Why Your Affirmations Don't Work (And How To Fix It)

I see a lot of people preaching the power of positive thought on the internet. While that is amazing and I love me some high-vibe energy, I do worry that there’s a bit of a “glossing over” of the idea of positive thought and how to utilize it in your mindset practice. I worry that the “glossing over” might lead to frustration, resentment, or even abandonment of mindset practices — so I want to set the record straight.

Your affirmations, positive thoughts, mantras, whatever won’t work if you don’t believe them.

Because here’s the deal: Belief is 99% of the battle. If you don’t believe that things can and will shift, then you won’t do the work and make it happen.

So while good vibes and uplifting ideas are valuable, getting yourself to a place where you actually believe all of that matters… more. It’s kind of essential, honestly. If all it took was saying “I’m a millionaire” 1111 times, we’d all be a millionaire by now.

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But the truth is, you have to believe you are a millionaire. And that’s intrinsically a bit harder, right? Because, well, you’re not a millionaire. If you believed you were a millionaire, truly, really believed it – you would be one. It would have to come into your reality. It would have to manifest in this physical world we know and understand. 

How do you start to believe that you are a millionaire (or whatever it is that you want)?

Phew. Where do I start? That’s why there is a thing called “The Work” right? Because there are layers of beliefs, stories, and decisions that tell us we aren’t a millionaire, we aren’t worthy of being a millionaire, that it’s unsafe to become a millionaire, etc., etc.

And even if you’re logically, consciously, thinking right now - “no, I REALLY want to believe I am a millionaire. I believe it. I’m a millionaire. See?”

You don’t believe it. You don’t believe it with the same amount of knowing and expectation that you have about the sun coming up tomorrow. The belief, the expectation, the “well of course” attitude is the goal. And while it’s easy to fake that externally, if you look inward you will start to see that really… that can feel kind of hard, right?

I’ll use a different example, one with less pressure and emotion than money. In my own life I have a very strong conviction — a belief — that I always see triple numbers. I know it. I expect it. Just this morning I went on a walk and I saw nearly all the sets: 111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, and 999. I didn’t see 888 today, but it’s about 2:00pm in the afternoon and I feel quite certain that I’ll see it before the day is over. 

When I go outside on a walk, or watch TV, or even browse random clickbait on the internet - that expectation is, just, there. It’s been building over the last 3 years or so and I believe it as much as I believe the sun is coming up.

My name is Kaitlyn and I see triple numbers everywhere. Now here’s why that happens so easily and so readily — it’s not a stretch. I’m not attached. If I don’t see 888 today I’m not going to throw in the towel on this whole manifestation or mindset thing. It doesn’t impact the statement, “I’m Kaitlyn and I see triple numbers everywhere” AT ALL for me. Same as if it’s cloudy and gloomy tomorrow morning and I don’t physically see the sun rise — I still know the sun will rise every day.

I say all of this to say: the triple numbers thing works for me because I believe it. At this point in my current reality, clearly the millionaire thing isn’t quite a belief yet or else I’d be a millionaire. I’m working on it — and the work looks like figuring out why that’s so hard for me to believe and letting go of the shit that keeps me from believing it. That’s it. 

So the question here for you is what affirmations are you currently using in your day-to-day and do you actually believe them? The follow up to that question is, how could you either:

1. Work to believe them more, or

2. Find a smaller thing that you CAN believe that will get you closer to that?

I teach more about this inside the EASE Mastermind. Click here to learn more.

What big takeaway or ah-ha did you just experience reading through this? I'd love to know! Leave a comment below or let's connect on Instagram.

Check out the Instagram Live I did on this topic below!

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