Self-Monitoring is the practice of observing and making a written record of behaviors, thoughts and feelings. It is a powerful tool for habit change, and it is the foundation of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
Self-monitoring has several benefits for habit change:
- It increases self-awareness. So much of what we do, think, and feel is automatic, and self-monitoring makes you slow down and examine your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. It helps you recognize why, when, where, and how much you act or think in a particular way. For instance, you may know you have an anger management problem but not realize how frequently you get angry or what and who makes you angry. Getting more detailed information can help you decide how to tackle the problem.
- It helps you change the way you act, think, and feel. Awareness is the first step to habit change, but sometimes awareness leads to immediate habit change. I saw this when I was doing a study of a weight loss program. I wanted to get a baseline measure of what my study participants were eating before they started the program, so I asked them to keep food diaries for one week without changing the way they ate. Most of them came back pleased with the fact that they couldn’t follow my instructions. The act of keeping the food diary was already causing them to eat smaller portions and make better food choices.
- It improves your ability to manage emotions. It often feels like negative emotions are the automatic outcome of certain events. If you believe this, your confidence in your ability to change may be low. But if you self-monitor negative emotions, you will start to notice events, situations and thoughts that are frequently associated with those emotions. Sometimes just noticing what caused a feeling can give you a greater ability to control it. Often, you will recognize situations you can change or limit to reduce the intensity of negative emotions. Self-monitoring can also unearth distorted thought patterns you can learn to challenge to improve your emotional well-being.
- It helps you achieve goals. Self-monitoring a behavior you want to change keeps you oriented to the task. It allows you to see how much progress you are making and adjust your efforts as needed. For example, studies overwhelmingly show that people who weigh themselves at least once a week lose more weight than people who don’t weigh themselves. Furthermore, people who stop weighing themselves after losing weight are more likely to gain it back. Knowing you weight is crucial to knowing if your weight management strategies are effective.
One theme that runs through all these benefits is that self-monitoring fosters self-control and autonomy, qualities vital for successful habit change.
Specific self-monitoring strategies include:
- Food diaries for eating disorders or weight management
- Thought records for learning to manage anger, anxiety, and worry
- Activity logs to increase engagement in pleasurable activities for people with depression
- Worksheets for identifying triggers for alcohol or drug use
- Goal tracking worksheets for setting and assessing progress toward goals
Keep in mind that self-monitoring is a skill that improves with practice and training. It will likely feel difficult in the beginning if you’ve never done it before, but don’t give up. If you stick with it, you will find it rewarding even when progress toward your ultimate goal seems slow. Self-monitoring gives you a record of both your efforts and your outcomes, it keeps you motivated to put in some effort every day, and you can gain a sense of accomplishment from seeing how long you’ve stayed on course with your efforts.
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