Positive affirmations are a staple practice in personal development.

Affirmations, as the name suggests, are statements that you ‘affirm’ or repeat to yourself – in your mind or out loud – to encourage you and to reinforce a more empowered way of thinking.

Many self-help gurus and proponents of The Law of Attraction preach the ‘magic’ of positive affirmations. On social media, you can find countless motivational ‘quotes’ pictures that display these positive statements.

Many successful achievers have also claimed that much of their success comes from reprogramming their mind through the power of positive affirmations.

However, despite their popularity, affirmations also get a lot of criticism.

Many would dismiss them as just ‘feel good’ statements. Unrealistic, ‘head-in-the-clouds’, wishful thinking.

Critics would argue that true personal growth should be based on productive action and objective goal-setting, not repeating mantras that have no basis in reality.

So the question remains: do positive affirmations work?

I would say: it depends on how you use them.

My Experience Using Positive Affirmations

I first came across the concept of positive affirmations when I first read personal development books in 2009.

The first personal development book I have ever read was ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ by Norman Vincent Peale.

It was in this book where I first learned about how the thoughts you repeat to yourself on a daily basis can have a profound impact on your life.

Positive thoughts can create positive results.

At that time, it was a paradigm shift for me – because I was maturing out of my insecure teenage angst phase. Positive thinking was a breath of fresh air and gave me a lot of motivation to start changing my life for the better.

Soon, I was practising positive affirmations. I wrote them down in a book and started repeating them daily.

“I am confident”

“I am disciplined”

“I am charismatic”

“I am committed to success”

“I am in control of my life” 

At the time, I was open to learning.

Even though ‘confident’, ‘disciplined’ or ‘charismatic’ were not words that others would describe of me – nor were they words I would use to describe myself – I was hopeful that one day I would become those things.

So I repeated them frequently without thinking too much on whether they worked.

I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?

Fortunately, I had a healthy belief that if I was to truly change my life, it would probably take time.

Eventually, I got bored and lost the habit.

I would occasionally pick up the habit of repeating affirmations for a short while, but drop them again.

Despite not being consistent with affirmations, I continued to upgrade myself through books and strive towards my goals.

Years later, I realized that some of the compliments I received from others were the same affirmations I had ‘installed’ in myself a long time ago.

When I was in university, 5 years after I first practised affirmations, my friends and teachers would describe me as ‘confident’, ‘disciplined’ or ‘charismatic’.

I felt like the seeds I planted had finally started to bear fruits.

Was my transformation purely because I had chanted some magic words to myself?

I highly doubt it.

But I can’t say that they were completely useless.

In all my years studying peak performance, I’ve come to understand the power of repetition and its potential to rewire our minds.

Positive affirmations, if used effectively, can be an incredibly powerful tool in your journey in personal transformation.

So today I’m going to share with you what I’ve learnt on how you can make positive affirmations work for you.

How To Make Positive Affirmations Work For You

#1: Simplicity

They work if they easy and simple to repeat

They don’t work if they are too long or difficult to repeat 

The whole idea of affirmations is that they must be simple enough for you to repeat – or even chant – to yourself every day.

They should be simple enough for you to remember so that your brain can accept them easily and therefore, create neural pathways that reinforce these statements.

Instead of saying: “I am radiating and bursting with impressive, undeniable confidence each and every day.”

Try: “I radiate absolute confidence”.

Keep your statements simple and choose words that are meaningful to you.

When your affirmations are short, they can become easily accessible mantras that you can practice daily with little difficulty.

They may sound powerful when they are long, but they can be just as effective and even more impactful if they’re concise.

Repeating the same things to yourself again and again can get boring really quickly.

So choose inspiring statements that give you a mood boost from saying them.

#2: Motivating

They work if they encourage and inspire you

They don’t work if they are too far from reality 

One reason why many people quit using affirmations is that the statements they repeat to themselves are just untrue.

This is called cognitive dissonance.

It’s that feeling of discomfort when you claim to be something that’s incongruent with who you actually are.

It’s like being obese and constantly affirming to yourself “I am fit and have six-pack abs”.

You know it’s B*S.

Affirmations don’t work if your mind rejects them from the outset.

In order for them to work, you need to choose ones that are encouraging and not too far off from reality.

Let’s say you’re obese and you want to have six-pack abs.

Sure, there are many case studies out there of people who used to be obese and radically transformed themselves.

But you don’t become less obese by changing your mind.

You become less obese by changing your behaviours, choices and thinking.

Your body is clear evidence of the contrary.

So when you keep saying “I’m fit and have six-pack abs”, your mind goes “yeah, right.”

Your current reality does not allow it to readily accept the notion of “I’m fit and have six-pack abs”.

So instead, choose an affirmation that is growth-centric, rather than result-centric, such as:

“I am 100% committed to improving my fitness”

“I am getting fitter and fitter every day”

“I am working hard every day to get abs”

Your affirmations are working if you’re inspired to make a plan, start watching your calories, and start working out!

#3: Detachment From Outcome

They work if you repeat them patiently without attachment to outcome

They don’t work if you are impatient 

If you’re implementing #1 and #2, then now it’s all about making your positive affirmations a habit.

I find that affirmations are the most effective when they are done in a spirit of hope, patience and delayed gratification.

If you expect to start making millions after a week of chanting “I’m a millionaire”, then you’re only fooling yourself.

Affirmations are not about manifesting the results you desire in the quickest way possible.

Affirmations are about gradually shaping your mind and sculpting yourself into the best version of yourself.

The short-term benefit of affirmations is that they put you in an empowered state to go out and make your dreams a reality.

The long-term benefit of affirmations is seeing your dreams become reality after years of effort and personal growth.

I started to become what I affirmed only because I wasn’t desperate to change. I gave myself time and eventually succeeded in acquiring the ideal traits I’ve always desired.