According to the law of attraction (made popular by best sellers such as “The Secret”), the way you think about what you want is not just a key to getting it, but *the* key. Belief has always been a big factor in achievement. It is also the root of faith, self-esteem, relationships and well, much more. And, truly, if you ask most successful people, they will agree that you have to believe in something to make it happen. One technique for using this method in your business is through affirmations. These tips can help you turn your goals into affirmations and improve your chances of succeeding.

Start by creating clearly defined, measurable goals. If you need help with this, read Setting Long-Term Goals. Once you have your goals written down, it’s time to turn them into affirmations.

An affirmation is simply a statement asserting something to be true. A positive affirmation is an affirmation used to positively create an outcome, and has been a popular positive thinking technique for ages. To use affirmations, you simply write them down and repeat them aloud or in your head. Affirmation is a close cousin of visualization, where you see what you wish to achieve instead of just saying the words. And, yes, you can do both at the same time.

Let’s take some simple examples of goals:

To increase my monthly business revenues to $10,000.

To add two new products to my online store.

To turn those into affirmations, you would write “My monthly revenues are $10,000.” And “My online store has two new products,” or to make it even more powerful, “My online store has two new products that are selling very well.”

The key is to move your language from the future (I want to) to right now (I am). Plus, the better you get at “feeling” it to be valid and true, the quicker it works for you.

Many people discount techniques like visualization and affirmations as being too “new age” or “pop psychology”, but it’s at least as old as the Bible:

Mark 11:24 – “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Visualization and affirmation are time-honored traditions in the sports world, too. (“We’re number one!”) There have actually been several studies on athletes who visualize practicing or playing their sport and actually getting better, too. Plus, there is tons of anecdotal evidence from sports stars who use these techniques.

Finally, these techniques are used in medicine. Many doctors are encouraging patients to use visualization and affirmations to defeat diseases, with great results in such areas as cancer treatment and healing chronic pain conditions.

So, be sure to make this great success strategy part of your business plan, too. Just pick a few goals to turn into affirmations, write them on index cards or sticky notes and read/imagine them as true every day to jumpstart the realization of your goals.

The more you can speak, think, and act “as if” your goals and dreams are already true, the quicker you will get there.

For more info on using affirmations in your life, this book (by Anne Marie Evers, the “affirmations doctor”) is jam-packed with info, tips, techniques, examples and stories: