Category: Motivation

Positive affirmation exercises are mantras that one repeats to oneself in the hope that they will become true.

These could include self-love affirmations, affirmations for success, daily affirmations or even morning affirmations, such as:

• I love myself.
• I am confident.
• I am relaxed in social situations.
• Today will be a good day.

Some people recommend positive affirmations for anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions.

While positive affirmations are often seen as merely New Age or self-help gimmicks, legitimate psychological research has found they can be effective, if used in a specific way.

Scientific use of positive affirmations

The way that scientists have examined positive affirmations is in terms of ‘self-affirmations’.

Self-affirmations involve confirming or declaring one’s own personal beliefs.

For examples, have a look at the following list of values and personal characteristics.

If you had to pick just one, which most defines who you are and what matters to you?

• Your family
• Being good at sports
• Belief in a higher power
• Your friends
• Your creativity
• Aesthetics
• Your job

Perhaps what matters most to you isn’t there, in that case think about what does matter to you most.

In studies on self-affirmation, participants are asked to write a paragraph or two on why this characteristic or value is so important to them.

Sometimes they also think about a specific time or story that is illustrative.

The effects can be surprisingly effective across a large number of domains.

Below are some examples of where scientists have found that positive affirmations can be useful.

1. Boost confidence with self-affirmations

Self-affirmation can boost performance for people who are put in positions of low power.

Thinking or writing about your family, your strengths or something that is important to you boosts confidence and performance.

This can even work when self-affirming or using positive affirmations about a situation which is apparently irrelevant.

Dr Sonia Kang, an organisational psychologist at the University of Toronto, who led the study, said:

“Writing down a self-affirmation may be more effective than just thinking it, but both methods can help.

Before a performance review, an employee could write or think about his best job skills.

Writing or thinking about one’s family or other positive traits that aren’t associated with the high-stakes situation also may boost confidence and performance.

Anytime you have low expectations for your performance, you tend to sink down and meet those low expectations.

Self-affirmation is a way to neutralize that threat.”

2. Positive affirmations for behaviour change

When given advice about how to change, people are often automatically defensive, trying to justify their current behaviour.

Messages about eating healthier, doing some exercise and all the rest may be rejected by stock defences, like not having enough time or energy.

But, research has found that focusing on values that are personally important — such as helping a family member — can help people act on advice they might otherwise find too threatening.

One study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, scanned people’s brains as they were given typical advice about exercise you might get from any doctor (Falk et al., 2015).

Before receiving the advice, though, some were led through a self-affirmation exercise involving positive affirmations.

This simply involves thinking about what’s important to you — it could be family, work, religion or anything that has particular meaning.

The researchers were interested in activity in part of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC).

The results showed that people who had used these positive affirmations beforehand displayed more activity in the VMPFC, suggesting they had taken the advice to heart.

Not only that, but their activity levels over the next month did increase more than the group who had not used positive affirmations.

3. Affirmations increases social confidence

For people low in social confidence, a feeling of apprehension about meeting new people is outwardly expressed as nervous behaviour and this leads to rejection.

In other words, people low in social confidence often get exactly what they expect.

However, self-affirmation or positive affirmations can help to boost social confidence, research has found.

For one study, participants looked down a list of 11 values including things like spontaneity, creativity, friends and family, personal attractiveness and so on (Stinson et al., 2011).

They put them in order of importance and wrote a couple of paragraphs saying why their top-ranked item was so important.

The results showed that this simple task boosted the relational security of insecure individuals in comparison with a control group.

Afterwards their behaviour was seen as less nervous and they reported feeling more secure.

And when they were followed up at four and eight weeks later, the benefits were still apparent.

It appears that even a task as simple as this is enough to boost the social confidence of people who feel insecure.

4. Self-control renewed by positive affirmations

Failures of self-control, however, have been linked with addiction, overeating, interpersonal conflict and underachievement.

Self-control can be hard to maintain, as most of us know to our cost.

Self-affirmation, through positive affirmations, can help, though, research finds.

