Release the Brakes: Creating Effective Affirmations

"Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone." -Robert Allen

Get out of your comfort zone. Don't be as dumb as an elephant. Stop re-creating the same experience over and over! What's your financial temperature? Change your behavior. Change your self-talk with affirmations. The nine guidelines for creating effective affirmations.

Okay, what do all of these things have in common? Yep, you got it. They're from the 10th principle in Jack Canfield's book The Success Principles. This is going to be quick. So here are the guidelines for creating effective affirmations:

1. Start with the words I am.
2. Use the present tense.
3. State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don't want.
4. Keep it brief.
5. Make it specific.
6. Include an action word ending with -ing.
7. Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word.
8. Make affirmations for yourselves, not others.
9. Add or something better.

Okay, you're probably like, 'That was more confusing than helpful.' So I'll give you three examples of how I've applied that to my running...

1. I am so happy, excited and grateful (especially to Heavenly Father) to be winning the NCAA Division 1 Cross-Country National Championships or something better.
   
2. I am ecstatic and elated to be experiencing great health.
3. I am so happy and grateful to be running hundreds of miles every week and to feeling so strong and fast.

It is recommended that we read these aloud to ourselves every day, three times a day if possible. I will end with a powerful quote:

"Your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It accepts what your conscious mind decrees. If you say, "I can't afford it," your subconscious mind works to make it true. Select a better though. Decree, "I'll buy it. I accept it in my mind." -Dr. Joseph Murphy

Thanks. Run fearless.