A common tool in the personal development toolbox is affirmations. I’ve been working with affirmations on and off for the past six months and I’ve seen some positive results from them.

What Are Affirmations?

So what exactly are affirmations? Affirmations are positive, present tense, specific statements that are repeated to oneself regularly. The idea is that the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction. It’s sort of like the “fake it ’til you make it“  principle. As mentioned, affirmations should be present tense. Stating things that you’d like to see in the future tends to convince the subconscious mind that you should not have those things now. Affirmations should also use positive wording and descriptive emotional adjectives such as confidently and joyfully. The subconscious mind cannot distinguish between positive and negative statements. Lastly, affirmations should be specific. Affirming for something vague like more money or being happy is akin to wishing and does not provide clear direction for the subconscious mind to act upon.

So, for example, if you would like to use an affirmation to get out of debt, you’d want a positive statement such as “I confidently enjoy a positive net worth in excess of $100,000″ instead of something like “I am joyfully debt-free and pay all my bills in full and on time”. Even though both may seem positive, the second one still subtly focuses on debts and bills while the first one focuses on abundance. Most importantly though, your affirmation needs to be somewhat believable to yourself. Trying to affirm a billion dollars for yourself when you’re in debt probably won’t work so well.

How Do You Use Affirmations?

Typically, you should use affirmations for a period of at least 30 days to cement them into your mind. Thirty days is generally recognized as the period of time needed to form a habit although, depending on who you talk to, you may be able to get away with as little as 21 days or it may take longer. One key thing to keep in mind is that you need to repeat your affirmations daily. Apparently, in a NASA study done on the ability of the eye to adjust to adverse conditions, a group of astronauts were required to wear glasses that inverted their vision. The study found that after 25-30 days, the astronauts’ brains would adjust the incoming signal so that everything appeared normal despite the inversion effect of the glasses. Even more interesting, they also found that if the glasses were not worn for even a single day in the 30 day “adjustment” period, the process was reset. That is, they had to do 30 days consistently without exception or all progress was lost.

Some people will recommend that you use your affirmations upon waking and just before going to sleep as this is when the mind is most receptive to suggestion. Personally, I state my affirmations at the same time that I watch my Mind Movies in the morning and evening.

Another consideration is whether it’s sufficient to state your affirmations in your mind or if you need to state them out loud. I normally state my affirmations internally only since my dogs get all bent out of shape if I speak when it’s quiet in the house; they seem to think I have something for them. However, if you can state them out loud, I suspect this is preferable as you’ll be getting the message of the affirmation through two channels instead of just one.

Another technique that can be used is writing out your affirmations by hand much like doing lines in school. Or, you can write out your affirmations on 3×5 cards which can be carried with you and read (out loud) whenever you get a moment. I’ve tried this during my Midday Timeouts but find it a bit awkward in public places. Still, this may be a useful technique if you can use it.

Complementary Techniques

Affirmations are similar to, and can be used in conjunction with, a vision board. Although I haven’t created a full-fledged vision board myself, I have made a bit of a vision board around my affirmations. They can also be used with visualization and/or meditation. I have not tried either so I can’t really say whether it helps or not.

Keep ‘Em Fresh

I’ve been using one core affirmation for the past 40 days and I’ve definitely seen results. However, it occurred to me today that maybe I need to switch things up a bit. My current core affirmation is seeming a bit stale and it’s become difficult for me to work up the associated positive emotions that help power it. So, I’m going to try a variation for the next 30 days and see how that works out.

In addition to my core affirmation that I have been focusing on, I have several additional affirmations that I try to use regularly. I have found that having too many affirmations tends to dilute my focus but you may want to have a few instead of just one. You could develop an affirmation for each of the areas of your life that you wish to work on. For myself, I have one specific area that seems to need more work than the others so I’ve concentrated on that.

Finally, you may wonder whether you should share your affirmations with others. You may have noticed that I have not shared my current affirmation. Personally, I prefer to keep them to myself since my affirmations tend to be very specific and somewhat of a stretch for me. You may wish to share them with those you trust and who are close to you but I’d say don’t make them public. If you really need to share with the world, restate your affirmations as goals/plans and share those instead. Of course, if you’re affirming out loud it may be a good idea to let your loved ones know what you’re doing so they don’t think you’re crazy.

Have you tried affirmations? Have they worked well? Or not so much? Let me know what you think.

- Dave