If you had done that, then your post would have been much better, and worth reading, and worth posting. That’s what the other regular GRS posters do when they are writing about something outside of their immediate personal experience. They’re also willing to do the time-consuming research and change things when they’ve made a mistake or comments have caused their thinking to change.

I doubt you’ll find anybody who has done actual peer-reviewed published empirical research that finds that saying “People want to give me money” or “My bills are paid in full and I still have all this money” results in anything positive. You will, however, find a lot of hucksters trying to make a buck.

I could put together an article myself showing the opposite, but I charge $500/article when I do freelance that requires research time.

You can look it up yourself, heck, you can even read the brief Wikipedia articles. Cognitive restructuring works when the affirmations are REALISTIC. Not when they’re garbage. Check out the TED talks and Google cues people on here have posted about how the bad kind of self-affirmations you’re talking about hurt goals. Or check out a textbook on cognitive behavioral therapy. Look the terms you’ve been given up in PubMed.

Check out Keep your goals to yourself.

Probably is the same research you commented.

I just want to point something here.

There is a concept of archetype.

This means we have to build the base of what we want to acomplish or change on our selves.

Building the base causes us to identify to whatever we want, thus by helping us to stay connected with the goal.

It’s like the subject in the University you loved. Didn’t you enjoyed the way professor taught it either?

That is the best example of identification I can imagine.

Since you like the subject, it’s almost sure you will like the professor. The opposite proves to be true too.

That’s something to be taken into consideration.

“My financial plan is working.”
“We are saving money.”
“My yoga practice is improving my health.”
“I am becoming a better dancer.”
“I am becoming a better teacher.”

These are all true statements, and bringing them actively to mind reinforces the behavior that is making them true. It’s self-reinforcement. Sometimes we need to consciously (even vocally) remind ourselves of what we are achieving or have achieved, because the process can be a slog sometimes.

That said: I think affirming ANYTHING that isn’t true is self-destructive, even if the affirmative message is a positive one. Why would you want to establish pathways in your brain leading you from point A (real life) to point B, when point B is fantasyland? Why would you want to inhibit your reason in such a way?

What I’ve read, includes these stipulations:

1-You see things as you wish them to be (as Sierra explained).
2-You put it in positive language because our brains don’t process negations (as Sierra explained).
3-It is about you. I can’t say affirmations for my husband to pick up his socks.

The gist is that our brains want everything to be consonant. If you believe yourself to be a clumsy person, you will trip over nothing. If you can convince your brain that you are not a clumsy person, your brain will do what it can to overcome the dissonance — and the clumsiness goes away.

If watching a 30-second spot on TV can effectively make you want to buy/eat something, why wouldn’t you advertising yourself to yourself change your mind?

This is addressed in part in the book “The Brain That Changes Itself” which is a fascinating read all around — the parts that deal with this and the parts that don’t.

I enjoyed reading this immensely and plan to look for Chellie Campbell’s book. Because it’s true, the more wonderful things (people, experiences, resources, ideas) you allow into your life, the more will follow.

Just wanted to let you know that not all of your readers are naysayers!! Thank you again!

If I’m going to bother with reprogramming my internal monologue, it seems much more practical to me to repeat my values rather than bunk about how others want to give me money.

“I am content with what I have and don’t need the newest iPhone or gadget or whatever” is quite a bit more useful than “random strangers will give me money today!”

One focuses on practical actions and values – the other on blind luck and dependence on a benevolent fate.

When addressing your lizard brain, you do need to speak the words out loud. Your whole brain is then able to process the messages you are giving yourself, and no part of it (reptilian or otherwise) is able to hide from your words.

This is beyond nitpicky–but can you PLEASE change your description of Sierra Black? Every time I read “getting her kids to eat kale” the image of an unpleasant screaming person with New Age pretensions forcing vegetables down her children’s throats comes into my mind. It’s very distressing–

I am a money magnet! That is silly. A little funny, too. I might try it. The worst it can do is get my mind focused on a goal first thing in the morning.

The few exceptions I find are things like “Today IS a good day” (even if it’s rainy and you feel a headache coming on) or “I AM happy with my life”. These more vague sayings can help bring out positive thoughts without tricking yourself into a lifestyle you don’t have.

But as far as money, stick with “I will pay all my bills on time” or “I will have money saved for my trip” and as long as you realize it’s future (“will”), you should be good to go. Give yourself a goal, don’t pretend you already did the goal though.

Call me crazy, but isn’t one action simply the other side of the coin for the other?

