評論
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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.
監督自身行為
[9]20年來我一直在閱讀有關自我監督的研究報告，而且自己也做過一些研究。老實說，我仍未完全弄懂，為何自我監督這種方法行之有效，但它確實有效，而且對多數人都效果顯著。實際上，只要你常留意自己的所作所為，很可能就會表現得更完美。
[10]經常稱一稱體重，你或許就會真的開始減肥。記錄下自己每天的飲食，你可能就會更為明智地選擇用餐。
[11]試著用一些小把戲吧。如果你總是把“you know”掛在嘴邊，就在手腕上戴個高爾夫計數器，每當意識到自己說一次“youknow”時就按一下計數鍵。我敢打賭，過不了幾天，你就不會那么頻繁地說起它了。倘若嫌戴腕部計數器令人難堪，那么就在每說一次“you know”時把口袋里的一張紙弄破一個小洞。其結果是一樣的：你會變得更留意自己的行為，因而也就表現更佳。
[12]如果說這樣的方法聽起來頗為荒唐，請記住：自我監督的力量已在40年來所進行的各種研究中得到了證實。我和克萊爾·戈斯于1978年發表的一篇研究報告中就有一個實例。我們教一個愛搗亂的五年級小男孩每天對自己的課堂表現做兩次等級評定。他只是簡單地給自己打個分數，以表明自己上午或下午表現得如何好。隨著自我監測意識的增強，他比平常更能待在座位上，完成的作業也更多了，而且很少再惹麻煩了。
[13]加拿大研究人員托馬斯·麥肯齊和布倫特·拉希爾所做的一項類似研究表明，在青少年拿到出勤單以紀錄出勤時間后，他們會更加及時地趕到，參加游泳訓練。東南路易斯安那大學的索尼亞·卡爾和新奧爾良教師麗貝卡·龐佐在研究過情緒失常兒童后發表報告稱，自我監督能改善這些孩子在閱讀、數學和拼寫方面的學習表現。最近的研究甚至表明，學生只要得到一張含有優秀寫作要素的簡要清單，就能寫出更好的故事來。大量研究都取得了類似的結果，而且都是通過加強自我行為意識而得出的。
