Category: Self-Improvement

Positive Self Talk and Daily Affirmations

Stuart Smalley of Saturday Night Live fame tried to teach us that we’re good enough, we’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like us!  It was a little tongue in cheek comedy for us to enjoy, but the truth of the matter is, we need that in our daily lives.  We need to talk to ourselves as if we were encouraging someone else.  So quick are we to berate ourselves for the mistakes we make in life, but not so much to praise ourselves for our successes.

Our subconscious is loyal to a fault

Our subconscious will not make us a liar.  Whatever we tell ourselves, our subconscious takes that at face value and does whatever it can to make that statement true.  For instance, if you’re trying to remember something, your subconscious is actively searching its vast database to find the answer, but the minute you say “I can’t remember.” it stops looking because you’ve told it that it won’t find anything.  If you instead say something like “I’ll remember in a minute.” and then go on with something else, this does two things, one, it gives your subconscious permission to continue researching the answer, and two, it gives your subconscious a time limit.  Try it, you’ll be amazed at the results.

This is also true if we ask it negative questions, like “Why does this always happen?” or “Why can’t I lose weight?”  These will force your subconscious to come up with all the reasons in the past that this has happened to you or why you failed on your previous attempts to lose weight.  And this isn’t just limited to weight loss.  You have to be careful what you ask yourself and how you phrase those questions.

Fake it until you make it

Try an experiment with yourself.  If you’re trying to lose weight, say something like “My ideal weight is (whatever your goal weight is) and I’m always at my ideal weight.”  This will set your subconscious in motion to covertly put you in situations to where you’ll burn calories, or make better decisions on what to eat.  It’s not something that will happen overnight, but eventually your habits will change and you’ll start to notice a difference.  You’ll see yourself taking the stairs instead of the elevator.  Ordering smaller portions at the restaurant.  Buying healthier food, or just avoiding unhealthy food when you go shopping.  The thing is, you have to be consistent and consciously keep telling yourself this Daily Affirmation.  The best times to do this is right when you wake up and just before you go to sleep at night.  That means the minute your alarm goes off, you tell yourself your daily affirmation(s), and just before you close your eyes to go to sleep you do it again.  It doesn’t have to be about weight loss, this is just an example, it can be anything from “I have a finely tuned ability to recall memories and information.” Or “I’m a very successful salesperson.  Everyone wants to buy from me, because I give superior customer service and make a difference in their lives.”

Good In = Good Out

You’ve probably heard something similar to this in the past, and when it comes to your subconscious it’s absolutely 100 percent true.  We are bombarded with so much negative information every day, from Social Media, the News, Friends, and Family.  You have to make a conscious effort to filter what you’re exposed to.  I try not to watch the news.  I figure if it gets bad enough, someone will tell me about it.  I watch my favorite TV shows on streaming apps to cut down on the commercials I see.  I hide negative posts on my Social Media pages.  I try to surround myself with positive, like-minded people.  If I find something good, like a medical or scientific discovery, I share it so others can see something positive as well.  Most of my personal posts aren’t personal at all, they’re humorous in nature.  I don’t “air my dirty laundry in public” as they used to say.  We can each make a positive impact on not just ourselves, but the people we interact with on a daily basis, just by changing the language we use.

Many members of the group come to the meetings, go to the trainings and talk about starting their own practice, however only a handful actually make the leap into entrepreneurship.  The following is an excerpt from a business article that I found.

1.    Successful people start before they feel ready.

You are not the only person to feel uncertain or unsure about the outcome of your business. In fact, being an entrepreneur is one, long exercise in dealing with uncertainty. Uncertainty will not go away.

You can plan, delay, and revise all you want, but the winners begin despite the uncertainty.

2.    If you have a goal, the most important thing is to start.

Do not wait for motivation. If it’s not there, it will come after starting. You can’t rely on motivation striking you at the right time each morning. You can’t wait for someone to come along and give you permission to begin. And you certainly can’t hope to research and understand it all before you get going.

Start small, but start today.

 3.    Make decisions and make them now.

Research has shown that the people who make decisions faster will become more successful.

These people aren’t necessarily better decision makers, but simply quicker ones.

Get in the habit of making decisions. It will serve you well.

 4.    You don’t really have much of a choice.

If you want to do important work, if you want to do something that matters, then it’s pretty simple. You really don’t have much of a choice. You need to act now. The clock is ticking.

There was never a plan that changed the world, only the people who executed it. Make your move.

5.    Give yourself time to think it over and you’ll overthink it.

Our brains are incredible machines with the ability to get to work on very difficult tasks. But if you simply sit in the planning or dreaming stage, then your brain gets bored with things because nothing new is happening. You’re not asking it to perform a difficult task because you are just running the same planning ideas on a repeating loop.

This is dangerous. Unless you give your brain a task to perform it will get bored and start to dream up reasons why this will never work. If you give your mind enough time to mull the options without giving it any real creative battles, then it will work against you.

Set your brain to the task of accomplishing your goal and it will start working for you. Don’t give yourself the chance to overthink it, start now.

6.    This moment is a gift. Contribute to it.

At the risk of sounding foo–foo and fluffy, I firmly believe that the moment we have right now is a gift. You only have one life and this is it! It’s happening to you right now at this very moment. The mere fact that you are alive in a universe filled with mostly dead, empty space is a miracle.

The best way to be grateful for the time that you have is to contribute something to it. Step into the thick of things and make your own waves. Create something of your own and share it with the world. Give back to the moment you have been given.

7.    “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Entrepreneurs without direction spend their days wandering and hoping for an opportunity. The odds that you’ll stumble your way into a thriving business are unlikely.

Pick a direction and pursue it. If you are crystal clear about what you are going after, people will either help you achieve it or get out of your way.

I swear to you that the world is filled with good people who are willing to help you get where you are going, but it’s on you to tell them where you’re headed. You can call it your purpose in life, you can call it the vision for your company, you can call it why you do what you do … call it whatever you want, but you need to pick a direction and start walking.

8.    “The best person is not usually the person who wins. The person who wins is the best at connecting with others, and getting people talking about them.” —Aaron Wall

You don’t need to be the best, the smartest, the most prepared, the most unique. But being the best connected will help immensely.

If you don’t have a strong network, guess what? Neither did anyone else when they got started! It takes time to connect with people, and that’s why you need to start now.

You don’t need anything else. Who you are right now is good enough to start. Be honest, be genuine, and be sincere. Start connecting with other people and start sharing your story.

9.    Your actions are your priorities.

Don’t tell me that it’s a priority for you to start a business when you haven’t done it. The simple fact is this: what you do is what you care about.

Sometimes what you see on the surface is what you get underneath as well. You don’t have to look that deep to see what people are made of. Show the world you’re made of something better.

10.  Do something now.

Make progress, even if it’s much smaller than you anticipated. Start with something small that you can do right now. Get in the habit of accomplishing things. Finish a small task, build momentum, and repeat.