Some participants in one study were asked to write about their core values, e.g. their relationship with their family, their creativity or their aesthetic preferences, whatever they felt was important to them (Schmeichel & Vohs, 2009).

They were then given a classic test of self-control: submerging their hand in a bucket of icy cold water, which, if you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know becomes very painful after a minute or two.

The results showed that people who had used positive affirmations were able to hold their hand under water for more than twice as long as those who had not used a positive affirmation.

One reason positive affirmations may work is that thinking about core values puts our minds into an abstract, high-level mode.

This has been found to increase self-control.

5. Positive affirmations boost IQ by 10%

Recalling a past success could be enough to raise IQ by 10 percent, a study has found (Hall et al., 2014).

People who were asked to use positive affirmations improved their cognitive functioning by an amount equivalent to 10 IQ points.

The study was carried out on people living in poverty.

Almost 150 people in a New Jersey soup kitchen were asked to record a personal story of a past success — this was their positive affirmation.

It was designed to see if a simple procedure could help them overcome the powerful stigma and low self-worth they were experiencing.

Professor Jiaying Zhao, who led the study, said:

“This study shows that surprisingly simple acts of self-affirmation improve the cognitive function and behavioral outcomes of people in poverty.”

6. Problem-solving improved by positive affirmations

A simple positive affirmation exercise can have a beneficial effect on problem-solving under stress, particularly for individuals who have been stressed recently (Cresswell et al., 2013).

Half the participants did the positive affirmation exercise while the rest performed a similar, but ineffectual exercise.

The results showed that those who had been stressed recently and were using positive affirmations before they began the exercise performed better at the problem-solving task.

This suggests that positive affirmations could be useful for people under stress who are, for example, taking exams, going to job interviews or under pressure at work.

What’s fascinating about the positive affirmations task is that it doesn’t have to be related to the area in which you’re looking to improve.

So thinking about the importance of your family can increase your problem-solving performance, even though the two have little in common.

7. Self-affirmations increase motivation

There are even ways to boost the effect of positive affirmations.

One study has found that asking yourself a question helps boost motivation more than simple positive affirmations (Senay et al., 2010).

In other words: “Will I exercise?” works better than “I will exercise.”

In the study, one group of people told themselves they would complete an anagram task (this is a positive affirmation).

The other group, though, asked themselves whether they would complete the task.

The results showed that those who asked themselves the question solved more anagrams than those who ordered themselves.

Further experiments showed that the questioning approach helped to boost internal or ‘intrinsic’ motivation.

Psychologist have found that internal motivation is the strongest type.

It is fascinating how a simple change to language like this can help boost motivation.

Professor Dolores Albarracin, one of the study’s authors, said:

“The popular idea is that self-affirmations enhance people’s ability to meet their goals.

It seems, however, that when it comes to performing a specific behavior, asking questions is a more promising way of achieving your objectives.”

Why positive affirmations work

We don’t know exactly why positive affirmation exercises works, some options include that it improves people’s mood or that they engaged more with the task.

However, one likely explanation is that positive affirmations help you move your attention more flexibly, which improves memory function.

Whatever the mechanism, this growing body of evidence on the benefits of self-affirmation is encouraging.

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Men and women respond differently to setting goals, fascinating study finds.

Goals are frequently found to boost people’s motivation, and so their performance.

In the right circumstances particularly challenging goals can improve people’s performance by as much as 35 percent, a study finds.

People worked almost twice as hard when given a challenging goal compared to a more easily attainable one.

However, there is one fascinating kink in this oft-quoted research.

Men, it seems, respond to goals better than women, the study also found.

While goal-setting may work less well for women in some circumstances, it is still effective to some extent for both sexes.

Mr Samuel Smithers, the author of the research, said:

“The focus of this research was to determine how to motivate people.

When we are given a goal, we feel a sense of purpose to achieve it; it naturally helps to focus us.

The findings demonstrate that setting a goal induces higher effort.

For the study people had to do a simple addition task.

They were challenged to achieve 10 correct answers in one group and 15 correct answers in another group.

Both were compared with a control group who were given no goal.

