Programming Yourself to Succeed

For us mere mortals without big bank accounts, the fastest way to success is to develop the one thing that is our biggest asset – our brains. It has been proven over and over again that the most reliable road to being successful is to develop a laser focus on your goal and to just work hard on achieving it. The safe option is to never give up your day job, till your new venture starts earning money, and shows signs of life.

Everyone at one stage or another thinks of starting doing something to improve their situation, and although the motivation is strong, crunch time for most people occurs upon the realization of the amount of work involved. However, by taking your ideas one step at a time you will slowly begin to progress towards your goal. Sometimes you may have too many things on your plate, so putting your goals on pause till you sort out things is fine. Never feel guilty about such situations, better to wait till you can make a reasonable attempt at your project, rather than start at the wrong moment.

The human brain is an incredible creation and, capable of being programmed to achieve a huge range of things. However, many people by not knowing the basics of how the brain works may achieve only a small degree of success compared to what they could achieve if they understood it better.
One of the most fascinating things about the mind is that it operates at two levels, the conscious level, and the subconscious level. If we can imagine an iceberg for a moment, our conscious thinking forms the tip of the iceberg, while the bottom part of the iceberg is the subconscious part.

Our conscious mind or tip of the iceberg contains all our feelings, memories, and logical thinking which we are consciously aware of at any given time. This is the part that allows us to think and act rationally. Our memory is also part of our consciousness and includes all the memories of our lifetime.
Continuing with the iceberg analogy, the subconscious part includes all the thoughts and urges, and memories that we are not consciously aware of. To achieve great success, we need to be able to tap into this vast pool of power within our subconscious mind to change our thinking. Since, even if we consciously feel that we want to achieve something, if our mind is hesitant and is casting doubt that we are capable of achieving a goal, we will unintentionally be sabotaging ourselves. This brings me to the next most important point about the subconscious mind, which is significant if you want to take your success to the next level.
Training your Mind

The subconscious mind can be programmed in a way that is in the colloquial known as fake it till you make it. In other words, through the use of repetition, your mind can be trained to achieve a range of goals. Affirmations are statements that we need to create for ourselves and which we repeat regularly. These affirmations will then slowly enter your subconscious mind and form part of your mind’s makeup. Slowly through time, you will become the type of person you have created through these affirmations. This is the true secret that has been used by many people to achieve great success. In other words, as the saying goes, if you repeat something often enough you will start to believe it. Now, this seems too easy to be true, but the difficult part comes in persevering with this approach. Like many things in life, at first, the task may appear easy, but to achieve anything worthwhile take a lot of hard work. This hard work is not something that most people are prepared to do. Now, there is nothing wrong with what path you wish to take, it all comes down to personal preference. However, if you are aiming to achieve a large goal, then the use of affirmations is helpful to put your mind in the right state of mind.

Crash course on using affirmations to achieve your goals

Below are some methods that you can use to mold your brain to allow you to achieve your goals. The theory behind why these techniques work can be found in scientific research about the human brain. This research has shown that the brain is very flexible and adaptable, and can be developed and improved through training.

Taking action is the key

It is also worth mentioning before we move on to the topic of affirmations is that this is the first step to train your mind in what you wish to achieve. The first step however is that we must take the time to write out our plans and start to take action to achieve them. Affirmations by themselves will not result in any benefit unless we also take steps to improve our situation. Similarly, if we decide to take steps to achieve our goal, but deep down we are having doubts about our ability, then again we are probably going to find that our thinking is continually casting doubts on what we are trying to achieve.

Hopefully, I have now convinced you that both affirmations and writing your goals down on paper in the form of a book or journal go hand in hand. The simple process of writing down your plans converts them from dreams to actual plans that can be actioned.

Affirmations can change your life, and the importance of the right mental attitude can is shown by this quote.
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” ―Buddha

Studies show we are exposed to over 60,000 negative thoughts each day
Some studies have shown that some people have over 60,000 negative or not particularly positive thoughts each day. This type of thinking slowly fills our subconscious mind and we start to have all sorts of self-doubt and negative thoughts about ourselves. If we are continually repeating in the background of our mind that we are not worthy and that we are not good at this thing, or that, it’s no doubt we are cautious to follow our visions. Imagine, if you had a way to turn the tables around? Imagine what difference it would make if we could neutralize those negative thoughts by using our own antidote ‘affirmations’ to reverse this type of thinking. We could for once move forward and not have our ideas muddied by the seeds of self-doubt, thereby increasing our chances to achieve our full potential.
Affirmations are statements said in a positive way about what you would like to be, and what you would like to achieve. The old phrase ‘you need to fake it until you make it’ is in many ways so very true. An interesting fact that makes affirmations so powerful is that the subconscious mind does not know the difference between what is real and what is not. The use of affirmations is designed to train your brain into believing that what you are repeating is true. Now be prepared that at the start you will be skeptical, and may start to have doubts about whether this method will work for you. However, don’t be deceived by the simplicity of this method, by persevering with the affirmations you will begin to notice changes in your personality and how you do things. As part of this process, we also need to be aware that the changes that have taken place in your mind have taken many years to create, so it will take some perseverance for your thinking to change direction, however, if you are prepared to put in the effort you will start to notice in yourself changes taking place.

