Are you looking for a way to encourage yourself this year? If so, you may have heard about positive affirmations. These are things that we tell ourselves repeatedly to encourage a specific thought or feeling to induce a positive frame of mind. Now, even though affirmations sound great in theory, most everyone wants to know the answer to the following question before giving them a shot; “But, do affirmations work?”
So, if you’ve ever asked yourself this question, then you’ll enjoy this post, as we aim to answer this very important question for you. With that said, let us first comb through some important points below, and see if incorporating positive affirmations into your daily life is something you should begin doing.
What Is the Goal of an Affirmation?
First things first, it’s vital that you know what the purpose or goal of an affirmation, before you even attempt to put them to use.
With that said, chances are, you’ve heard of affirmations before as it is a term that has been growing in popularity over the past two decades. For example, some of the more popular ones are, “I believe in myself.” or “I am worthy of what I desire.” There are also many people who say, “I choose a positive attitude .” Of course, there are plenty of other affirmations to choose from, this is just a small sample to help you understand how/why people use them.
In essences, affirmations are short statements that are relatively easy to remember. They are designed to shift your focus away from prior failures, perceived inadequacies, and other obstacles that might get in the way of your success.
In short, affirmations are meant to help you develop a positive mindset. Thus, by changing your mindset, they are supposed to put yourself in a better position to succeed. No doubt, affirmations sound great in theory, but do affirmations actually work? This is the million dollar question.
Affirmations Work
Yes, affirmations work. If you identify positive affirmations and use them properly, you can change the way you approach difficult situations. They can give you the confidence you need to take an important rest, take on a new challenge, or overcome significant obstacles.
Everyone is slightly different, so everyone will find that some affirmations work well for them, while others don’t. The key to effectiveness, is to experiment with different affirmations.
Thus, you’ll want to consistently test a few out over time, especially if you want to maximize your chances of success.
How Do Affirmations Work?
So, it is great that affirmations work, but how do they work? Affirmations take advantage of something called neuroplasticity.[1] This is your brain’s ability to change what you’re doing and adapt to different situations. Life can change quickly, and your mind has to change with it if you’d like to be successful.
When you use affirmations, you are essentially creating a mental image of yourself being successful. For example, if you want to conquer heights, you may imagine yourself skydiving. If you want to conquer your fear of public speaking, you’ll envision your successful delivering a speech without a hitch. Thus, when you repeat these affirmations to yourself, you are effectively encouraging your brain to change the way that it processes the experience in your mind.
Even though affirmations can work well for you, you need to use them properly if you want to maximize their benefits. What do you need to do if you want to get the most out of positive affirmation? Follow these steps:
1. Start With Your Negative Thoughts
If you want to write positive affirmations, the first thing you need to do is focus on your negative thoughts. After all, you’re probably writing positive affirmations because you have a difficult time overcoming a negative mindset.
There are plenty of ways you can approach this issue. For example, if you always think to yourself, “I make a lot of mistakes,” then you might want to choose a positive affirmation that is the exact opposite of this. For example, you might want to say, “I am capable of making the right decision.” You need to choose something that is the opposite of a negative thought if you want to create a positive affirmation.[2]
2. Use the First-Person
Remember that your positive affirmations are supposed to focus on you. Therefore, you need to use the first person when you write positive affirmations. You should always start with the terms such as “I” or “Me.” That way, you focus your positive affirmations on yourself.
3. Always Use the Present Tense
The goal of a positive affirmation is to help you overcome a challenge right now. Therefore, you need to write them in the present tense. You should not write them in the past tense because you do not want to focus on what has happened previously. You also do not want to write affirmations in the future tense because you want to give yourself the inspiration to act right now.
If you really want to push yourself, you may want to include something like, “right now” or “immediately” as a part of your affirmation. That way, you encourage your body to make the change now.
4. Keep the Affirmations Short
You want your affirmations to be easy to remember. Therefore, you should try to keep them short. Try to limit your affirmations to fewer than ten words. If your affirmations get any longer than this, they become very hard to remember.
If you need help keeping your affirmations short, be specific. Choose one, focused detail, and make sure your affirmation focus is on that specific issue. If there are other things you want to talk about, you can always create more positive affirmations later. There is no limit to the number of affirmations you can write.
5. Practice Them Every Day
Now that you have written a positive affirmation or two, you need to incorporate it into your daily routine. Try to practice your positive affirmations every day. For example, you may want to start by repeating them to yourself 10 times when you wake up in the morning.[3] Try to do this before you even climb out of bed.
Then, before you get back to bed, end your day on a positive note. Spend a few minutes repeating your positive affirmations to yourself. That way, you go to bed in an optimistic mood.
6. Ask for Help When Needed
Finally, remember that you don’t have to go through this on your own. Ask for help if you need it. There is no shame in asking for help, and you may want to talk to people who have successfully used positive affirmations before.
You may even want to reach out to a healthcare professional who can give you some pointers. It can be a challenge to write positive affirmations, and it can be a challenge to incorporate them into your everyday life. You might want to reach out to a professional who can assist you.
Incorporate Positive Affirmations Into Your Life
Hopefully we’ve answered the question on whether or not affirmations really work? And by our analysis, yes affirmations do work, and they are a great way to improve not just your mindset, but your life. With that said, even though affirmations can work, you need to use them properly if you want to get the most out of them.
Similar to other activities, it takes some practice to get good at incorporating affirmations into your life. If you want to get the most out of your affirmations, you might want to reach out to a professional who can help you. That way, you can take a well-rounded approach to your mindset and slowly, but surely improve your overall quality of life.
Till next time,
STRIVE
PS – If you enjoyed this post related to how affirmations work, then you’ll enjoy these additional supporting resources on affirmations:
