Imagine if every morning a loved one said to you, “You are worthy of investing in yourself,” “You are capable of taking on new challenges and opportunities,” “You deserve love.”
You might think, Yeah, you’re right! I am capable. I do deserve that!
With self-affirmations, you can change the way you think about yourself, your situation, and what’s in your control. Social scientists have studied affirmations for years and have found that they can actually increase brain activity related to self-processing, improve self-control, promote healthy behavior changes, and boost feelings of happiness. The challenge, of course, is that you have to affirm yourself repeatedly and on a consistent basis.
The important thing isn’t just what you say to yourself (though that is important), it’s how often you’re saying it. Like strength training, you won’t experience the long-term benefits the first time you do it. It requires an ongoing, consistent effort. The same is true for affirmations and the more you do it the easier it becomes.
5 daily affirmation practices to refresh your mindset
“Daily affirmations (DA) can help in developing a growth mindset. A growth mindset helps us adapt more quickly and effectively in adverse situations, allowing us to gain more confidence in ourselves and in our abilities,” Jessica Vartanyan, PsyD, a licensed marriage and family therapist in California, explains. “DA can help in fostering a more healthy mindset, one that can help us handle challenging situations more self-assuredly.”
If you want to build a sustainable and effective practice, you need to find a method that works for you and your daily life. We offer five options worth trying, with the understanding that one might be better suited for you than another.
1. Practice mindfulness meditation for 3 to 5 minutes
“A conscious effort to practice mindfulness around your thoughts and implement a more positive language with yourself can be fruitful to your overall emotional and mental wellbeing. Positive language can help you be more confident in yourself, have more optimism about the future, and feel more empowered,” Vartanyan says.
Practicing mindfulness can be done at any time, anywhere, but is often easiest in quiet, comfortable space. Maybe you want to stand facing the mirror or maybe you want to sit on your porch or in your bedroom. You can close your eyes or keep them open, but the goal is to focus on staying in the present moment.
To get started:
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Choose a phrase or two. It can be the same one every day or you can choose a new one each day to match how you’re feeling. For example, you might try saying, “I don’t need to prove my worth to anyone.”
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Repeat this 10 times. As you say this out loud, listen to the words as you say them. Do your best to focus only on the words and what they mean, ignoring all external factors.
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Repeat this every day for 10 days. The first day, you may feel silly. The second day, you may feel like it’s not working. Be consistent and patient and understand that it takes time for this practice to be effective.
If after 10 days, you decide this isn’t routine working for you, try another and see if that one works better.
2. Establish a goal-oriented practice
Daily affirmations can be used to help you set and reach a goal. Ideally, your goal is SMART, meaning it’s specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Perhaps you want to find a new job, launch a new creative project, or improve your leadership skills.
Build your affirmations around this one goal, considering the following prompts (or creating your own):
Prompt: What traits are required to reach this goal?
Affirmation: I am confident, creative, and adaptable. I have the decision-making skills needed to manage a large team.
Prompt: What makes me worthy of this goal?
Affirmation: I deserve to spend time on myself. I am more than enough as I am right now. I am capable of learning what it takes to launch a new business.
Prompt: How am I prepared to reach this goal?
Affirmation: I will find time for my dreams. I am capable of saying ‘no’ to things that don’t serve me at this moment. I deserve to put myself first, even with others relying on me.
3. Keep a journal
If talking out loud to yourself or staring in the mirror isn’t your thing, that’s okay; it doesn’t have to be. Spend a few moments in the beginning of your day writing out affirmations.
Not sure where to begin? Consider using a daily affirmations journal, which includes guided prompts, or create your own. Aim to answer just one question per day, using the following prompts as examples:
Prompt: What is something you need to hear right now?
Affirmation: I am confident. I am stronger than I give myself credit for. I am more than my work. I have everything I need to get through today.
Prompt: What is a positive trait you possess or wish you possessed?
Affirmation: I bring joy to every meeting. I am a trustworthy leader. I don’t need the title; I am enough.