The results showed that goal-setting had similar effects to monetary incentives.

People with goals focused more and increased their speed to complete the task.

Mr Smithers said:

“My research found that women perform better than men in the no goal setting, but men thrive in both of the goal treatments, suggesting that men are more responsive to goals than women.

I also found a 20 per cent and 35 per cent increase in correct number of additions for the medium and challenging goal groups over the control group.

This is an incredible increase in output without the need for extra monetary incentives.

The increase was due to an increase in both the speed and accuracy of the participants in the goal groups.”

The study was published in the journal Economic Letters (Smithers, 2015).

Procrastination can be overcome using these simple steps based on psychological research on how to stop procrastinating.

Procrastination means putting off or delaying tasks until the last minute, or sometimes even later.

Procrastination has been extensively studied by psychologists, probably because they have some world-class procrastinators close at hand: students.

Students don’t have a monopoly on procrastination, though, almost everyone procrastinates now and then.

Up to one-fifth of U.S. adults are thought to be chronic procrastinators.

The difference is that some people learn effective strategies for dealing with it and get some stuff done; others never do.

Here are ten ways to stop procrastinating and overcome procrastination, based on science:

1. Start somewhere easy to stop procrastination

The first tip to stop procrastination is simply to start with whatever is easy, manageable and doesn’t fill your mind with a nameless dread.

Have a look at your project, whatever it is, and decide to do the easy bit first.

The great thing is that after getting going, you start to build momentum and the harder bits are more likely to flow.

The tip relies partly on the Zeigarnik effect: the finding that unfinished tasks get stuck in the memory.

Unfinished you see: a task can’t be unfinished until it’s at least been started.

2. Start anywhere

The trouble with ‘starting easy’ is that it can be difficult to know where to start: there might be several easy bits, or it might be difficult to tell what should be done and what shouldn’t.

Planning can help with this, but planning is also a trap.

Too much planning and not enough actual doing is another form of procrastination.

Take a tip from writers, artists and creatives down the ages: just start anywhere!

You may chuck away the stuff you start with, but at least it gets you into the project and helps stop procrastination.

3. Beware excuses

OK, now all sorts of excuses for procrastination are crowding into your mind.

Be aware that these will come, and they’ll come big.

Here are a few of the excuses that psychologists have found people express to themselves:

• Not feeling in the mood to do it.
• Believing that you work better under pressure.
• Thinking that you can finish it at the last minute.
• Blaming sickness or poor health.
• Waiting for the right moment.

Recognise some of these? You’re not alone.

This tip is all about developing an awareness that these are excuses that help perpetuate procrastination.

Be mindful of anything that’s expressed like an excuse and label it as such to help stop procrastinating.

It’s natural, but it will also stop you getting anywhere.

4. Value the goal to overcome procrastination

A massive cause of procrastination is simply not valuing the goal enough.

If we don’t care that much, we’re not going to be that motivated.

Other times the goal is unpleasant or aversive and we need to be super-motivated to do it.

Cleaning is a great example of something people often procrastinate on.

The value of this task could be increased by making a game out of it or setting time limits or unusual conditions.

For any task, though, thinking about why it’s important and trying to up its value in our minds will help stop procrastination.

Another way of cognitively increasing value is to think about the costs of not getting the task done.

Does that make the task seem more valuable?

5. The procrastinating personality

Some people are just born procrastinators.

You know who you are.

These people are easily distracted, impulsive and have low self-control (have you even read down to number 5?).

The bad news is that you can’t change your personality (well, not much anyway).

The good news is that you can change your environment.

You can put yourself in an environment in which there are fewer distractions, temptations and all the right reinforcing signals.

Procrastination tends to strike when you have to stop and think, so have everything you need to hand and then lock yourself away.

The more you have a procrastination personality, the more the environment needs to be just right for you to get it done.

6. Success stops procrastination

So far, so easy.

Here things get a little tricky.

That’s because when you expect a project to be difficult or hard to complete, then you are more likely to procrastinate.

But, there’s only one reliable way to increase expectations of success and that is by experiencing success.

