Your subconscious mind could be stonewalling your affirmations. Here’s how to fix it.
Affirmations are a key component to our Rebel Mindset morning practice, but are you using them to their full potential?
Affirmations can feel a bit like new-age/self-help BS. In fact, affirmations can make us feel downright uncomfortable.
There’s a good reason for that, so read on.
I remember standing in a motivational conference listening to a well-known coach tell us how we should wake up every morning and jog on the spot for exactly 12 minutes – before you even brush your teeth or pee, people! – shouting aloud:
“I’m rich! I’m happy! I’m free!”
If you’re living off the fumes of your fourth credit card, buried under bills, student debt, and anxiety, your subconscious mind hears this battle-cry and calls bullshit. And rightly so. You’re as free as a caged canary, and happiness feels like it’s an impossible journey away.
Here’s what’s wrong with most affirmations:
- They’re BS.
- They don’t carve the path.
Is this BS?
- I’m a multi-millionaire!
- I have a house in Tuscany with 30 rescue llamas.
- I own a multi-million dollar pizzeria that I run from my Malibu yacht!
We’ve been taught to craft affirmations that describe the way we’d like life to be, but here’s the problem: Our subconscious mind will resist these affirmations if they are lies.
Suddenly, these types of affirming statements will work the opposite way we’d hoped, becoming a barrier and standing in the way of our mind accepting and moving toward these things as potential truths.
Does your affirmation lack an action plan?
- I AM abundance! Money, luxury, and ease just FLOW into my life.
- My marriage is joyous! It’s an effortless happiness-machine.
These types of affirmations are designed to make us feel good, create an inflated sense of self, and delusions of EASE on our quest for what we’re after.
But this isn’t how life works, right? Achieving these affirmations will take discipline and hard work. The subconscious mind will identify the hard-work moments as the wrong path forward, because you’ve been training it to believe that earning money, living in luxury, and having a good relationship are EASY. Affirmations have to include the actions we’re willing to take in order to get what we believe we should have.
They need to help carve the path.
Affirmations that CRUSH in 4 Steps:
Here’s how to create affirmations your mind can grab hold of and run with.
- Define the result you’re committed to and WHY.
- State the actions you’re committed to taking and WHEN.
- Recite your affirmations aloud with EMOTION.
- Constantly evolve your affirmations and create new ones.
FORMULA EXAMPLES:
I am committed to paying off 100% of my total debt, which is $_______, in 12 months, so I can reduce my stress, move forward with a fresh start, and begin investing in my future. To pay off my debt, I am committed to making weekly payments in the amount of $_______ every Friday at 4 PM.
OR:
I am 100% committed to exercising _______ times weekly for ____ minutes over the next ________ months so I have the energy and health to take my family on a bike trip in August in Italy. To make this happen, I commit to a workout every _______, and taking time each _________ to prepare healthy meals for the week.
A GREAT SAMPLE AFFIRMATION:
I am 100% committed to exercising 3 times weekly for 40 minutes over the next 6 months so I have the energy and health to take my family on a bike trip in August in Italy. To make this happen, I commit to a workout every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and take time every Wednesday and Sunday night to prepare my weekly healthy meals.
3. SAY IT!
Affirmations aren’t just to make us feel good. SAY THEM daily. I try to close my eyes and visualize who I need to be in order to put these affirmations into action. FEEL the feeling of achieving them. Say them aloud. Keep them where you can see them EVERY DAY, multiple places, multiple times daily.
4: Update them.
As you crush goals, create new affirmations! As you learn more about what it takes to achieve your goals, update your affirmations to reflect reality.
The concepts from this blog post are inspired by Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs by Hal Elrod and Cameron Herold. If you’re an entrepreneur, this is a practical and empowering read.