I’ve always had a big resistance to the business of “affirmations.” I even wrote a piece about it way back in 1994, called “In Praise of Quesfirmations.” In that piece, I wrote:

“I’ve never been comfortable with the practice of repeating affirmative statements about myself, to myself. Telling myself about myself, over and over, seems to me somehow self-indulgent, presumptuous. And it makes me silly, too.” (You can read the whole piece here.)

I take it back.

I’ve been working lately with John Assaraf on a book. John works a lot with affirmations, dream boards, vision statements, that kind of thing. In the process, it occurred to me that the essential ingredient I was missing here is authenticity. I always felt silly mouthing affirmations someone else wrote (“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better” still sounds ridiculous to me). But now I’ve written a bunch of my own, statements that are genuinely meaningful to me, in my own words and my own voice. And saying them every morning feels exhilarating, like a long brisk walk is crisp fall air.

For example: I tend to feel behind the deadline eight ball, always scrambling to finish a project, never enough time. Now, one of the statements I whisper to myself each morning is this: There is more than enough time for all that I want to do, enjoy and accomplish. And son of a gun, I’m starting to believe it.

Not only that, it’s even starting to be true.

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