Do you do affirmations? If so, when’s the last time you sat down and asked yourself if they’re actually working for you?

What I’ve seen over the years looks something like this….

There you are, reciting your affirmations with as much enthusiasm as possible. Only 3 more to go before you can check this off your daily success habits list and move onto the next peak performance strategy you’ve got.

You’ve done these affirmations for what seems to be an eternity and keep doing them because you’re “supposed to” yet they don’t seem to be working and every time you recite them in the back of your mind you’re reminding yourself what a “liar” you are.

Sound familiar?

Trust me, you’re not alone. This is a common problem. And clearly, you’re doing these affirmations because you want to get ahead in life.

So just why aren’t these affirmations working and what can you do about it so you stop wasting your precious time?

Let’s start here.

What’s an affirmation?

An affirmation is the action or process of stating something as a fact. They’re words or phrases that evoke a positive state of mind or something one desires, like “I am powerful”, “I am beautiful”, “I am healthy and strong”, “Money flows to me easily and effortlessly”.

They are closely related to mantras which are rooted in Buddhism and Sanskrit. Affirmations have been a fundamental component of many personal growth and development programs since the explosion of personal growth and development. In Napoleon Hill’s Think and Frow Rich, he devotes an entire chapter to autosuggestion, implying that if you repeat something often enough, eventually you’ll believe it. As scientific research evolved and developed, the impact of positive affirmations has been proven to help people achieve success, reduce negative behaviors and increase positive ones.

These days, many successful entrepreneurs, leaders in business, writers and celebrities like Anthony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Jim Carey, Denzel Washington, Lady Gaga, and Selena Gomez use affirmations as part of their mindset and success formula.

If your affirmations are working for you, amazing. Keep doing what you’re doing. There’s no need to read the rest of this article. However, if they’re not, you may be wondering….

If science proves that affirmations work, why aren’t they working for ME?

Let’s address the elephant in the room. You’ve been following all the rules. You’ve carefully selected your affirmations, you repeat them daily, perhaps even several times a day and you aren’t seeing improvement. Why is that?

Here are a few typical reasons your affirmations won’t work for you. You may be encountering one or many of them.

1.Your affirmations don’t align with you, your truth or desires.

Affirmations must be personalized for you. If you think you can Google the top 50 affirmations and pick them off a random list, good luck!

Affirmations are repeated over and over again, so if you don’t choose the right affirmations, you’ll be reinforcing something misaligned, wasting your precious time on something unnecessary or feeling like a liar as you say them.

There are many ways to create powerful affirmations that work. My favourite are through Time Line Therapy (we do this process in the Ultimate Breakthrough), Praxis Statements and Decision

2.Your affirmations are too big of a jump.

If you’re just getting started in business, haven’t earned a single dollar yet and are saying “I’m a billionaire business boss” when you have no context or neurology for what that even is, you’ll get backlash because your unconscious mind is doing its best to protect you from a perceived danger and in this case, failure.

I help clients create Progressive Affirmations in our Abundance Accelerator Program to ensure they’re truthful and headed in the right direction.

3.You’re on autopilot and simply going through the motions.

It’s easy to rush through them to check them off your list in attempt to get that dopamine hit and say you’ve completed your mindset routine. If you don’t actually have any positive feelings or connections to them. There’s no meaning or depth as you do it.

Set yourself up for success and make sure you do them at a time and in a place where you can get emotionally involved so you can actually feel it.

4.You say them once and expect them to manifest.

Tony Robbins say that “repetition is the mother of skill” and he’s right. There are two way to change a belief: massive emotional impact and constant paced repetition. It’s just like a baby learning to walk. They don’t just get up and get going the first time around. They keep practicing even when they fall and get back up with enthusiasm over and over again. This I not one-and-done, you must keep coming back to the affirmation until it becomes a part of you.

Be patient with yourself

Affirmations are a wonderful tool that can fuel you forward or pull you back. When you take the time to create and repeat the right affirmations for you with enthusiasm and do it consistently, you’ll need a telescope to see how far you’ll go in a short period of time.

