Today is day 34 in my streak of posting to this blog. There is nothing special about the number 34, but still I felt a moment of appreciation for keeping up with this habit for such a long period of time. Every single day since July 3rd I took the time to create a small bit of text, containing some idea or piece of advice I found somewhere.

The idea of posting something everyday was not new to me. I had come across it in Nicolas Cole’s The Art and Business of Online Writing, and immediately liked the idea. The rule is simple, enforces consistency and speeds up growth. I read his book months ago. So why is it that I did not start earlier? It was because of a limiting belief I held. I held the belief that I am not capable of creating something new.

The difficulty with limiting beliefs, in my experience, is that they are often subtle and not concrete. Therefore, it took me quite a while to even identify that this understanding of myself as incapable of creating something new was what stopped me from trying.

Battling Limiting Beliefs

In September 2023 I read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I highly recommend his book to anyone looking to become more motivated and self-confident – by the way :). The morning ritual he describes consists of a moment of silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading and journaling. The affirmations in his routine are what helped me overcome this limiting belief, and start creating on a daily basis. An affirmation is simply a positive sentence or two about yourself that you say out loud to yourself on a regular basis. For all you rational, down-to-earth, reasonable people: the positive effect of affirmations is backed up by science at this point (you can look it up now), so it would be irrational to not even try.

To arrive at a good affirmation, we need to first find out what we are struggling with. To figure this out, ask yourself the following questions:

• What parts of yourself do you feel insecure about?
• What would you like to improve about yourself?
• What is something you have been wanting to do for a while, and why have you not done it?

These questions can help you uncover limiting beliefs you have about yourself. Perhaps you would like to apply to a certain job or project, but are afraid that you are not good enough or will be rejected. Or you would like to exercise more often, but do not perceive yourself as someone who exercises. Write down any thoughts you can think of that are holding you back.

A good affirmation has three aspects, in my experience:

1. It fights a limiting belief you currently have.
2. It is oriented towards your identity (not what you do).
3. It is in current tense, as if you have already accomplished the identity you are after.

When you have found some negative thoughts about your own capabilities, try to counter the thought. Let’s consider the example where you would like to exercise more often. A simple affirmation to counter this is to tell yourself on a daily basis that “you are a person who exercises”. Note that saying ” I will exercise more often,” is problematic because (a) it is not geared towards your identity, and (b) it is in the future tense. You are putting off the responsibility to a future version of yourself.

Affirmations Don’t Work in Isolation

Simply telling yourself you are a person who exercises will not do the exercising for you. You still need to put in the work. However, affirmations do make it easier for you to perceive yourself as someone who is capable of exercising. This shift in mindset and understanding of yourself as a capable person reduces friction you might feel towards obtaining your goal. I encourage you to take a pen and paper, and start writing down something you are struggling with right now. See for yourself how fast you can overcome your negative thoughts.

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