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affirmations

Practical Affirmation Tip from Tools of Titans

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A Very Practical Affirmation Tip
from Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris

This positive affirmation tip worked big for Scott Adams, creator of the famous Dilbert comic strip:
“All you do is you pick a goal and you write it down 15 times a day in some specific sentence form, like ‘I, Scott Adams, will become an astronaut,’ for example. And you do that every day.”

Scott credits that simple tip with amazing results when he used the following positive affirmations:
“I will become a number-one best selling author” … when he had never written a book,
“I, Scott Adams, will speak perfectly” … after losing his voice,
“I, Scott Adams will become a famous cartoonist” … when he was an unknown.

Scott says the exact method of repeating the affirmation doesn’t matter. What matters is the focus and commitment you have to that focus. For example the “speak perfectly” affirmation was done in his head while driving, but continuously for about 3 years.

What matters is what you pay attention to and spend the most energy on. Steady persistent attention, intention, energy and repetition impress your mind and, if done right, can make it a goal seeking dynamo.

That is what you are after … a deep impression which unconsciously guides you towards your goal.  Once your mind and memory are focused on a very specific mental equivalent you will start (1) believing it’s possible & creating the environment for same, (2) noticing relevant opportunities in your environment and (3) moving both consciously & unconsciously towards the end result.

 

By the way, since affirmations are messages to the brain they need to be stated in simple ways that make it easy for the brain to embrace.  Use these three rules when you create a positive affirmation.

  • Always in the present tense.
  • Only positive words.
  • Expressed as simple statements of fact and truth.

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Affirmations from The Four Agreements by Ruiz

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The Four Agreements by Don Ruiz
excellent affirmations to live by

These are practical and simple agreements you make with yourself described in detail in Don Ruiz’s famous book The Four Agreements. And they have indeed, at least intermittently and partially, worked for me. By focusing your attention on four simple agreements Ruiz says you will start conquering the inner negative ‘tapes’ which are now running your life.

Ruiz’s four agreements are as follow:
1.  Be impeccable with your word.
2.  Don’t take anything personally.
3.  Don’t make assumptions.
4.  Always do your best.

1. Be impeccable with your word    top

“Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”

Comments:
Since your spoken word is a physical, obvious, somewhat controllable action this is a great place to start controlling your thoughts and feelings. It’s applying William James’ “act as if” principle.

An expansion of the concept is to “be impeccable with your thoughts”. Why? Because what you think about comes about. Your thoughts are often just going to pop out so to be impeccable with them would involve (1) noticing them, then (2) focusing on another thought that is more worthy.

A good way to notice unworthy thoughts is to notice if you are feeling good or bad. If you are feeling bad then the thoughts you are thinking are unworthy. An indication of whether or not the replacing thought you come up with is more worthy is does it make you feel better.

You’ve heard the saying ‘count to 10 before speaking when you are angry.’ When I’ve noticed myself blurting out inappropriate underlying thoughts about a subject I sometimes try to count to 2 before saying anything at all on the subject. It’s a skill I haven’t mastered but sometimes works for me and is worth further practice.

2. Don’t take anything personally    top

“Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering. ”

Comments:
This is a great agreement to seriously consider when you are upset with others for any reason. I’ve used it successfully several times to reduce anger and embarrassment. The more you think about this agreement, before or after any specific situation, the more it seems to work. Such thoughts tend to help you respond appropriately the next time … rather than just automatically jump with no heed for consequences..

If there is something someone else is doing that is repeatedly getting you irritated or angry this agreement can also work. It tends to defuse your anger and can reduce automatic knee-jerk reactions that get you into trouble or at the least rile you up. E.g., This is good one to practice in the car while watching other drivers be obnoxious or crazy.

A corollary thought is that you are not ultimately responsible for the situation of others. They create their own lives with their own thoughts. Probably the best you can do for them is to be a good example of what is possible. You have no reason to feel guilty for the plights of others just as they have no reason to feel guilty about yours.

When you do do something ‘good’ for others you are really doing it for yourself rather than for them. A possible but poor reason is because it relieves feelings of guilt.  A better reason is because giving opens the flow of abundance to and through you. I.e., God loves a cheerful giver.

3. Don’t make assumptions    top

“Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life. ”

Comments:
Note that you are responsible for both sides of a communication … for the sending and for the clear reception thereof.  If the recipient did not understand you then the communication is not complete. Why are you responsible … because if there is miscommunication then you will pay the price for same and might as well not have bothered at all.

