Trying to move forward when you are constantly focused on all that you should have done or on everything that you think you cannot do limits what you can accomplish. Instead of focusing on all that is not yet happening in your life, focus on what you can do to get there. Goal setting is important to personal growth. Affirmations influence goal setting. Focusing on what and where you want to be, in a positive way, can help you along the goal setting journey.

In my post, How Goal Setting Triggered a Life Change, I wrote about the differences between setting goals and making a resolution. I also wrote that goal setting is an attitude change that is helped by 1) reframing limiting beliefs 2) developing a personal reflection habit and 3) giving yourself permission to stand out.

If you haven’t read, How Goal Setting Triggered a Life Change, read it now.

Trade in the negative thoughts about yourself for affirmations.

Overcoming negative self-talk.

Sometimes it is difficult to change limiting beliefs, because they are ingrained and have become our default way of thinking. In my struggle to overcome these negative voices, the voices that want me to focus on everything I still lack, I write daily affirmation statements.

Affirmations are cool, y’all. They work in the same way as my driving a certain car brings to my attention all the other sightings of my kind of car. It is this type of experience…with your thoughts.

What does it look like to focus on affirmations?

Here’s an example where daily affirmations influence goal setting.

Let’s say that one of your goals is to start your own business, but one of your limiting beliefs is an ingrained belief from years of telling yourself that you don’t have what it takes (i.e. you don’t have the money, or the time management skills, or leadership experience).

Let’s take the first statement, “I’ll never have enough money to start my own business.” The reframed belief could be, “I am working to raise my income to start my own business.” For some people, maybe this reframed belief will be enough. Yet, what if it is not?

Here are two ways to use an affirmation statement to focus your day in a positive way and reinforce the goal you want to work on:

• “I am a successful person capable of taking the steps necessary to increase my income and start creating the business of my dreams.”
• “I am making progress each day towards better management of the money I have.”

One is an overarching statement and two focuses on one step in improving your view of your money situation. Either is good. You might want to use type one some days and type two other days.

I find that I use a mixture of both kinds. Some days I focus on broad affirmations and other days I focus on step specific affirmations.

When I was getting started in goal setting, one of my regular affirmations was an overarching statement. It was a daily “I can do this” type statement.

Affirmations help you overcome those limiting beliefs.

Affirmations are fun.

The fun part of affirmations, for me, is two-fold:

• It focuses your brain on what you want to become and keeps you focused on the positive things that you are doing to better yourself and your situation.
• You start to see the world around you differently. Perhaps you start to see yourself differently.

Going back to the starting a business example and the affirmations I suggested. Let’s say that you started your day with the second affirmation on your mind, “I am making progress each day towards better management of the money I have.”

If you are focused on better management of your money, you are more likely to notice when you make a good financial decision in the midst of the day. If you notice the small financial wins, you gain the confidence to tackle the larger ones.

Affirmations help you focus on what and where you want to be.

Affirmations are positive thoughts you want to grow.

If you are trying to move forward and need help developing a positive view, give affirmations a try. If you have set a goal for something in the past and you are still struggling to meet the goal, try affirmations.

Affirmations are not magic. It might take months of focus on the same affirmation before you see any progress, but it’s a daily practice that has helped me.

I like looking back at the affirmations that I have focused on and how I have grown in each of those areas. If you try it, I hope you see some improvements are well.

If you want more help getting started with daily affirmations check out the 5 Minute Journal from Intelligent Change.

Behavior Challenge: Write one affirmation for the day. It can be related to a goal or a reframed limiting belief, or you can pick one area that you want to change how you think.

Comment on this post if you have any thoughts, questions, or want to leave me a note.