Ten steps to writing affirmations

Here is a complete list of 10 of the most powerful secrets for setting goals and writing affirmations to program your subconscious "computer" for success.

1. Make your goal specific. Vague goals like "I want to lose weight" make little or no impression on the subconscious and give you no definite sense of direction.

2. Make your goal positive. Set a target for what you want to achieve, not what you want to avoid. Whatever you focus on will be accepted by the subconscious as a target or an instruction and you will move towards that.

3. Make your goal personal. Start your affirmations with "I." The subconscious mind is influenced by external conditioning, but it is influenced even more by your own personal instructions and self talk.

4. Make your goal present tense. Write goals and affirmations with "I am," "I have," and so on. This reflects an already having received attitude, which is a powerful way to influence your subconscious.

5. Visualize your goal as already completed. Your brain "thinks" in pictures. Making mental pictures of yourself already having achieved your goal (or taking the action steps necessary to achieve your goal) is a powerful way to program your subconscious mind for success.

6. Emotionalize your goal. Don't just "see" what it would be like to possess your goal, "feel" what it would be like. Strong emotion deeply impresses the subconscious mind. Write, read, visualize and think about your goals with deep feeling and emotion (this one is powerful and most people miss it)

7. Back up your goal with faith and belief. It's not enough to "want." In fact "wanting" can be negative because it expresses lack (not having it yet). Intent is wanting and believing. You achieve what you intend. The opposite of faith and belief is doubt and doubt cancels out positive affirmations. Remember the biblical proverb about "vain repetition?" vain repetition is goal setting (or "prayer') without faith and belief - it's powerless.

8. Impress your goal into your subconscious through spaced repetition. A surefire way to eventually penetrate your subconscious mind and create changes in your behavior and results is to repeat visualization or properly-phrased affirmation or goal statements over and over and over again. It's not fast, glamorous or high tech, but this one always works (Repeat a lie often enough and even that becomes the truth in your world). Carry a goal card with you every day to expedite this process.

9. Read and or visualized your goals a relaxed state. The altered state of consciousness during relaxation ("alpha brain wave state") allows the subconscious mind to be more easily penetrated. This scientific fact explains why first thing in the morning and just before bedtime are good times to review your goals: your body is physically relaxed and your mind is receptive and impressionable. This is also what makes hypnosis work.

10. Let go and detach from the outcome. Worry, like doubt, is goal setting in reverse. It's like setting a goal for non-achievement because worry is visualizing something going wrong or not working out. Relax, and understand that if you plant the seeds and take the daily actions necessary you will and you must reach your goal in time.