I've come across a great idea I'd like to share with everyone; the good old kitchen scale! (I have to give credit to Bart for this idea) Maybe this isn't a new idea, but I used one today for the first time. This is a great idea for us noobs!
I noticed a couple of different ways it helped. For one, I have a tendency to bear down a bit as my mind wanders (as it inevitably will) and I forget to think "keep it light", and having the scale there forced me to pay more attention.
I also noticed that my push stroke was consistently heavier than my pull stroke. The visual feed back helped me to correct this flaw in my technique. A flaw I wasn't even aware of.
Having that scale and the instant feedback it provided really helped me to fine-tune my finishing strokes by giving me a visual cue when I strayed a bit.
I hope this can help some other new guys.
Cheers,