How Are Affirmations Effective

A lot of people try using affirmations as a way to change or improve their lives, but some are skeptical about whether they work. It can be difficult to determine if affirmations actually do help or not because you cannot compare yourself against them.

You could say your own personal beliefs and experiences are what matter most, so unless you believe that affirmations don’t work, then it is impossible to know if they do or not.

It is also important to remember that everyone says things differently, so what works for one person may not work for you. People’s emotions and psychology are different from culture to culture, which makes comparing results tricky.

That said, there are several theories about why affirmations work (or don’t work) when it comes to changing habits and behaviors. The following will go over some of these theories including motivational theory, cognitive theory, and systematic desensitization. These theories can apply to both internal and external affirmations.

This article will also talk about how to use affirmations effectively. We will discuss how timing is very important in adding affirmations into your daily life, and how starting with a short affirmation can help facilitate this. Finally, we will talk about how practicing affirmative statements out loud can make them more effective.

Research shows

Recent studies show that changing how you talk to yourself is an effective way to change your perception of things, including yourself.

A few years ago, Stanford University psychologist Robert Rosenthal conducted an interesting experiment with students. He would ask half of them to try to convince themselves that they were not very good at something (for example, talking for two minutes) and then he would see what effect this had on their self-confidence.

He found that when people try to tell themselves “I’m no good at speaking,” it often has the opposite effect and makes them feel even more insecure about their own speech ability.

This can be quite frustrating, especially if you’re like most people who think they don’t have much to say and so don’t put too much effort into saying what you want to say. It may also make you feel bad about yourself because you believe you should be able to speak longer than two minutes without becoming completely disconnected from reality!

However, research suggests that instead of making you less confident, telling yourself ‘I can do this’ actually increases your confidence. This works particularly well when you believe you could use some boost in self-esteem.

Think about what you are affirming

A lot of people start using affirmations with all sorts of different types of messages. However, not everyone gives their statements enough time to work. The first few minutes or hours after setting a new affirmation is when it can really stick.

During this initial period, your subconscious mind will try to debunk the assertion as much as possible. It will do this by finding reasons why the statement is false or wrong. Or, it may simply ignore the assertion completely.

Only once your subconscious has given up does the affirmation really have its chance to succeed. This takes around one to two weeks depending on how hard you’re working on the affirmation.

After that time frame, your subconscious will stop trying to refute the assertion and instead focus on the message being sent.

Go into your mind and emotions

A few years back, I read an interesting article about how to improve your mood and self-confidence. They called this technique “affirmation studies.”

The writer described it as having two parts: one is to identify a thing that makes you feel good and then repeat that thought over and over. The other part is to replace negative thoughts with more positive ones.

For example, if you think of yourself as not being smart enough, you would try to come up with something smarter to say. Or if you believe people will judge you because of what you eat, you would instead think about all the ways eating healthy benefits you.

Both of these examples apply directly to how affirming psychology works. By changing the way you talk to yourself, you can change the way you feel.

Your subconscious mind does not distinguish between true and false information, so when you tell yourself things like “I am fat,” or “Nobody likes me,” those stories stuck in there.

Negative thinking also creates stress which only adds to poor mental and physical health. Research shows that chronic stress can contribute to diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Take control

A lot of people start using affirmations with the intention to improve their mental state, but then give up because they feel that their life is already too busy and there’s not enough time in the day.

If this sounds like you, don’t worry! That’s totally normal!

Affirmations are a tool so advanced that most of them have been designed to work automatically, even if you’re not making any changes to your lifestyle or career. This means you can simply put an affirmation into practice once per day and it will still be effective.

The important thing is to pick a timing for your affirmation that works best for you and your schedule.

Maybe you’d rather sleep at night, so before bedtime is ideal. Or maybe early in the morning is your favorite time. No matter when you choose, just make sure your affirmation goes through both verbalization and feeling.

Practice makes perfect

A popular way to use affirmations is in the form of a practice. This means having you make your affirmation before someone else does, or doing it as partially as possible. For example, instead of saying only “I am beautiful”, say the first half of the statement along with the last word so that it forms a sentence.

Your internal voice is one of your greatest allies when it comes to believing in yourself. By using verbal self-talk, we can begin to strengthen those beliefs. Repeat things like truths about who you are enough times and they will become more solid.

Practice writing an affirmative statement for twenty minutes every day. Then try to recite this affirmation out loud twice per week (once at night is better than during the daytime because it helps put some distance between thinking and action).

This technique works because repeated exposure creates mental habit.

Set intentions

A popular way to create more positive emotions is through what’s called a “affirmation.” An affirmation is a statement that contradicts or opposes a previous thought, idea, or belief.

So, for example, if you were trying to convince someone that they are wrong about something, a good affirmative would be, “They’re not wrong.”

By saying this opposite of their argument, it creates a contradiction and breaks down the old thinking. It shifts the focus onto your affirmatory comment instead, which can strengthen your message.

Your subconscious mind doesn’t differentiate between being told things that are encouraging and statements that are contradictory, so both help push thoughts into action.

Regularly using affirmations in your daily life has been shown to improve mental health and wellness. They’ve also been used effectively in various fields (like psychology) to enhance emotional regulation and change behavior.

Take action

A few studies have looked into how affirmations work, and what you can do with them. One such study looks at three different strategies for affirmation use. All three were found to be equally effective!

The first strategy called direct verbalization requires you to make an affirmative statement about something that you want to change. For example, if you wanted to lose weight, you could say “I will not eat another bite” or “I will not put any food in my mouth”.

The second approach calls for indirect verbalization where you create a sentence or phrase that implies your intended assertion. For instance, if you wanted to lose weight, you could describe actions or situations that would imply you are eating enough food.

The third approach is internal repetition which involves saying the affirmation out loud several times every day. This can be done directly, indirectly, or both depending on who you’re trying to influence.

This article will talk more about indirect verbalizations and internal repetitions. They both involve using language as a tool to help you achieve your goal. If you’d like to learn more, check out our article on the benefits of positive thinking.