{"id":72898,"date":"2019-11-17T20:35:19","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T04:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=72898"},"modified":"2019-11-19T18:03:34","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T02:03:34","slug":"do-self-affirmations-really-work-not-the-way-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/do-self-affirmations-really-work-not-the-way-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Self Affirmations Really Work? Not The Way You Think\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI am loved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am disciplined and motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling empowered yet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all read about self affirmations. Supposedly, you can say something about yourself so much that you actually become<\/em> who you\u2019re claiming to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except\u2026 if you\u2019re anything like me, it doesn\u2019t work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You say good and happy and empowering stuff while looking in the mirror, but\u2026 crickets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t feel any better. You don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re going to seize the day. You don\u2019t feel like all of the stuff you\u2019re claiming to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, okay. But this is a process, right? So you do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. Still nothing. Eventually, you give up the practice because it\u2019s proven about as effective as patching a bullet wound with a bandaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is, self affirmations do<\/em> work, maybe just not in the way you thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using self affirmations can actually make things worse.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The goal of using self affirmations is to feel better about your life, to demand more of yourself, to usher in a new level of discipline, joy, empowerment, and excitement\u2026 not<\/em> to feel worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, one study revealed<\/a> that using basic mantras as self affirmations (I am loved, I am powerful, I am awesome, etc) can actually backfire, triggering disempowering thoughts about how you\u2019re not any of those things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which kind of defeats the purpose of using self affirmations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But self affirmations don\u2019t always make the situation worse. Sometimes, they don\u2019t do anything at all (again defeating the purpose of using them). Psychology Today<\/a> references a study where the first group of participants was given a choice to use self affirmations and the second group was forced to use them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants in the first group who used affirmations of their own free will experienced a boost in performance and self-confidence. Participants in the second group who were forced into using affirmations experienced far fewer benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This indicates that, for self affirmations to work, you have to want it<\/em>. You have to believe they can work. You have to trust that they\u2019re going<\/em> to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this isn\u2019t the placebo effect running its rounds, I don\u2019t know what is. But that\u2019s okay \u2014 there\u2019s nothing wrong with tricking your mind into believing more empowering things about yourself, especially if those beliefs create long-term self-confidence and improve performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, self affirmations can<\/em> have just that impact on you if you add a little specificity and credibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me explain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to use self affirmations the right way. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Repeating short, meaningless matras to convince yourself that you are \u201cloved,\u201d \u201cpowerful,\u201d and \u201ctough\u201d doesn\u2019t do much good. Actually, those types of affirmations can backfire and make you think about how you\u2019re not<\/em> those things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why you need to add a little credibility to your affirmations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example: \u201cI woke up at 6am this morning and I am powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can even add a little specificity to make it more impactful\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI woke up at 6am this morning and I am going to seize the day like never before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we\u2019re talking. We\u2019ve added credibility to the affirmation; that is, evidence that you really are the way you\u2019re claiming to be \u2014 you woke up at freaking 6am! You must be ready to seize the day like never before!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This helps to remove any negative \u201cI\u2019m not really that way\u201d thoughts that usually negate the power of self affirmations. Now you have something tangible to cling to which proves that, yeah, you are<\/em> a badass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, adding specificity to your affirmations (\u201cI am going to seize the day like never before\u201d vs. \u201cI am powerful\u201d) makes the whole thing feel a little more real and a lot less cliche. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, what does being \u201cpowerful\u201d look like? What does it mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who knows! But \u201cseizing the day like never before\u201d \u2014 now we\u2019re getting a sense of productivity, efficiency, and even power. Adding that specificity increases clarity for how you\u2019re supposed to feel and what you\u2019re supposed to do after repeating the affirmation (rather than just \u201cYeah! I\u2019m powerful! But what now?\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve found that the two (admittedly oversimplified) ingredients for creating an effective affirmation, then, are adding evidence for the claim you\u2019re making and increasing the specificity of the affirmation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few affirmation templates you can use that I recently shared on Get Your Gusto Back<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n