With love...

While you're reciting War 'n' Peace some other copywriter is actually HUSTLING in the real world to make great shit happen for his clients and create a frenzy of hungry leads.

--- Ross

Sorry to say, you're living in a dream world.

Alex

Sorry about the "with love", came off jerky.

--- Ross

That's classic! My stomach hurts from laughing so hard!

Thanks for the affirmations, Michael.

Hustling is great and often needed in any business, but I always make time for Yoga, Meditation, and now I'll give these affirmations a try.

It only takes a moment, but it's enough to keep you balanced, focused, sharp, and ready to go!

Here are two affirmations for you …






With these easy affirmations, at least once every day, you’ll be amazed at what energy you attract.

It's all about moving out of the mindset of deficiency, and into one of true prosperity!


Hey! I just realized you're in Fort Lauderdale. I'm in the Gables! Hi!

Awesome affirmations Michael.

These are great tools for keeping one's attention focused on what feels good. I have a few affirmations I internally speak everyday, including the type of people who are drawn to work with me. And I've consistently manifested the content of my desires.

This thread is a nice interruption to the overly cerebral (but appreciated) tone that takes place in this joint.

Mark

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

Physiologically, affirmations can only work if they're supported by a reference point or strong belief.

If you say:

"Making $10,00 a month is easy," but you're only used to making $15 an hour, the affirmation will feel like a lie...

...especially since your attention will likely be seduced by things like big price tags and mounting bills.

That's the problem.

People don't understand the difference between intentions and attention.

Intentions are fleeting. Your attention isn't.

To make a blanket statement that people who use affirmations are delusional is ignorant. But if that's what you believe, it's easy to prove right.

Mark

P.S. PM me if you want to see a mindset blog I wrote where I described (or affirmed( a $10,000 client; a client that found and hired me a short time later - who still works with me.

Back when I was a real estate agent in the late 90's... I listened to "The Psychology of Sales" by Brian Tracy.

In there, was a section on affirmations... where Brian told you to repeatedly tell yourself "I think I can, I think I can.... I'm great, I'm the best", etc...

Well, being a new realtor, I'd go into a listing presentation unprepared and only relying on my affirmations.

Of course, I'd get my proverbial "ass handed to me".... and leave without the listing.

so, I'd go back to my car, put in my affirmations tape, and listen to them and repeat them again.

Over time, I realized the REAL magic happened when you combined affirmations with massive action towards the goals you want.

In other words, instead of just reciting affirmations... recite one of them and take a step towards making it happen. Put in tangible, real world action steps and effort.

Instead of copywriters mumbling "I am a great copywriter" and leaving it as that... tell yourself that, and then go out and find some of the best ads and deconstruct them, or write them out in your own handwriting, or some kind of actual action.

THAT is where most people miss the mark, is they simply think that saying affirmations... or using the law of attraction... will just bring shit to them.

Nope, you gotta follow through with massive action towards that goal. Like... real action steps each and every day TOWARDS what you want. Sure, you can "say" the affirmation... but then go out and put boots to pavement.

Michael, I totally agree that success begins in the mind... its your mindset that matters most.

But, where it goes to the next level is taking that mindset and putting action steps and real steps into place.

Michael, have you read "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles yet?

I recommend it if you haven't.

Basically, it talks about how success in anything first starts in your mind, with a thought... and from there, you can create what you think about, if you take action.

You've got to do things in a certain way... and take certain steps... but like you're pointing out, it all starts in the mind.

What you think about.... you become. And what you think about, you can create... from nothing.

Much like an artist's next painting first begins in the mind, or a sculpture's next piece begins in the mind... so does all of success.

You first think... and then you do.

So, to me, when I dropped affirmations and started using more "thought plus action equals goals" thinking... my life changed.

To this day, I'll still take out my notebook that I wrote in back in 2001 or so.

I was broke, single, living with a bunch of dudes in Maine, and was NOT happy where I was.

So, in my notebook, I wrote at the top of each page all of the main goals I wanted to achieve.

At the top of one page would say "In 5 years, I'll have my own million dollar business"

At the top of another "In 5 years, I will have competed and won a bodybuilding show"

"In 5 years, I will be married to the woman of my dreams"

"in 5 years, i will have bought a house"

etc....

I wrote all of my main goals... and THEN also the steps I thought I'd need to take.

Well, a lot less than 5 years later, I had a business that was making more than 7 figures a year, I had a beautiful wife, a house I paid cash for, I had won a bodybuilding show, etc....

All of the things I had listed out on paper, 5 years earlier, I had achieved. Some I achieved in 2 years or less.

And it wasn't from affirmations... it was from thoughts I had, that I then put into real life by creating action steps... which I took massive action on each day.

