Do you want your life to be getting better and better? I know, I know, that’s a silly question. I know I want my life to be steadily improving, and I suspect just about everyone else does too. What a lot of people don’t know, is that there is a very simple technique which makes that easy. The method is so easy to use and straightforward that this article will be rather short. It’s just that simple.

    I was reminded of this technique when I saw it show up as one of the steps in Mark Joyner’s Simpleology program. That is just the latest incarnation, as it has been used by focused and successful people through history from great religious men to presidents.

    It is the continual process of self-review. I know you were expecting some fancy name with a trademark and what I gave you sounded really boring, but hear me out.

    What you do is to regularly (generally at the end of each day) think back over your day and write down the things you did wrong and what you can do in the future to keep from making the same mistakes. In the Simpleology program this is used to help analyze places where you are wasting time or reducing your energy, but the technique can be applied to anything.
Religious: I have read of great religious men of the past asking themselves each night how they could have been purer. If they had allowed some base thought in their minds, they would work to keep it from happening again.

    Health: What better choices could you have made in what you ate, how you exercised, or the activities you engaged in?

    Financial: Did you spend money you shouldn’t and how could you have used it better? What decisions could you have made to put yourself in a better financial position?

    Social: Did you say something you wish you hadn’t? Made some unwelcome joke or discouraging comment? Did you not say something you should have?

    You get the picture. This technique is adaptable to any area of behavior you are focused on. Not only that, but you don’t have to use it for some specialty. If you have a clear picture of the person you want to become, merely ask yourself what decisions you made that day that don’t draw you towards being that person. Figure out how you can avoid making that same mistake or a similar one in the future.

    THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Don’t forget to use this technique the other direction to help you reinforce positive behaviors. Whatever your goal is, ask yourself if you did anything that took you towards it, and figure out how to repeat that success.
I know, I know this all sounds so simple and self-obvious, but think of all the people you know who make the same mistakes over and over again. How many people do you know who seem to be on an endlessly repeating cycle of bad finances, bad relationships, bad morals, or whatever other area they struggle in? How many times have you wished that they could just see the same couple mistakes they make over and over again and fix them?

    All of us can benefit from this little technique, even if our poor choices aren’t major ones. In fact it is especially helpful because the little decisions which keep us from improving are not obvious so we don’t automatically work on them, and the decisions which take us forward may not have caught our attention so we don’t repeat them.

    The best part about this little technique is that it isn’t like those major goal setting sessions where you organize your life and try to change the entire course of your future in a single four hour euphoria-high session. That kind of overhaul can have it’s purposes, but your enthusiastic plans and goals are normally forgotten within days, until desperation drives you to do it again (i.e. New Year’s resolutions). No, this is a little habit that takes maybe five minutes an evening and keeps you on a steady even keel of continual improvement.

    Try it for a month or so. If you aren’t used to keeping a journal, it might feel weird, but just do it for a few minutes each night and then review your entries every month or so. You will find your negative behaviors steadily decreasing and your positive ones increasing, and you will get your wish of a life that gets better and better each day.

    你希望你的生活越來越好嗎？我知道這是個(gè)問題很傻。我知道我希望我的生活持續(xù)穩(wěn)步提高，但我懷疑其他人是否也希望如此。很多人并不明白只需一個(gè)非常簡單的技巧就可以達(dá)到這個(gè)愿望。這個(gè)技巧是如此簡單和直接，所以這篇文章也簡短。因?yàn)榇_實(shí)太簡單了。

    Mark Joyner的Simpleology課程中的一個(gè)步驟讓我想起這個(gè)技巧。Simpleology課程也是源自這個(gè)技巧，歷史上的專注和成功人士，從宗教領(lǐng)袖到總統(tǒng)都曾使用它。

    這就是持續(xù)的自省。我知道你期望的是列舉一些如雷貫耳的大名而不是我在這喋喋不休，但是請聽我講完。

    你要做的是定期地（通常在一天結(jié)束時(shí)）回顧當(dāng)天，寫下你做錯(cuò)的事和今后你該如何避免犯同樣的錯(cuò)誤。在Simpleology課程中，這個(gè)方法幫助你分析出在哪部分浪費(fèi)時(shí)間和精力，但該技巧可以用于任何方面。

    宗教方面：我讀到過歷史上很多宗教領(lǐng)袖每晚自我拷問如何能夠更加純潔，如果他們有絲毫雜念，他們會努力避免這些雜念再次發(fā)生。

    健康方面：在飲食、鍛煉和活動上你還能做出哪些更好的選擇？
財(cái)政方面：你是否花了不該花的錢？你本該如何更好的使用這筆錢？做出哪些決定本可以給你帶來更好的財(cái)政狀況？

    社交方面：你說了哪些不該說的話？說了哪些不受歡迎的笑話和令人泄氣的言論？又忘了說哪些你該說的話？

    了解了吧。這個(gè)方法可以用于你專注的任何領(lǐng)域。不僅如此，你甚至不用特別用于從事某項(xiàng)專業(yè)。如果你清楚自己想變成怎樣的人，只需要問問當(dāng)天你做了哪些決定讓自己與夢想背道而馳。弄清楚該怎樣做才能避免在今后犯同樣或類似的錯(cuò)誤。

    這一點(diǎn)非常重要！別忘了換個(gè)方向，使用該技巧幫助你強(qiáng)化積極的行為。不論你的目標(biāo)是什么，問問你自己你是否在朝這個(gè)目標(biāo)邁進(jìn)，并弄清楚如何保持這些進(jìn)步。

    我知道，我知道以上都聽起來極其簡單甚至顯而易見，但是想想你認(rèn)識的所有人都在一次又一次犯著同樣的錯(cuò)誤。有多少你所認(rèn)識的人正不斷置身財(cái)政困境無法脫身，深陷某段不健康的關(guān)系中無法抽身，又或是自我墮落無法自拔等等。多少次你曾希望他們能夠意識到自己在重復(fù)同樣的錯(cuò)誤，并且努力修正？

    這個(gè)小技巧能讓我們所有人受益匪淺。即使我們做出的選擇微不足道。事實(shí)上，正是因?yàn)榕c自我改進(jìn)相關(guān)的決定如此微小以致我們往往不會主動的注意。這些促使我們進(jìn)步的微小決定容易被忽略，而不知重復(fù)。

    該技巧最棒的地方是不像大型的誓師大會組織你的生活并試圖在某個(gè)四小時(shí)斗志昂揚(yáng)的聚會上改變你的未來。這類檢查有它自己的目標(biāo)，但你的滿腔熱情地計(jì)劃和目標(biāo)會隨著時(shí)間的推移而被忘卻，直到你絕望的再次重復(fù)（比如新年愿望等）。它只是一個(gè)小習(xí)慣，每晚只需花費(fèi)你五分鐘的時(shí)間，卻能促進(jìn)你持續(xù)不斷的進(jìn)步。

    試著堅(jiān)持一個(gè)月。如果你不習(xí)慣記日記，也許會有點(diǎn)不習(xí)慣，每晚五分鐘對一天做個(gè)回顧并在每月檢查你的記錄。你會發(fā)現(xiàn)你的負(fù)面行為在逐漸減少而積極行為持續(xù)增加，你會實(shí)現(xiàn)你自身的愿望變得越來越好。