Write down your affirmations

When you write down your affirmations and repeat them you will slowly change that inner voice inside of you. The affirmations will start to create strong willpower within you and will allow you to visualize and think big. You will slowly become more confident that you can achieve your intentions, and you will be driven to achieve your goals.

The first step is to identify what part of your life you want to change. You then write yourself an affirmation. You will need to repeat this affirmation like a mantra. The best results take place when you mix your affirmation with feelings of emotion and start to visualize that the change you are seeking has already occurred.
Sometimes, around the seventh day of repeating your affirmations, you may start to slow down, because you are not seeing changes fast enough. Please do not stop, it has taken years for your subconscious to get to the point it currently is. And it will take a bit of time to change your mind’s thinking process to a way that is more confident and disciplined. By persevering, you will greatly increase your chances of achieving the changes you wish to occur. However, it will take hard work, but once you master the techniques shown here you will be transforming yourself into someone you will soon not be able to recognize. We are talking about an approach that will essentially change the way you feel about yourself and will give you the confidence and resilience to chase and achieve your goals. It is also worth bearing in mind that many successful people never stop using affirmations and see them as a way to stay focused and on top of any negative thoughts that may pop in their heads. Everyone has these thoughts, it is just that a few lucky ones know the right methods which can be used to make those thoughts shrink and go away.

From the day we are born we are exposed to an endless stream of messages. Some of these are positive messages, however many of them are negative. The subconscious does not know the difference between good and bad, so it accepts all the statements. Our subconscious mind happily processes both the good and the bad thoughts and automatically creates in our mind an ‘image’ of who we are and what we can achieve. This conditioning begins from early childhood and continues through adulthood. For some people, insensitive and cruel comments can come from some of the people who are supposed to be the closest to them.

Picture two situations, one child is from a loving family and attends a school and the teachers encourage their self-image and use reinforcing comments like ‘well done and ‘great work’. While on the other side of the spectrum is a child from a family in which they repeatedly hear people calling them ‘stupid’ and ‘you’re never going to amount to anything. Even as adults if we continually hear comments that undermine our self-confidence, either at work or socially we may start to feel depressed, and start to doubt our abilities. All this negative brainwashing that has taken place needs to be reversed, and this technique if used properly can help.
What we need to be prepared for is that the journey to self-improvement is going to involve commitment and hard work. However, at the end of this journey, you will be in a much better position and both confident and energized. We are trying to change the way we think, which is something that has come about by hundreds of thousands of messages that we have repeatedly listened to over the years. Our subconscious brain unwittingly has picked up on such messages which can reduce our self-confidence, thereby impacting how we view ourselves and how we behave.

The techniques below will act to unwind the negative messages that many of us have been exposed to. These are the very comments and behavior that have chipped away at your confidence and willpower. This process will replace those negative and destructive thoughts we have with new and powerful thoughts of our true value and abilities, and allow us to reclaim the real power we have within us.
Before we get started below are some tips to keep in mind when you are preparing your affirmations, to give them more power.

Make them personal

The best affirmations are the ones that you create yourself which are custom made for your particular situation. You know what you want, so just say what you want and turn them into affirmations. It’s okay to pick some affirmations you find are inspiring, but adjust them to yourself, so they are yours. By adding your touch, they become more powerful.

Set them in the present

Your subconscious will have a better chance to process your messages if you state them in the present tense. In other words, act as if you have already have succeeded and achieved what you are seeking.
For example, you could write “I am confident at presenting at work”, or “I am focused and will achieve my goal [write your goal here] (you will need to visualize yourself in the present as if you have achieved your goal, what feelings you will have and how you would feel. The affirmations will work best if you can add emotion when you are repeating them to yourself.

Practice regularly

Decide when you will practice your affirmations, and stick to the schedule. The best time to practice is when it is quiet and you won’t be disturbed, you could, for instance, pick a time before you go to sleep. The commitment should be around 5 minutes each day for at least 3 times a week. Repeat each affirmation at least five times. The more you practice these affirmations the bigger the improvement you will find in your attitude and your behavior. Consistency is the key here, so if you miss a day do catch-up the next day. One suggestion is you can set an alarm on your phone to go off just before you sleep to remind you.

Patience, and don’t judge too early

At the outset you may feel a bit awkward repeating your affirmations, however, the more you practice the more you will start to embrace them as your own. Slowly as each week passes you will become more and more accustomed to them to the point that they will feel completely at ease saying them.
Choose goals that will have the greatest impact
Begin the process by using the affirmations that will have the biggest impact first. As you progress through this process you can of course add more affirmations. Similarly, if you find that some affirmations are no longer necessary, you can drop them off.

The above steps have been used by many people and have been proven to work. Research has shown that the brain can be transformed through regular training. You too can use these techniques to achieve your goals and rise above what challenges and unfairness that we all experience in life. By improving ourselves and working hard at what we want.

Like many worthwhile things in our lives, they take effort and work to achieve. However, with perseverance and effort, we can make changes that will allow us to improve and achieve bigger goals in our life.