A Definition: Telling yourself something good about yourself, whether you believe it or not, and sometimes in spite of evidence to the contrary.

A Rationale: Put simply, your brain doesn't know the difference between "a truth" and "a lie." It will "believe" whatever you tell it often enough and with enthusiasm. More appropriately, your conscious mind can program your subconscious mind; and your experience cannot be different than what you truly believe at the subconscious level.

A Formula: A positive self-affirmation results when a person creates a positive statement including the following elements:

• I - First person singular pronoun - I, Me, Myself NOT You, It, or They.
  
• Now - Present tense verb (Am... can... see... feel ... do... know... understand... believe... NOT will, could, should, did, had, was, etc.)
  
• Exactly - Exactly that! (The more exact you are in describing the goal you are trying to reach, the easier it is to focus your brain on what you are trying to accomplish.)
  
• When - A deadline! (A reasonable deadline!)
  

You are ultimately most qualified to determine a goal date that is appropriate for achieving your goal. If it is neither too far in the future, nor too close to allow for sufficient time and effort, it is the place to BEGIN. Input may come from all quarters, but the final decision about responsibility is yours alone. The process is capable of showing you whether the deadline for your affirmation is on target.

An Example: (Affirmation of a twenty pound weight loss for a person currently weighting 150 pounds. Each of the four elements of the formula are underlined separately in the example.)

I am healthy, energetic, powerful, sexy and attractive weighing 130 pounds as of five months from today.