of studies have similar results, all spurred by height-ening our awareness of our behavior.
监督自身行为
[9]20年来我一直在阅读有关自我监督的研究报告，而且自己也做过一些研究。老实说，我仍未完全弄懂，为何自我监督这种方法行之有效，但它确实有效，而且对多数人都效果显著。实际上，只要你常留意自己的所作所为，很可能就会表现得更完美。
[10]经常称一称体重，你或许就会真的开始减肥。记录下自己每天的饮食，你可能就会更为明智地选择用餐。
[11]试着用一些小把戏吧。如果你总是把“you know”挂在嘴边，就在手腕上戴个高尔夫计数器，每当意识到自己说一次“youknow”时就按一下计数键。我敢打赌，过不了几天，你就不会那么频繁地说起它了。倘若嫌戴腕部计数器令人难堪，那么就在每说一次“you know”时把口袋里的一张纸弄破一个小洞。其结果是一样的：你会变得更留意自己的行为，因而也就表现更佳。
[12]如果说这样的方法听起来颇为荒唐，请记住：自我监督的力量已在40年来所进行的各种研究中得到了证实。我和克莱尔·戈斯于1978年发表的一篇研究报告中就有一个实例。我们教一个爱捣乱的五年级小男孩每天对自己的课堂表现做两次等级评定。他只是简单地给自己打个分数，以表明自己上午或下午表现得如何好。随着自我监测意识的增强，他比平常更能待在座位上，完成的作业也更多了，而且很少再惹麻烦了。
[13]加拿大研究人员托马斯·麦肯齐和布伦特·拉希尔所做的一项类似研究表明，在青少年拿到出勤单以纪录出勤时间后，他们会更加及时地赶到，参加游泳训练。东南路易斯安那大学的索尼亚·卡尔和新奥尔良教师丽贝卡·庞佐在研究过情绪失常儿童后发表报告称，自我监督能改善这些孩子在阅读、数学和拼写方面的学习表现。最近的研究甚至表明，学生只要得到一张含有优秀写作要素的简要清单，就能写出更好的故事来。大量研究都取得了类似的结果，而且都是通过加强自我行为意识而得出的。
