Affirmations are simply self talk, a statement repeated until it is accepted by the mind as a personal truth. We use self talk all the time but, often in a negative sense of 'I cannot' rather than 'I can'. Everyone has a different perspective of what is and what is not real for them. There is also a tendency to treat affirmations as a magic panacea rather than a way of guiding thoughts in a consistent and carefully orchestrated manner.

An important cornerstone of using affirmations is knowing and acknowledging where you are at this moment. This is not difficult, look at your life as it is now, be honest with yourself. Life will continue to repeat challenges, probably of the same nature until a situation is handled, though the circumstances will vary.

Decide where you want to be, determine a goal or target (and no goal is too big), choose an affirmation. Reaching that goal, depending on how far it is removed from your current position will most probably require several if not many distinct but attainable steps. The process is more powerful if you can take physical action to build a symbiotic relationship between affirmation and action, the two become mutually reinforcing.

As an example, consider say, that you wish to become physically fitter but, at the moment you are a couch potato. Writing an affirmation to the effect that you an Olympic athlete will not be believable and will undoubtedly be rejected by your mind. It is simply too large a leap. After all you know exactly what you weigh and all your other physical characteristics don't you? You know that because of your age, size etc. you could not take part in an Olympic meeting don't you? (Oscar Swahn first won a gold medal at the age of 60 and returned to the Olympics at the age of 72).

This mental rejection is one reason why many report failure to successfully use affirmations and usually give up. However, if you finesse your mind with a stepped approach, or to borrow the Japanese word 'kaizen' (the art and science of continual incremental improvement) the process becomes believable, achievable and even enjoyable.

To continue with the example, after deciding and resolving to become physically fitter, at least to reach a state of increased physical energy where you feel fit. The easiest method to begin physical exercise is with a ten minute walk. Write your affirmation, something like 'I [ am, (am becoming), choose to be, can be,] physically fitter'. Take action to reinforce the affirmation, actually do the ten minute walk, repeating ( actually speaking it, if possible) the affirmation during the walk. Afterwards, congratulate yourself, make sure that you acknowledge to yourself what you have accomplished. This is vitally important, you must acknowledge your success and try to feel the feeling of accomplishment and enjoy it, celebrate it as a victory. That will help provide the impetus to continue. Repeat the exercise the same day if possible, if not, then the next day preferably at the same time.

By doing this you are laying the ground work for establishing a habit. Once the habit is established then you can take the next step. Extending the walking time to say twenty minutes and so on. Later you may consider further alternatives of other types of exercise but, always within your physical limits ( to prevent injury) but continually extending them in an acceptable and believable way. This scenario can be translated to any objective.

Generating a habit in this way is very powerful because the mind begins to process at the subconscious level. The time taken to achieve a habit varies but will probably be a minimum of 26 days according to scientific research. The ideal is to continue until the action is habituated, this will become obvious as you will no longer require any conscious effort to complete the thinking or the action step.

Required repetition rates vary considerably with the individual and starting point, intended goal and the extent of belief in the outcome. Suggestions vary widely from ten to fifteen minutes to 1000 times or more a day, a better rule of thumb would probably be as often as possible throughout each and every day until the desired outcome is realised