Maintaining Motivation
AFFIRMATIONS
What Are They?
Put simply they are positive statements that we can say to ourselves to help motivate, support and encourage ourselves to do 5 important things:
- notice the positives in our lives
- focus on specific goals we may have
- build our confidence and belief in our goals
- maintain goals that we have already achieved
- prioritise what really matters to us
How Do Affirmations Help Our Motivation?
They work at a conscious and subconscious level which is why they can be so effective in helping us to get – and stay – motivated because even when we’re not consciously thinking about or believing them, our sub-conscious brain is processing them.
- They help us reprogram the subconscious mind
- When we feel good and have a positive attitude we’re more likely to succeed. Affirmations help us focus on the half of the glass that’s full and how to make it bigger
- Help manage stress and anxiety
- Help decision making, problem solving, protecting our boundaries
Examples of Clutter Clearing Affirmations
- I enjoy living a simple life
- I easily make decisions and let go of things that no longer serve me
- I choose to accumulate memories, not stuff
- I learn, understand and make progress every day by making a little time for my Journey videos
- I no longer feel the stress that comes from dealing with my clutter
- I know I will reach my Clutter Clearing goals
- I set myself free from all the guilt I carry around the things I accumulated in the past
- I am not going to rush this. I know I am in control of the speed of my journey at all times
- I replace “I must,” “I have to” and “I should” with “I could’, ‘I choose to” and “I can”
- I deserve all that is good in this world. I release any need for suffering, and I can feel happiness, confidence and love getting into my body, mind, and soul
- Change is inevitable and I accept it whole-heartedly.
I now accept:
- The time, energy, motivation and focus to make and protect my time so I can watch and follow my Clutter Clearing Journey videos 5 days a week
- The time, energy, motivation and focus to ask for help if I need it
- The time, energy, motivation and focus to read / listen to my Clutter Clearing Affirmations as one of my daily Clutter Clearing check-ins
The 7 Affirmation Rules
1. Write them in the FIRST PERSON
e.g. ‘I’ or ‘I am…’ This connects them to us, not some abstract concept, person or dream. Remember, our affirmations are all about US. We need to FEEL that what we’re saying to ourselves is actually ABOUT us.
2. Write them in the POSITIVE
e.g. ‘I now’, ‘I am completely’, ‘I can’, ‘I will’. Avoid ‘I will not…..’ as your brain will not hear the positive. Your brain processes the noun before the verb. E.g. If you say ‘I will not impulse buy’, your brain hears and processes ‘I will impulse buy’ BEFORE it processes the ‘not’. So reframe it in a positive e.g. I will only buy what I know I NEED now’.
3. Make them EMOTIONAL so they trigger an emotional response
Use emotional words so you connect to them more deeply. e.g. ‘I feel so much gratitude’, ‘I am so grateful that’, ‘I feel in control of my Clutter Clearing’, ‘I’m so proud of myself for completing Step x of my Journey’. Yes – they’ll probably feel uncomfortable because we don’t like feeling the emotion they trigger, but remember we need to feel a little uncomfortable to remind us that we’re in the learning and change zone that’s outside our comfort zone.
4. Write them as if you’re ALREADY doing them NOW and be specific
…. even if you’re not, otherwise your brain will think you don’t need to do them until later. If you don’t write them as if you’re doing them NOW and they’re not specific, your brain will think you’re doing them later and procrastinate – AGAIN! e.g. ‘I am successfully and easily making 2 hours a day, 5 days a week to do my Clutter Clearing Journey videos’.
If your brain THINKS it’s already doing them then it will think ‘hey, I just need to keep doing this’.
It’s a bit like a child learning to ride a bike. If the child THINKS the parent is still holding onto the saddle, the child will confidently keep turning the peddles of the bike and keep riding. Even when the parent has let go of the saddle and the child is riding the bike on its own, the child doesn’t realise and just keeps going. We’re essentially FAKING IT until we’re MAKING IT – not a technical, psychological term, but that’s essentially what we’re doing!
5. Don’t get caugh up in HOW
The perfectionist in you will probably HATE this rule and resist trying affirmations because of this rule alone. Just like your not sure category, you need to TRUST that your subconscious brain will figure out the HOW if you just keep going. I didn’t know HOW I was going to clear my clutter when I started my Journey over 20 years ago. I just trusted that if I gave my subconscious brain the information, it would help me figure it out. What was the worst that could happen?
6. Create your affirmations using your Success / Gratitude Journal
You will probably be more comfortable with these because they’re the things both you and your subconscious brain already know to be true and are therefore believable. Start with the successes and gratitude’s you already have to help your brain BELIEVE the successes you want to achieve. If 50% of your affirmations are already true, your brain is more likely to believe, embrace and figure out the HOW of the 50% that you WANT to be true.
7. Listen to and Update them Regularly
Get into the habit of reading or listening to an audio recording you make of your affirmations as part of your morning routine. Review your affirmations regularly as your goals, successes etc evolve as you achieve them to make sure they continue to inspire and motivate your subconscious brain. Clare reviews hers roughly every month and turns her monthly goals into affirmations and listens to them on an audio file on her phone every morning before she starts work.
If you struggle to get motivated with your Clutter Clearing, find out how Clare can help you in her free help centre: https://www.clutterclearing.net/clares-help-centre/
