Making affirmations work for you

Do affirmations work? Yes, they absolutely can – but only if you use them the right way. In my experience, you have to do three things to make them work:

Be consistent – Repeating your affirmations on a regular basis keeps them in your focus and top of mind. When you repeat regularly, you will be more likely to see the solutions that will help you reach your goals.

Be positive – Make your affirmation a positive condition, rather than a negative one. Your subconscious does not understand negatives – a statement like, “I am not fat” heard by your subconscious will be translated as “I am fat” (since not is not part of its vocabulary.) Instead, rewrite your affirmation like this – “I am slender and healthy.”

Be present – Bring your affirmation into the present as if it already exists. By acting as if you have what you want, it’s easier to manifest what you want.

I have had varying success with them – it really depends on how committed I am to using them on a daily basis. But after reading this Wired story about Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert), I’m more convinced that they not only work but also extremely powerful.

From the article:

Years ago, when his career was first getting started, he came to rely on daily affirmations. He decided that in order to manifest his goals, he simply needed to keep repeating them. In 1983, while readying himself for business school, his credo was “I, Scott Adams, will score in the 94th percentile on my GMATs.” He scored in the 94th percentile. Five years later, just before selling Dilbert, it was “I, Scott, will become a syndicated cartoonist.” Now he constructed a new affirmation, one that played in his head all day, every day: “I, Scott, will speak perfectly.”

Read the full article here