This agreement also applies to worrying about the future. Don’t assume and then worry about the worst that can happen. Take reasonable precautions, i.e., do your reasonable best to protect yourself, then forget about the future until another protective step can reasonably be taken. Besides actually making for a happier life in the worst case this approach will save tons of needless worry in many more likely cases.

4. Always do your best    top

“Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret. ”

Comments:
This agreement has worked many times for me. Combining it with the realization that you couldn’t have foreseen the future helps too. If you did your reasonable best given your awareness and physical, mental, emotional limitations at the time then how can you reasonably blame yourself.

I’ve also found that it helps in very tough times such as when caring for a relative who is in serious physical condition. Or, when you are seriously sick yourself. In such situations there often is not a lot you can do about the facts of life but your best. If you do that then there should be no regrets. Think this through and you will see it is true which helps reduce regret and self-abuse.

Related Notes & Terms    top

Control The Controllables

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Control The Controllables

Comments

  • Focus 100% on what you can control … not on outcomes you can’t control.  The latter are truly just a waste of time.  Besides getting better results this will dramatically help your self confidence.
  • Commit to doing controllables 24 hrs/day to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.  (source p.8 … see related links for sources)

Commitment List

Burn your wish list of uncontrollable goals.  Instead make a commitment list of things you can control and commit to do.  p.10.  Here are ideas for things you can control including some real life examples.:

  • body language – E.g., See just smile tip.
  • self talk – See affirmations & wise sayings.
  • exercise – This is the best way to get happier and healthier.  Commit to 15 minutes every day.
  • environment – Control your environment or it will control you.  E.g., Don’t buy candy & cokes to leave sitting in the refrigerator; you know if it’s there you’ll eat it.
  • perspective –  Use the day to practice being the person you want to be.  Don’t let your job use you up; use it to grow and learn.
  • positive mental attitude – E.g., Practice looking at the half full portion of life’s glass rather than the half empty portion.  I.e., Focus on the positives.
  • what went well – E.g., Keep up a running list of what went well on your desk.  Review it at the end of the day.
  • gratefulness – E.g., Mentally list 3 things you are grateful for before going to sleep each evening.
  • communication – E,g, Look for ways to truthfully compliment important others in your life; and, do it!
  • routines  (steps, moves) – Polish the dance steps of your life.  Break the skills you want to learn down into separate steps.  Then polish them and group them into moves and routines.
  • schedules –  Commit to a schedule, not an uncontrollable goal or deadline.  E.g.,  I’m going to spend  two hours every morning and one hour every afternoon working on mastering this subject.  Or, I’m going to exercise at least 15 minutes every day.
  • habits – When you have a good habit keep repeating it.  E.g., Do chin ups every morning right after I get up.  Brush teeth immediately after eating dinner to reduce snacking & cavities.
  • processes – E.g., a sales call would be an example of a process you can keep continuously improving as you go.
  • being here now – This is a master skill which can be used to improve you concentration and mindfulness.  Meditation can be used to sharpen all three of these mind skills.
  • concentration – E.g., Break your day down into segments and focus on concentrating on one thing at a time. When doing a bunch of details make a list and focus on checking them off one detail at a time.   Don’t let yourself get distracted when something else comes up; just make a side note for review later.
  • mindfulness – E.g., In breaks between concentrated tasks mentally fly by what’s going on and reprioritize you to do list as needed.  This will help keep you doing 1st things 1st.
  • visualization – Take the time to stop and think and feel about the details of what you really want every now and then.  Think about the steps to get there.  Don’t just drift or thrash around all day every day.
  • next one move – When stuck ask yourself “What is one thing I can do to make it better?”
  • learning –  Always ask yourself “How can I learn and grow from this?”   By looking at it this way you can make almost every experience useful.
  • growing – E.g., Use your daily tasks to increase such mental abilities as concentrating or handling boredom.  When doing physical work use the work itself to increase your physical strength and endurance; then you will need to do less formal exercise.

Related ideas

  • Focusing on controllables greatly reduces the mental load of what you have to track.
  • Don’t worry about what you can’t control.  This includes past regrets and future concerns.  Be here now.

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Best “Thought Management” Quotations

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Best “Thought Management” Quotations

Our thoughts, consciously repeated & refined, can
* influence our feelings, conscious & unconscious, and
* sculpt our mental images, what we believe and want.
Those feelings push us and images pull us towards our destiny.

