Do Affirmations Really Work?

Remember “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley”?  In the Saturday Night Live skit, Al Franken plays the (psychologically weak) host of a daily affirmations show. If you haven’t seen it, watch this one; it’s one of my favorite episodes, mostly because it includes Michael Jordan.

I have to be honest: I am about 80% on board with the use of daily affirmations as part of one’s growth mindset routine. The remaining 20% that is lacking is because I think many people execute and create their affirmation content in a poor manner by basing them purely on hopes. This week I’d like to share with you my daily affirmations, provide a few tips on how to write your own, share ideas to increase your likelihood of actually using them, and explain some common pitfalls regarding affirmations.

This is my current set of daily affirmations:

Lord, erase my fear of failure or rejection and remind me of my gifts and your guiding hand. By your grace, help me do the work you have set aside for me.

• • My metabolism rate is at its optimum and it helps me in reaching my ideal weight.
  • I love eating healthy food and exercising daily; it helps me reach my ideal weight.

• • My business is growing, expanding, and thriving.
  • I have the right to be successful. I have the ability to be successful. I am personally responsible for my level of success. I create my success through my thoughts and my actions!

• • My beautiful and healthy family is my greatest asset.
  • My greatest legacy in life is the success of my children.
  • I am a family man, first and foremost.
  • My family relationships are filled with love, joy, and happiness.
  • My marriage and family are the most sacred aspects of my life.

As you can see, I start with a short prayer and then I specifically cover three additional domains that are of the utmost importance to me. I reevaluate this multiple times a year, but they are initially based on my goals for the year or for this stage in my life. You’ll notice that it is void of “manifestation” talk or “law of attraction” speak. Those two approaches are typically heavy on hopes and light on action. You CANNOT purely speak your hopes and dreams into existence; only action does that. (Hence, Three Action Thursday.) So there’s no “bring me a million dollars” or “I will own a Ferrari” in my affirmations. Mine tend to be extensions of things I am already doing in hopes of reminding myself to keep pushing forward and not rest on my laurels.

To increase the odds of actually completing my daily affirmations, I have created a Google calendar entry with the text included in the body of the notice. A calendar reminder is then sent to me as an email and phone reminder 10 minutes after I wake up. That has made it easy to ensure that my affirmations are part of my morning routine.

**Action: Write a set of daily affirmations and add them to your morning routine.**

Thanks for reading today! This may not have been my best piece, but it doesn’t matter because “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it people like me!”