The Power of Positive Affirmations For Success

I have heard about positive affirmations for a long time. Haven’t you? Does it bring to mind a person, standing on a beach, yelling things like, “I am rich! I am happy!” and believing it will magically come about? That’s basically what I assumed I would have to do if I wanted to use positive affirmations for success. My relief was great when I found out that you can bring this tool into your life without having to be so…public…about it.

I am not a licensed therapist or mental health professional. If you are suffering and need treatment please seek the help of a professional. This post may contain affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Writing Your Own Positive Affirmations for Success

So in my beach scenario, I was partially correct. You do put the work in ahead of time to visualize what you want out of life. This will look radically different for each person, so the work to do ahead of time is to figure out what success looks like for you.

Most Likely to Succeed

Many of us would list a fulfilling career, achievements, or financial security as measurements of success. Don’t those labels feel kind of vague though? I mean, if I said, “I am seeking a fulfilling career,” how will I know when I have arrived? How do you, yourself, individually, feel when something is fulfilling. Are you excited to jump out of bed in the morning? Do you feel energized on Sunday night as you anticipate the week? Use those specific emotional words as you craft a strong affirmation:

 “I am building a career that makes me excited at the start of every week.” 

“I am so excited about my job I jump out of bed every morning.” 

It doesn’t have to be true or feel true right now. Imagine what you want, and as you get used to talking about that and feeling that you will be drawn to make necessary changes in your life to achieve it. That is the secret and that is why you need to be specific. Think about what you want in the career arena and write down some words, impressions, ideas about what you want it to feel like.

Feelings Count Too

Some of my words are: problem solver, helper, gentle, strong. 

I also like to include some ideas that I know are true about me, but I don’t always feel in my mind.

Beautiful, worthy, loved, valued. 

Ok, so hopefully you have 5-10 words, go ahead and write them down in your journal. Now it’s time to write full sentences that start with “I.” Again, here are mine:

I am able to solve any difficult problem that may come up.

I am strong enough to build the life I desire.

I am worthy of respect and love. 

It’s fine to start with just a few, no need to write a bajillion. They need to be authentic. They need to be personal. They need to speak to your soul. Go ahead and write them down. Hopefully reading them back gives you little goosebumps of purpose. 

Can’t Live With ‘em, Can’t live without ‘em

Ahhh relationships. The good, the bad, the ugly of our life. My guess is that you already have some ideas of what you want changed in those closest to you. Slam on those brakes, dude! Remember, this is about us and not about others. Turn that into introspection and think about how your ideal self would represent in relationships. What words are important to you. Again, mine as examples:

Caring, thoughtful, giving, boundaries

And, as before, build full sentences: 

I am caring towards those I love.

I maintain firm boundaries to keep my relationships healthy. 

I am so proud of you for taking time to work through this. And if it didn’t feel like right now is the time to work through your thoughts, know that is full acceptable as well. You are so very welcome to adopt some of mine for now! 

I see my beliefs about my true self. What do I do with my new affirmations for success?

The single most important take away that I want you to remember from this is to use your affirmations daily. You know how your brain is like a muscle? Brain meet…brain gym. Write or type your full sentences in a way that makes you feel good to look at them. I like different colors but a simple font. Maybe you like big, loopy script or all caps or something different. Choose what speaks to you. 

Post it where you will see it everyday. Some suggestions are by your mirror, next to your bed, on the inside of your front door. Again, this will be different for everyone, so stop and think right now where it feels right for you to hang them. Pro Tip: You can even make more than one copy if you want to put it in multiple places. Or snap a picture and make it the background on your phone. Wherever it will be in front of your eyeballs is a win.

Then be intentional about stopping to read them. I want you to read them outloud. We’re in the safety of our own home (I promised no public embarrassment) but you really need to make that connection from your brain to your vocal cords to your ears to your soul. So take a deep breath and read each one, individually, savoring the words as you speak. If you catch yourself using negative self talk, pause and think about an affirmation instead.

And that’s it. Just once a day is all I ask (but feel free to do it more if that feels good). 

Will this magically bring all the things you’ve written into your life?

I’m afraid not. It’s not a wizard’s spell. But what will happen is you will rewrite the foundation of your brain to speak and believe that these things are possible. And THAT will spark change unlike you’ve ever seen before. 

So go forth! Use those positive affirmations for success! You’ve got this!