But, while procrastinating and not starting, you can’t experience success.

It’s a Catch-22.

Hmm.

This tip is more of a warning about this Catch-22 and a reminder of that Woody Allen quote:

“80 percent of success is showing up.”

You’ve got to at least show up to find out whether you can do it.

7. Think concrete to stop procrastination

Here are two ways of thinking about a task:

• Abstract: Wouldn’t it be great to write a song expressing how I feel about the state of the world right now?
• Concrete: What’s the first line?

When you are feel like procrastinating, it’s much better to think about the concrete steps you are going to take, rather than abstract aims and ideas.

Thinking concrete helps you get started and stop procrastinating.

More on this here.

8. Don’t rely on memory

Sometimes procrastination is less an intentional thing and more about memory failures.

Most solutions to this problem are some variant of: write it down.

It may not matter that much how you make a list, or where you record the reminder — carve it into a tree if you like, as long as it’s a tree you walk past every day.

Just don’t rely on your memory to stop procrastination.

Not, at least, until you have formed a habit which doesn’t rely on memory and you start doing it automatically.

9. Avoid over-thinking procrastination

Doubts will arise for even the most confident of people.

Unfortunately, doubts cause procrastination.

Here’s a little tip for side-stepping doubts: try doubting your doubts.

One easy way to do that is by shaking your head while thinking those negative thoughts.

It may sound childish, but according to a study it can help the chronically uncertain (see: How to Fight Excessive Doubt).

There are other kinds of over-thinking which are also dangerous:

• all-or-nothing thinking,
• impossibly high standards,
• catastrophising (thinking everything will be a catastrophe).

Being mindful of when we’re wasting mental energy rather than getting on with the task at hand can be useful.

These approaches will help stop procrastination

10. Forgive yourself

Yup, sometimes it’s just too hard, it will take too long, you really didn’t have the time, or it wasn’t worth it.

Forgive yourself.

Here’s a wonderful effect of forgiving yourself: one study has found that it can actually break you out of the cycle of procrastination (see: Procrastinate Less By Forgiving Yourself).

As the authors say:

“…forgiving oneself for procrastinating has the beneficial effect of reducing subsequent procrastination by reducing negative affect associated with the outcome of an examination.”

In other words: forgiving yourself for procrastination makes you feel better about the task, and so more likely to attempt it again in the future.

11. Move the task into the present

People start a task sooner when they believe it is part of their present.

So, the key to stopping procrastination is moving a task from feeling like part of the future to feeling like part of the present.

In one study, the researchers used some neat tricks to make people think a task was part of the present or part of the future.

In one, they gave some participants an assignment on the 24th of April, giving them five days to complete it.

Other participants were given the same five days to complete it, but were not given it until the 28th of April — so that the deadline fell in May.

People in the first group had the feeling the task was part of their present and so they were more likely to begin it.

Those in the second group felt it was part of May so were less likely to begin.

Remember, both groups had the same time — five days — so it was just the perception that caused some people to procrastinate.

Best procrastination quote

My all time favourite procrastination quote comes from Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

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Here is my quick ten-step guide to making those New Year’s resolutions, based on hundreds of psychology studies.

One of the main reasons that New Year’s resolutions are so often forgotten before January is out is that they frequently require habit change.

And habits, without the right techniques, are highly resistant to change.

But because habits work unconsciously and automatically, we can tap into our in-built autopilot to get the changes we want.

So here is my quick ten-step guide to making those New Year’s resolutions, based on hundreds of psychology studies.

1. For big results, think small

The classic mistake people make when choosing their New Year’s resolutions is to bite off more than they can chew.

Even with the help of psychologists, people find it hard to make relatively modest changes.

So pick something you have a reasonable chance of achieving.

You can always run the process again for another habit once the first is running smoothly.

2. Mental contrasting and New Year’s resolutions

Choosing what to change about yourself and sticking to it isn’t easy.

There is a method you can use, though, to help sort the good ideas from the bad, and to help boost your commitment.

