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Supervising' self-discipline'

It may sound ironic, but the business of encouraging and monitoring self-discipline is creating new jobs. On Taobao, China's leading e-commerce platform, people can hire a supervisor who will help clients achieve their goals.

If a client is learning to play piano, for example, the supervisor will urge them to keep practicing and help make plans to achieve their goal. The client needs to report their practice results by sending videos to their self-discipline supervisor. In some cases, only by reporting to the supervisor can a task be completed or commenced.

The self-discipline supervisors can offer services such as calling and urging a client to get up early at 7 am, or to go to bed before 11 pm.

Happy Relief Grocery Store, an e-commerce shop on Taobao, which offers the services of self-discipline supervisors, has over 3,000 orders a month. The self-discipline supervisor services are offered for 7 to 30 days, and range in cost from 6 to 700 yuan.

"My first customer was a young woman, who wanted me to help her lose weight," said Zhu Hecun, 24, who opened the shop online six years ago when he was still in college.

"She had a clear goal and a plan for meals and workouts. So my job was to call her after she had her meals and had done her workout. I also called her from time to time to check if she had eaten snacks or chocolate."

Now, he has had over 40,000 orders and about 70 employees.

Most of his customers want supervision of their weight, monetary savings, and study commitments.

Zhu also has costumers who want to be reminded to call their parents every week, or be told to stop contacting their ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends.

The service requires customers to be highly coordinated and their goals have to be realistic and manageable, he said.

"We cannot be sure that our service will help them achieve their goals because self-discipline is about many elements, such as time management and self-control," Zhu said.

"This kind of service provides support through companionship and can also help ease anxiety, depression and other negative emotions."

Zhu said he himself has been inspired by a supervisor.

"I lost 35 kilograms in one year by having someone else be my self-discipline supervisor," he said.