This summarizes the power of consciously managed thoughts and how they can take us to our desired destination. Below are some famous quotations which support this conclusion.

Control    top

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones,
you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson.

“You start taking control of your results when you start taking care of your thoughts.” – Daren Handy

“Rule your mind or it will rule you.” – Horace, Roman Poet, 65 BC-8 BC
A warning from history about what happens if we just drift through life.

“What worries you, masters you.” – John Locke, English Philospher, 1632-1704

Dwell    top

“Seeing yourself as you want to be
is the key to personal growth.” – Anonymous
You must start thinking about the details of what you like and want if you ever hope to move towards them. Otherwise you’ll just drift through life.

“The secret of successful living is to build up the mental equivalent that you want; and to get rid of, to expunge, the mental equivalent that you do not want. p.7
You build in the mental equivalents by thinking quietly, constantly, and persistently of the kind of thing you want, and by thinking that has two qualities: clearness or definiteness, and interest. p.8″ – Emmet Fox, The Mental Equivalent, p.7-8.
To create anything in your life think about it a great deal with clarity and warmth of feeling.

“Do not strain to get your ideas clear. If you have a pair of field glasses and you look at something and want the focus clearer, you slowly turn the wheel until the focus is clear. Getting your mental equivalent may take you a week or a year. Charge it with interest, like an electric charge, or it is dead.” – Emmet Fox, The Mental Equivalent, p.18.

“Spend more time each day thinking about what you want rather than what you do not want.” – John R Price in The Abundance Book, p.60
A basic and practical suggestion.

“You always demonstrate what you habitually have in your mind. …
So examine your conditions and see what you are demonstrating.” – Emmet Fox, The Mental Equivalent, p.21.
Try out your ideas scientifically and judge only by the results.

“Very little is needed to make a happy life.
It’s all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius, Stoic philosopher & Roman Emperor, 121-180 AD.

Success    top

“What you think about comes about.” – Mark Hansen
This is the theme of thought-management.com. I.e., what you repeatedly think about, with clarity & feeling, comes about.

“As within, so without.“ – Hermes Trismegistus, purported author of ancient Egyptian-Greek occult wisdom texts.
You experience in the outer what you really think in the inner. Whatever happens on any level of reality (physical, emotional, or mental) also happens on every other level.

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe,
it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill.
The theme of Napoleon Hill’s famous book Think and Grow Rich: The Classic Edition.

Any Definite Chief Aim that is deliberately fixed in mind and held there, with the firm determination to realize it, finally saturates the entire subconscious mind until it automatically influences the physical action of the body toward the attainment of that purpose.  Napoleon Hill, p.155, Law of Success The 21st-Century Edition.

Ultimate Source    top

“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” – James Allen
James Allen tells us to “keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought.”  As A Man Thinketh by James Allen is a good, short, practical, free booklet on how to manage your thoughts.

“We do not attract what we want.
We attract what we feel.“ – Ralph Smart
Thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions … then back & forth repeatedly in a feedback loop. If we strive to have clear thoughts with deep feelings this automatically leads to right actions.

AIDA – attention, interest, desire, action. This is the sequence advertisers use to get the results they want from buyers.

“This day … I view the world of effect as it truly is …
simply an outpicturing of my former beliefs.” – John R Price in The Abundance Book, p.28
Price asserts on p.20 that naturally pouring forth from our inner being is creative Mind energy whose “plastic quality allows it to be impressed by the tone and shape of your dominant beliefs.” That creative energy (expressed through thoughts, feelings, choices, words & actions) flows through our consciousness to eventually appear as the outward objects & conditions we perceive.

Another way to word the first idea:
This day I recognize the world of effect for what it truly is … simply the natural denouement of my previous thoughts, feelings, choices, words & actions. Each one, no matter how small, ends up on the balance scales of life.

“All we are is the result of what we have thought:
it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts.“ – Buddha

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I Feel Great

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I am happy. I am healthy.
I Feel Great.

related ideas

– I am healthy and filled with energy.
– I am happy, healthy, successful, wealthy and wise.
– I enjoy deep refreshing sleep which quickly energizes and builds me up by tapping the infinite power and wisdom within.

sources include

– The Power is Within You, Louise L. Hay.

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