I often say you can have all the food and fitness knowledge in the world, but if your mindset is the hot mess express you'll be challenged to achieve your goals. That's because your mindset is what plays the biggest role in your ability to succeed... whether it's achieving a professional or personal goal, improving your health or achieving lasting weight loss.
How can you boost your mindset for the best results? Studies show, positive affirmations can help.
Affirmations are a powerful tool because they help you train your brain to look for opportunities to take steps that will reinforce your goals. And by saying your affirmations out loud daily, research shows you actually take charge of your thoughts, are able to direct your actions to align with your goals, and unlock the door to a world of possibilities.
Implementing a daily affirmation practice is also a simple and effective way to get and remain focused on your big, bold goal. Essentially, they keep your eye on the prize! And through regular daily practice, you'll reap other awesome benefits, such as boosted confidence and strength in problem solving, both key to keeping you moving forward.
I know it sounds hokey, but research shows it works. Let's explore how.
When it comes to the body, your conscious mind is the director of activities. The subconscious mind cannot fight against the orders of the conscious mind, which is what makes affirmations so powerful: what you think, you believe and ultimately will act on.
If you create a positive affirmation and repeat it to yourself several times a day over a period of time, it will begin to affect your subconscious mind. Soon, without even realizing it, you'll start to take actions every day to make your affirmations come true!
So, how does this relate to your healthy habits and weight loss? You can choose an affirmation to help you eat better and get in the habit of daily exercise. Because when you give your subconscious mind the right orders, you'll succeed in whatever you set out to accomplish. Think about it, if your self-talk sucks, your actions are likely to stink too. But when your self-talk rocks, your actions are likely to rock too!
Here’s a simple example of a positive affirmation:
“I am healthy and happy. I move my body daily to help me feel my best and I make food choices that help me live healthy, strong and fit.”
Or you can whittle it down to a short and sweet mantra:
"I'm working on myself, for myself, to better myself."
NASA Did It, So Affirmations Must Work
NASA has done extensive research on how the brain adapts to new information. In one study, they put astronauts in goggles that made the room appear upside down to test how their bodies would react in space. They made the astronauts wear these goggles for 30 days.
Somewhere around day 25, the brain actually flipped the image so that everything appeared right side up to the astronauts.
After they did that study, they did another one where they allowed the astronauts to remove the goggles on day 15 and put them back on at day 16. The result? These astronauts did not have the experience of the brain flipping the image.
This essentially tells us that you must practice your affirmation daily for about a month so your brain has time to adapt. In other words, consistency over time is key.
The Nuts and Bolts of Affirmations
Using a positive affirmation will work, but you have to be consistent. Just like the astronauts with the goggles, you need at least 25 consecutive days of affirmation practice to ensure that there will be a shift for you. And the truth is consistency over time is key to success in most anything!
Type it up, print it out, and read it out loud to yourself for at least 60 seconds each day. Set it somewhere (even in multiple places) to remind you of your affirmation/mantra throughout the day. Say it in the morning when you first wake up and each night before you go to bed. If you can practice it in the middle of the day too, well, that’s even better! Repetition is the secret sauce to making your affirmation stick.
Read your affirmation with emotion because your subconscious mind understands feeling. Begin to believe that your affirmation IS possible for yourself. It may feel scary at first, or out of your comfort zone, but with a bit of effort will begin to feel attainable. And the more you say it, the better your brain will get at looking for evidence to support it, opportunities to take small steps of action, and foster a winning mindset.
Are you tired of starting over every Monday, hopping from diet to diet, wondering if you'll ever get it "right" so that you can lose the weight and become the best version of you? I’ve got you friend! Come join me inside my FREE women’s-only Facebook community: Eat Better with Coach Mindy. It's for busy women like you who are ready to lose weight, gain energy, get healthy and fit -- without restrictive diets or punishing food rules.
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