Do affirmations really work?

The short answer is: yes AND no.

A few years ago I became obsessed with learning about the brain and how to “hack” it for success. Why? Well, because it became very evident that my business was a reflection of who I was… as a person. And as a person, I was a whole lot more than just a business owner. There were many times when my personal life would have a direct effect on my business.

Picture this: I’m running a design and marketing agency as a solo-preneur, splitting my duties about 50/50 between working ON my business and IN my business from my home office. That means I was managing a client list of ~20 at any given time, a team of skilled, outsourced talent, and designing, writing, consulting, and project managing. Also at the time, I had a 3 and 4 year old who were day-care babies and sick more than they weren’t. MEANWHILE, my husband had taken promotion and had to live in a camper by a river… 3 HOURS AWAY FROM HOME.

• Groceries, cooking, cleaning, laundry… on me.
• Payroll, invoices, taxes… on me.
• Sleep-interruptions, temper tantrums, doctor visits… on me.

[I MUST note: This is not complaining, I’m just painting a picture of the time. I was and still am supported by an incredible team including my spouse, inlaws, family and friends who provide the best safety-net.]

Okay… so I had a lot of responsibilities. So when sh*t hit the fan at home [2 sick kids + deadlines + 2 hours of sleep], the stench could be smelled from the office chair, too.

When my husband drove off in the Arctic Fox, I waved “see-ya-later” to him and said “hello” to all the help I could get. I was smart enough to know that the best place to start was with me. I knew that at the center of my wild and wonderful life I lived was me.

I remember, at the time, I had met a girl online and we’d had a few conversations. She told me this advice that I’ll never forget: A woman is the heartbeat of the home. Her energy effects the energy of the whole house. When she’s down, the whole house is down. When she’s lit up, the whole house is lit up.

I took that to heart. I was on a mission to step into the role that I was born to play. [Because deep down I wanted to crush both life AND business.] I committed to binging audio books over Netflix, and settling in with my thoughts first thing in the morning. In the car I listened to business-related mindset podcasts. I would learn new things, test them out in my own life, talk about them with other people who tested them out, learned more new things, tested more things… started seeing results.

It got really exciting to find others who were as passionate as I was. I truly believe that 1+1 can equal 3 (or more) when we’re REALLY lit about about something and share that passion with others.

My obsession is what led me to become certified as a NeuroCoach, and my passion pivoted from brand design to life design!

I’d seen results in my life, I’d see results in others’ lives, and I wanted to see MORE of that. And this is how I get to contribute.

Affirmations are something we’re seeing a lot of… all over the place! Not just mood boards—Pinterest boards, all social channels, there are definitely apps for that, too! Remember when we were kids, we used to see posters in classrooms and doctor’s office waiting rooms with famous quotes on them? Even those Pass it On billboards!

I like that they can wake you up for a minute, and quickly shift your attention if you allow them to. But then we just go back to normal thinking, don’t we? Even if we’re sitting in the chiropractor’s waiting area for an hour, re-reading the same one dozens of times, we forget about it the second we’re out of there.

Here’s the thing: Affirmations work when we BELIEVE they work. 

Beliefs are held in our subconscious mind, they’ve been there for decades. They’re hardwired in there, their roots are very deep! And we’ve had decades of experiences to back them up as truth. 

There’s a difference between wanting it to work and it actually working.

When a new conscious thought comes along that you WANT to believe [an affirmation that sounds AH-MAZING], you think that just by sticking it on your mirror and reading while you brush your teeth going to start seeing differences in your life. And then you don’t. 

Because even though you WANT to believe it, your subconscious mind just doesn’t understand how it could be true. Your brain has been collecting data to the contrary for decades, that data is hardwired! So to add a new idea without any proof means it’s just not going to work.

It’s like this: Our minds are like an iceberg, 95% is submerged in our subconscious mind. And a new affirmation is like the Titanic—stunning, unbelievably gorgeous, desirable, symbolic of a new life! But what happens? It didn’t stand a chance.

[🎥 Watch the live replay above for two more analogies about how affirmations work.]

We’ve each been collecting data our whole lives, our individual brains have written individual stories about who we are, what we want, what feels safe, what feels dangerous, what success means, what failure means, what being rich means, what being poor means, etc. INDIVIDUAL being the key word.

So when you take someone else’s affirmation and layer it on top of something already [literally] written in your brain, it’s NOT GOING TO TOUCH IT.

Affirmations work when they can simultaneously erase old beliefs while building new ones. When they are INDIVIDUALIZED.

It sounds like magic. It feels like magic. But it’s just NeuroCoaching. 

It’s what I’ve been doing with myself, my clients, and my peers. It creates permanent, lasting transformation. It changes generational belief systems. It breaks patterns. It designs new futures.

If you thought I was passionate about being a designer, honey do I have news for you: I’m even more passionate about helping you design an INDIVIDUALIZED success story for your future. I love helping high-achievers find those deep beliefs that are holding them back beneath the surface so they can sail to success—because when you start to tweak one limiting belief in one area of your life, it starts to trickle into the other areas!

By combining design principles with neurocoaching models, I created The Designer’s Approach to Success. In this step-by-step process I will help you define + design the success you desire—define your block, design your goal, and develop your dreams.

Want to learn more about TDA and how we’ll co-create together? Get on my calendar here.