Micheal, good post, I love your attitude, and combine that positive energy with massive action and you will go very far, my friend.

Here is Cardone talking to auto dealers at the Digital Dealer conference about 10x:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGDawzarSq8

Basically you'll need 10x more effort than you think. 10x more cold calls, 10x more trial closes, 10x more sales. Take Anthony Robbins' "massive action" and multiply it!

He talks about goal-setting at the 34 minute mark. He:

--Works on them and writes them down everyday.
--Has goals that are unachievable in this lifetime.
--Doesn't worry about achieving them. Never dates them. Example, he always wanted to buy rental real estate. He read when he was 25 years old that successful people own real estate. For many years he wrote down "I own 20-plus apartments with cash flow." Years later he bought almost $100 million in real estate in Florida.



**************************

Here he is speaking to a group of high school students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEd6mlGya2g

He's not quite there, but will in time be one of the best speakers out there.

In the video he says:

--How do you dominate? Massive activity.

--There are two types of people. Those that get what they want and have the life that they want. And everybody else.

--Make your goals so big your problems pale in comparison.

--People say I have problems like being obsessive. That's not a problem. That's a gift.

--You want giant goals so you are excited. If you don't have your own goals, you are going to spend your whole life making somebody else's dreams come true.

--Constantly stay focused on the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

I don't follow Cardone that closely, but the guy definitely takes action. As soon as he arrived in Florida after leaving LA last year, he spent almost $100 million on real estate purchases.

(I'm not sure if it has anything to do with affirmations and belief, but Cardone is a big player in the Church of Scientology.)

Everyone here is right. What?

For the most part, you get what you expect. When you expect something not to work, good chance it won't.

When you expect something to work, it's more likely to work than if your expectations are flipped to the negative.

Affirmations as I see them, can be seen as a reminder, as a way to "set" mindset. They alone do not make things magically appear. You still have to move butt. No matter how much affirming, you won't win the gold medal until you do the work.

Of course I don't expect everyone to agree with this. Am I right?

From a copy perspective why was the One Legged Golfer and it's ilk are such a powerful headline structure? It's the slap across your expectations, the juxtaposition, the unexpected-ness of the mental picture. It's when something that doesn't match your expectations you tend to pay more attention. No?

A quote from Henry Ford comes to mind:

"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, either way, you're right."

Affirmations in themselves accomplish nothing. However, for someone that is taking action, they can help maintain a positive mindset and also define goals that can then be broken down into smaller achievable steps.

Again from Henry Ford, we have:

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."

I have also read that affirmations can behave like storytelling's open loops, leaving an open desire that is not complete until the objective is complete. It's still going to take action, though. To borrow one more quote from Henry Ford:

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."

So sitting on the couch wishing one's ass off isn't going to get anywhere... but that's just common sense.

I think if affirmations work for you then use them. Heck, if reciting Eskimo poetry works, use that.

From a research standpoint, though, there isn't much evidence positive affirmations work that well. People with high self-esteem see a slight bump, but people with low self-esteem actually perform worse.

Several psychologists recommend a different approach--acknowledging fears and negative thoughts. Letting them in without getting wrapped up in them, simply being "mindful," allows you to handle them better. Whereas if you avoid negative thoughts, you end up intensifying them.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...s-work-revisit

The more I think about it, the more I see that I'm doing these things unconsciously. Personally, I wouldn't use the affirmations posted, because it's simply not the way I talk, even to myself.

But I have goals. And they are serious. I didn't need to write them down and look at them every day, because they were buried deep into my daily life.

For years, my income goal was $1,000 a week (in home sales decades ago). If I didn't make the goal, I hustled and made it the next week, including anything I had to make up from the week before.

But I never thought of it as an affirmation.

When going in to make a sale. There are always two overriding thoughts in the back of my mind. "Everyone buys" and "You're next". I don't think these are affirmations, but it may be the same idea.

I don't know about you, but I talk out loud when I'm driving alone, rehearsing sales arguments, perfecting a sentence for impact, that sort of thing.

These are things I don't necessarily recommend to others, but they work for me, and I see tangible results.

I'm not a touchy feely "feel good about yourself and people will love you" kind of guy. But if you use affirmations, and they fit your mental make up, then go for it.

Whatever works. For me? A mortgage and a deadline do the trick.

Add another one to that.

I laughed when they told me their budget

Everyone has a different opinion when you start getting into the personal development/self-help area.

The answer is simple: do what works for you and don't let anyone discourage you from doing it.

lol... all the affirmations in the world aren't gonna help you write better copy.

like Ross said... HUSTLE.

if you're lucky our man Harlan can chip in... i'm sure he'll set it straight :-)