Realize this is a work in progress. Sometimes you can get it on your own and sometimes you need help.

If you’d like to learn how you can develop the skill to master your affirmations and get them working for you, book a complimentary Strategy Session.

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Let’s face it, some days don’t go according to plan and the stress, anxiety and frustration build. Yet, no matter how much you tell yourself you are being “positive”, you know you’re just faking it and everyone else sees you are too (whether they admit it to you is a different story).

Here’s the thing, when you’re in a negative state, you may not be able to jump from a negative mental mindset to a pristine positive one. It’s not natural and too big of a jump for most humans on the planet.

My suggestion is to get yourself to neutral and then see if you want to continue going up from there. You may, you may not. Either way, the choice is yours and remember it’s your choice.

So next time you are in a funk, check out my Top 5 Mindset Reset Tools that I share with my clients and use myself to reset my mood and elevate my emotions. Best of all, each of them takes 5 minutes or less!

1. Grounding breath with peripheral vision

Stand tall with your feet flat on the floor. Keep your head and chin level and look up with just your eyes. Breathe slowly in through the nose and strongly out through the mouth taking 7 counts or more per inhale and exhale. Do as many breaths as you need to feel calmer and more relaxed in your body. You will have your own physical sensation for this, notice it. Once you’ve entered a state of calm, keep your eyes looking up and gradually allow your gaze to expand out to your sides as far as possible, then imagine that gaze continuing around and connecting behind your body. Lower your eyes and continue with your day.

This exercise will get you into your parasympathetic nervous system and out of your negative emotions. Do it as many times as necessary throughout your day.

2. Do something (anything) fun, physical or that gets you to laugh

When your body moves, your energy grooves. When you or your energy is stagnant, it’s easy to get down. When you’re off, change what you’re doing, perhaps go load or unload the dishwasher or go do the laundry, head out for a walk around the block, do some random burpees, pushups, squats or jumping jacks, turn on some fun tunes and dance around or sing out loud, find some silly YouTube or social media videos (Celeste Barber is certainly my go-to on Instagram). Let your intuition guide you as to what you need at this time.

This will allow you to fill a need you meet a need you have and be able to reset yourself to move on with your day.

3. Rewrite your reality

When you’re off, sometimes you may want to complain and let it all out. This is your chance. Grab a piece of paper and write a few sentences that express how you’re feeling. Say the exact words you’re thinking in your head (you’re not writing a piece of literature) and don’t hold back. When you’ve emptied out, identify how that makes you feel.

Then, take out a fresh sheet of paper or your journal and answer this question “in a universe where anything is possible, what would I want and how would that make me feel?” Write that out and hold those thoughts in your mind for a few seconds. Allow yourself to feel the good feelings and just sit with this moment.

Throw our or tear up the negative story. Energetically let it go. Reread the good story and step into the good feelings once again and fully embrace them.

Do this exercise as many times as necessary throughout your day, or reread the positive story to lift your spirits as your day goes on.

4. What do I want now?

If you’re off, you have some immediate needs that need to be met. It’s important you acknowledge what they are.

Ask yourself, “what do I want now?” then answer with a word or simple phrase for each of the following aspects of yourself: your physical body, vital body, mental body, emotional body, spiritual body

You may find that simply emptying out allows you to feel better and more complete. Sometimes you may need to take a small action towards one of these immediate needs and the rest will organically take care of themselves.

Do this a few times a day and notice how your needs shift throughout your day.

5. Gratitude

Neville Goddard says that “gratitude brings your whole mind will come into closer harmony with the creative energies of the universe” and he’s right.

When you allow yourself to be grateful for the things you have in your life, it will stop stagnation and connect you to a source of infinite supply of anything you need, wish and desire, including a better day.

A grateful mind continually expects good things and expectation becomes faith. There is a natural and organic flow.

There are so many ways to give gratitude, say thank you, write a few things you’re grateful for, complete a full gratitude practice.

I’ve created a Gratitude Guide with some amazing gratitude practices to get you started or enhance your current practice. You’re welcome to access it here if you’d like some guidance.

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