By Noah St. John
In April 1997, I discovered a simple new way to make big changes in my life.
This big discovery later became something I call The Afformations Method.
Since then, Afformations have helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to boost self-confidence, improve relationships, attract more abundance, overcome bad habits, and enjoy a deeper spiritual connection.
What did I learn that spring day over ten years ago? I learned how asking myself a new kind of question could make big impacts in my current situations.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that problems magically fix themselves. However, asking empowering questions and taking focused action changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
And, asking yourself the same kinds of questions could positively change your life, too.
Here are 10 tips to use Afformations to change your life…
1. Take 100% responsibility for your life.
The first step to making any important life change is to take responsibility. Look at the word responsibility—it’s comprised of the words response and ability, meaning “the ability to respond”. When you take responsibility, you are telling yourself and the universe, “I am not a victim.” This is the first step to true, lasting change.
2. Ask yourself what you really want.
It’s true: You can’t get where you’re going if you don’t know where that is. Many of my coaching clients start our first coaching session by saying, “But I don’t know what I want!” Ask yourself, “If time and money were no object, what would I love to be, do, or have?” If the answer doesn’t frighten you a little, you may not be asking big enough!
3. Ask empowering questions.
Afformations are empowering questions that immediately change your subconscious thought patterns from negative to positive. Most people are unconsciously asking themselves disempowering questions like, Why can’t I do anything right? or Why am I so broke? When you ask disempowering questions, whether you do it consciously or not, your mind will find the answers.
Change your disempowering questions to empowering questions like, Why am I good enough? and Why does everything work out for the best?
4. Stop blaming others.
Blaming others leads to the emotional block of resentment. The word resentment means “to feel again.” Focusing on past hurts and slights may give you a feeling of control, but it’s a false feeling—because the past is gone.
The quality of your life depends on just two things: the quality of your communication with the world inside of you, and the quality of your communication with the world outside of you. Use Afformations to improve the quality of communication with both worlds that you live in.
5. Stop blaming yourself.
This is the flip side of blaming others. Blaming yourself leads to the emotional block of guilt. Guilt is resentment turned inward. Just like focusing on how others hurt you in the past, focusing on your mistakes only intensifies feelings of inadequacy and not-enoughness.
Talk to yourself like you would talk with a friend who is hurting. Would you tell your friend they were “stupid” or “not good enough”? Of course not! Then don’t say these things to yourself.
6. Give yourself permission to succeed.
Most people are driving down the road of life with one foot on the brake. As much as you want something—whether it’s more money, to lose weight, be healthier, find your soul mate, or quit a bad habit—your brain is hardwired to keep doing the things it’s been doing. That’s why you must consciously give yourself permission to accept the good things in life, even if it’s been years since you’ve done anything nice for yourself.
7. Challenge your assumptions.
You are continually forming assumptions about life and your relationship to it, but most of them are unconscious and disempowering. Most people assume negative things like I’m not good enough or I probably can’t do it. If these are your assumptions, your actions will tend to be tentative, fearful, and anticipating failure—and your results will be less than desirable.
Challenge your assumptions by realizing that just because you’ve failed in the past does not mean that you are a “failure”. Fail is a verb that every highly successful person has done. The difference is that highly successful people persist even in the face of temporary failure.
8. Take out your head trash.
Most people are constantly focused on what they lack, what they don’t have, and who they are not. I call this your head trash. Most of us could hardly count the number of negative thoughts we’ve had about ourselves.
Imagine if every negative thought you had was a piece of trash in your home. Now imagine that you never took out the trash. Your home would be pretty disgusting, wouldn’t it? Take out your head trash and you’ll find that it’s a lot easier to breathe—literally!
9. Keep a Daily Action Journal.
When you wake up in the morning, write down 5 things you would like to do that day. I call this your Daily Action Journal. The key is to make them things you can control. For example, in business “Make 10 phone calls” is something you can control. “Get 10 sales” is not, because you can’t control whether someone buys from you. Similarly, in life you can control “Drink 8 glasses of water”, but you can’t control “Lose 10 pounds.” The key to happiness is to realize what you have control over and what you don’t.
10. Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal.
Every night before bed, write down 5 things you are grateful for. This is your Daily Gratitude Journal. When I started this practice in 2007, I was $40,000 in debt, had no friends, and was working out of my parents’ basement. 24 months later, I had a six-figure book deal, a beautiful home in the Midwest, was 100% debt-free, and married the love of my life.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that problems magically fix themselves. However, asking empowering questions and taking focused action changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Start using Afformations now, even if you’ve been asking yourself negative questions for years. Change your questions, challenge your assumptions, and watch your life change in miraculous ways!
About The Author:
Noah St. John is famous for inventing Afformations® and creating customized strategies for fast-growing companies and leading organizations around the world. His sought-after advice is known as the “secret sauce” for creating instant superstar performance.
Noah’s books have been translated into ten languages and he appears frequently in the news worldwide, including CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, National Public Radio, PARADE, Woman’s Day, Forbes.com, Los Angeles Business Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, Bottom Line/Personal, Selling Power and The Huffington Post.
Get “The World’s Greatest Abundance Training” FREE when you order The Book of Afformations.