Prompt: What is something you wish you believed about yourself?
Affirmation: I am beautiful. I am strong and capable. I can do anything I set my mind to. I respect and believe in myself, regardless of what others say about me.
Prompt: How will you make today a good day?
Affirmation: I will embrace every challenge that comes my way. I will take breaks when I need them. I have the right to determine my own priorities.
You can also write words of affirmation on sticky notes and place them in your bathroom, bedroom, mirror, fridge, or any place where you might benefit from reading them. In your office, for example, you might remind yourself that, “I am worthy of recognition.” In your bathroom, you might keep a note that says, “I am safe. I am loved.”
4. Affirm yourself on daily walks
Not every TikTok trend is good for your health and wellbeing, but “hot girl walks” can be. This trend refers to a daily walk in which you think about three simple things:
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Things you’re grateful for
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Your goals and how you want to achieve them
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How hot you are
Adapting this practice to best suit you and your intentions, you can engage in positive self-talk as you take your daily walk around the block or neighborhood. By changing the way you speak to yourself, you inevitably change the way you think.
“We can all be really hard on ourselves at times. Daily affirmations help counterbalance self-criticism and negative judgements by helping us into a more balanced and realistic view of ourselves,” says Amanda K. Darnley, PsyD, MHC, licensed psychologist and owner at Chrysocolla Counseling, PLLC. “Affirming oneself and inherent worth, will quiet self-doubt and the critical inner voice which will allow us to trust our abilities, making it more likely that we will take calculated risks and pursue our goals.”
5. Use an affirmation app
Building a daily affirmation routine can be difficult and overwhelming, especially if you’re having a hard time finding the right words or incorporating them into your daily life. Thankfully, as with everything else, there’s an app for that!
Here are some that we recommend:
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Affirm Me, which makes it easy to track your progress and journal as you go. What’s most appealing about this app is the nature-driven aesthetic, which boasts warm colors of plants and flowers.
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I am, which provides daily intentions and affirmations for specific things like grief, overcoming addiction, establishing new relationships, etc.
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Affirm, which sends custom affirmations based on your specific goal. Maybe you want to build self-confidence, feel more relaxed, or work toward a promotion; this app can help you reframe your mindset as you work toward that goal.
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Mantra has 30 different categories to choose from and makes it easy to add visuals as well as sounds. You even get to choose your own videos, fonts, and images.
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Shine, which provides a platform for connection, in addition to guided meditation, so you can hear from others who might share in the experience.
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Think Up, which includes not just motivating words, but also options for recording your own affirmations, adding music, and personalizing the experience to your preferences.
What’s nice about using an app is that you can try out different styles, choose specific topics that fit with your current needs, and pull it up at any time (the waiting room, in your car outside of school, or in your office in between meetings).
How to turn your daily affirmation routine into a meaningful practice
Building a practice takes time. Maybe it didn’t work for you the first time; maybe it didn’t work for you the second time. The best way to establish a routine and reap the benefits is to practice affirmations every single day, ideally twice a day.
Feel like you’re too busy to get started? “Waiting to take a break until you have completed your impossibly long to-do list will put you on the fast track to burnout,” Darnley reminds us. “I think one of the biggest fallacies we have as ambitious women is that ‘rest is earned.’”
Rather than waiting for life to get easier or your schedule to open up, start with one of these affirmations:
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“Rest is productive.”
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“Resting is a divine right. I am inherently worthy of this.”
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“I deserve mental health and wellbeing.”
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“I don’t need to prove my worth by saying ‘yes’ to everyone/everything.”
“Often we forget or underestimate just how powerful words can. We experience thousands of thoughts per day, and depending on what those thoughts are, they can have an impact on our choices, mood, and behaviors. Negative language or words can create limits on ourselves and our potential,” Vartanyan reminds us.
Even if you start with just one phrase, one mantra, remember to be kind to yourself. You are worthy and you are capable; you just might need to be reminded a little more often.
