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In my last article, The Little Engine That Could, I brought up the concept of “affirmations”. In this article I’m going to show you how to design your own affirmations that will best help you to achieve your goals.
Just as it is important to set and work towards your own goals, it is equally important to create your own affirmations to support them. Why? Because you can believe yourself easier than you can believe somebody else. You can put more passion into your own affirmations.
What follows may seem a little long and drawn out, but I want to go into considerable detail for the benefit of the complete beginner. Once you’ve done it a few times it’ll very quickly become 2nd nature to you and you’ll be writing your own affirmations in a matter of seconds.
How To Plan Your Affirmations
Step 1 Area of desired improvement: Choose an area of desired improvement or goal to be reached. Identify the attitude or the change in feelings, actions, or results that you wish to obtain with the goals you have set. Write them down, be as specific as you can. Suppose you have decided to begin a plan of regular savings. Just saying that is too vague. You must know specifically how much you will save each month (or each pay period). What adjustments you will make in your spending habits and your attitudes toward money to make this possible. When you know what kind of person you must be to reach your goal, you are then in a position to begin working toward it.
Step 2 Benefits to be gained: Ask yourself the question, “What needs of mine will be met when I make these changes I have listed?”. Again, be specific. It is too vague to say, “I will be able to buy some things my family wants”. What things? How will those things improve your life? Which of your needs will be met? If the benefits you list are important to you, you are read to proceed to the next step.
Step 3 Trial affirmations: There are five important guidelines for writing affirmations…
- Use the personal pronoun, “I”. You can’t write an effective affirmation for somebody else. You can influence others, but you can’t internalise an affirmation for them. Your affirmations must fit your unique personality and must be a reflection of your values.
- State affirmations positively. It’s most likely that a good deal of your early conditioning has been heavily negative. Now you can get some balance with positive input. Imagine a set of scales with negatives on one side and positives on the other. The only way to tip the scales in your favour is to add more positive input. For example, if you use an affirmation that says, “I do not waste money”, you’re going to have a tough time imagining not spending foolishly. It is much easier to believe something like this: “I spend my money according to my spending plan for needs, savings, investments, and enjoyment”. This statement supports your important goals and promises personal benefits. You can get excited about it.
- Use the present tense in affirmations. A present tense affirmation allows you to know now how it feels to have or to be what you are affirming. You are setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Make affirmations fun. Let your “inner child” out as you write your affirmations. Remember how thoroughly you could feel joy and excitement when you were a child? Give yourself permission to feel that way now. Think about the benefits you will have when you reach your goals, and you can enjoy them now as well as later.
- Write your affirmations. The need for writing affirmations is the same as the need for writing goals. Writing crystallises thought, and thought motivates action. Writing keeps you on track and combats distraction. It provides spaced repetition and multi-sensory perception. It helps you experience results ahead of time.
Step 4 Affirmation evaluation: Once you have written your trial affirmations, go back over them using the guidelines just given. Check to see that each one contains the personal pronoun, “I”. Get rid of all the negative words. Look for things like “I will”, “I intend”, “next year”, and anything else that implies future possibility instead of present reality.
Step 5 Redefined affirmations: Once you’ve completed step 4 and have made all the corrections, write out your affirmations in their final (corrected) form.
Step 6 Spaced repetition: Affirmations work when they are used with spaced repetition. Part of the reason for writing them is to provide a means of spaced repetition. Remember, you are who you are today because of the spaced repetition of the past. You can change your habits, attitudes, and actions in the same way… through controlled repetition. You might be surprised that others notice changes in your personality before even you realise they are there.
How To Use Them
Affirmations can be used in dozens of ways to reinforce the habits and attitudes you want to develop. Write them on 3×5 cards to carry in your wallet or purse. Keep them in your desk drawer, tape them to the sun visor of your car, on your bathroom mirror. Anywhere you can see and read them repeatedly. Affirmations that might be a little more personal than usual that you don’t want others to see could be written in a little notebook and kept on your bedside table. Read them last thing before you go to bed, and first thing when you wake up in the morning. There’s no better way to start your day than with some positive affirmations.
Here’s a couple of more “high tech” uses. Record yourself speaking your affirmations, save the recordings in MP3 format. Now dump them onto your iPod or MP3 player along with your music. Have the affirmations play interspersed between the songs. Just put it on random shuffle. You could even create some images of your affirmations (pretty sure something like photoshop can do this, GIMP certainly can) and then use these images as the wallpaper on your computer desktop.
As often as you can, when you read them, read them out loud. And put as much emotion into it as you can.
A Few Examples
Finally, I want to leave you with a few example affirmations to give you a bit of an idea.
I bring great concentration to bear upon any subject that concerns me.
I focus on my goals with controlled attention, concentrated energy and sustained effort.
I can focus my undivided attention on a particular task at any time.
I am productive. I achieve maximum results in minimum time.
I respect myself.
I have complete confidence in all I think and do.
Since thought precedes action, I choose my thoughts carefully. I am consistently pleased with my behaviour.
I learn something new every day.
Every problem I encounter is a new door to be opened and an opportunity to be creative.
I am a mature person. I know myself and my capabilities.
I keep in touch with reality and plan my actions accordingly
Once I make a decision, I take action.
I am in complete control of my words and actions at all times.
I accept the responsibility for who I am, what I think, and how I act.
Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.
Till next time…
Help me write more great articles like this, fuel my mojo with a coffee!
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A great look at affirmation Steve.
I think a lot of people struggle to use and understand them properly but if they follow your suggestions they should have great success with them.
I’ll spread affirmation love!
What’s your affirmation?
.-= Ben´s last blog ..How to be a better dad =-.
Hi Ben!
Thanks! What’s my affirmation?
How’s that?
.-= SteveYoungs´s last blog ..Getting Your Hands Dirty With Affirmations =-.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
That’s a great one Steve – you just need to work toward it now
Not many places to go
.-= Ben´s last blog ..How to be a better dad =-.
In my mind, mate, I’m already there!
Twitter: SteveYoungs
I can’t wait till I do another round up then
.-= Ben´s last blog ..How to be a better dad =-.
What are you two like?! Lots of loving affirmations going on here Steve
Ben’s right though, your suggestions are very practical.
Your use of the word ‘I’ to make them personal reminds me of a CD I was given ages ago. The lady on it had taken promises in the bible and re-written them into an affirmation. Before that, I always thought of affirmations as being a bit weird. I still prefer to say things like this in my head but that’s just a confidence thing. I sing in my head a lot too
Great practical post, re-tweeting now.
Eleanor
.-= Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..When Charity Doesn’t Cost a Penny =-.
Hi Eleanor!
Thanks so much for the comment and retweet!
Twitter: SteveYoungs
This is great advice and clear instructions about doing it. This is one of those things that I know about. Think about doing once in a while but don’t actually sit down and do. This is a great resolution for the new year even if we are almost into the second month.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..Feedback and Connections =-.
Hey Ralph!
Thanks for stopping by again, mate. Really glad you found my article helpful.
Twitter: SteveYoungs
[...] the articles, “The Little Engine That Could“, and, “Getting Your Hands Dirty With Affirmations“, I spoke about affirmations as a tool to help you solidify your belief in your ability to [...]