J.D. uses various methods to remind him to stay on track. Sierra uses affirmations. Whatever works….

Thank you for the reminder of an Amazon review on the book the Secret (a book of similar “affirmation will get you there” garbage) posted by Ari Brouilette. It was the funniest single Amazon review ever. Amazon took down the review, but you can google & find it on several blogs. Go ahead and google, you won’t be sorry.

I am three years into a five year debt-free payoff plan. That’s a long time to be sticking with it. Even when you automatize all the payments and plan carefully it is hard to stick with any goal for that long. Occasionally I have been disheartened that debt free day will never come. My resolve has weakened at times. I have found myself repeating in my mind “I will be debt free in 2013″; “You will be debt free”.”One day I will owe no one.” “I will be free to pursue to my dreams.”

I say such things until I believe them again and my resolve is renewed. They have helped me maintain my “gazelle like intensity” (Dave Ramsay) in paying down debt.

I am not waiting around to be saved or rescued by mysterious forces in the universe, or let off the hook. But I am reminding myself daily of my intentions. That’s what I think affirmations are. And they can help.

And here’s the Wired article on placebos: http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all

I’m pretty sure JD has mentioned Ramit over at IWTYTBR. Ramit advocates the same kind of restructuring of the way we think that I was talking (or, at least attempting to talk) about. Everyone has the same 24 hours a day, but some people believe they can achieve more in that 24 hours than others.

They sound like my old witch friends who cast spells each morning for success and such. They do nothing and cost the individual time (and effort and possibly money depending on the spell).

However, I would grant that it is possible that a affirmation/spell can work like a short meditation to relax a person; focus on a single problem, or something similar I suppose.

Still, much better to spend that AM time flossing or actually brushing your teeth for the full 2 minutes (instead of the 35 sec average that most people do).

“You can’t build a reputation on what you say you are going to do.” - Henry Ford

“I decided a little while ago to be a millionaire and focusing on that goal and doing what I can when I can has meant I will be able to achieve my goal.”

I forget where I heard it, but there’s a quote I heard at a young age that has always stuck with me:

“Becoming rich is actually very easy, if that’s all you care about.”

I took that to mean if you’re willing to sacrifice your free time, a family, integrity, joy, and whatever else it takes, then it’s not actually very difficult to amass wealth.

The truly difficult challenge is to become wealthy while still having a family, enjoying down time, living a balanced life, giving to charity, and so on.

You can argue about opinions and philosophy but that won’t change what kind of affirmations work and what kinds do harm. It won’t change which kind lead to action and which lead to inaction. There’s a big difference between opinion and empirically tested evidence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_restructuring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-affirmation

@52 You’re aware that Stuart Smalley was SATIRE reacting to something that was prevalent in popular culture, right? SNL makes fun of things that are current. This affirmation crap was current decades ago and has been studied since. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a psychology class, but it’s covered in textbooks. The specific kind that Sierra is talking about does more harm than good. Cognitive restructuring around things that are *true* and *realistic* does help people with negative self-talk.

“Since this is something for which there is actual empirical evidence on efficacy (Stuart Smalley was popular decades ago),”

Just for the record, you know Stuart Smalley was a fictional character, right? He was a recurring sketch on SNL (Saturday Night Live), played by Al Franken, who is currently a Senator for the state of Minnesota. He did not represent any sort of “empirical evidence on efficacy.”

As far as the affirmations go, if other people think they’re helpful, then who am I to throw cold water on their ideas? I don’t think they hold any value for me, personally, but if they’re working for you, then go for it. “Do what works for you,” right?

I will point out, however, that these “affirmations” are a common tactic employed by shady Multi-Level Marketing schemes to lure naive suckers into their little pyramid schemes. They have entire books of these nonsensical affirmations to keep their lemmings drinking the kool aid. Things like, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail (nevermind that 99% of MLM-ers fail)?” and “If you live your life as though you were already awash in abundance, then abundance will be attracted to you (along with aggressive debt collectors).”

It’s the same nonsense that sold a million (or whatever) copies of “The Secret.”

I felt really uncomfortable with what she decided to affirm. I know this won’t be popular with lots of folks here but if I I’m going to put my attention toward achieving something meaningful in my life, it won’t be being “rich and wonderful” or people giving me money.

How about affirming that I live in a community of people and that I need to be generous with others? How about that I will remember that I’m not the center of my own universe?

Instead of magical thinking to give us wealth, I’d rather see us focusing on our responsibilities to others.

The greedy wealth affirmations make me feel like I’m stuck in an Ayn Rand novel.