Mental contrasting is described in more detail here but in essence it’s about contrasting the positive aspects of your change with the barriers and difficulties you’ll face.

This helps you to be more realistic about what is possible.

Research has found that following this procedure makes people more likely to give up on plans that are unrealistic but also commit more strongly to plans they can do.

3. Make a very specific ‘if-then’ plan

The types of plans for change people make spontaneously are vague: things like: “I will be a better person” or “This year I’ll get fit”.

These are fine as overall aims but it’s much better to make really specific plans that link situations with actions.

For example, you might say to yourself: “If I feel hungry between meals, then I will eat an apple.”

When repeated these types of actions will help you achieve your overall goals.

4. Repeat your New Year’s resolutions

Habits build up by repeating the same action in the same situation.

Each time you repeat it, the habit gets stronger.

The stronger it gets, the more likely you are to perform it without having to consciously will it.

So, how long will the habit take to form?

Well, it depends on both the habit you’ve chosen and your personality.

The idea that it’s always 21 days is demonstrably wrong.

5. Tweak your New Year’s resolutions

Everyone is different, so what works for one person might not work for another.

Habit change is no different. If your very specific plan seems to be going wrong after a while, or doesn’t feel right, then it may need a tweak.

Try a different time of the day or performing the habit in a different way.

Habit change needs self-experimentation.

Are there any tweaks to your environment you can make?

Those trying to change eating habits might try buying smaller plates, putting fruit on the counter and avoiding TV dinners.

6. Don’t suppress…

An odd thing happens when we try to suppress thoughts: they come back stronger.

It turns out that thought suppression is counter-productive.

The same with habits: if you try to push the thought of cake out of your mind, suddenly it will be everywhere.

7. …instead replace

Habits cannot be killed off.

It’s like the old saying that you never forget how to ride a bike.

Old habits are lying there in the back of your mind waiting to be cued off by familiar situations.

It’s much better to plan a new good habit to replace the bad old one.

Try to learn a new response to a familiar old cue.

For example, if worrying makes you bite your nails, then, when you worry, do something else with your hands, like making a hot drink, or doodling.

8. Shield yourself

There’s bound to be some competition between old and new habits at first.

This is normal.

Try to notice or anticipate what the mental danger points will be and plan for them.

For example, you may want to get up earlier but know that you’ll feel lazy when you wake up.

Plan to think about something that will make you jump out of bed, like an activity you are looking forward to doing that day.

9. Pre-commit to New Year’s resolutions

We’re most likely to give in to old habits when we’re tired, low and hungry.

So pre-commit to your new habit when your self-control is strong.

For example, clear all the unhealthy food and drink out of the house, cut up the credit card or give the gaming controller to a friend for safe-keeping.

Getting in the habit of planning ahead is one of the best ways of keeping your New Year’s resolutions.

10. Self-affirmation of New Year’s resolutions

Another trick to boost your self-control in the moment is to positive affirmations.

This involves simply thinking about something that is important to you, like your friends, family or a higher ideal.

Studies suggest this can boost depleted willpower, even when your ideas aren’t connected to the habit you are trying to ingrain.

The habit of habit change

Once you’ve successfully ingrained a modest new habit, it’s time to go back to square one, choose a new habit to work on and start again.

This is the best, most sustainable path to self re-invention—forget about waking up tomorrow a totally different person.

Instead go little-by-little, step-by-step, and eventually you will get there.

Forget all that haring around, be the tortoise.

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The common advice to ‘find your passion’ when looking for a new career, hobby or interest could be misplaced.

Passions need to be sought out rather than just stumbled upon, research suggests.

Being open to all possibilities and taking an interest in everything that comes your way could lead to a new hobby, passion or even career.

The common advice to ‘find your passion’ when looking for a new career, hobby or interest could be misplaced.

It suggests that passions are there just waiting to be discovered.

This ‘fixed mindset’ encourages people to concentrate on their existing interests.

Instead, adopting a growth mindset helps people open up to new areas of interest.

It can also make them more likely to stick at those interests despite difficulties along the way, psychologists have found.

The study’s authors write:

“A growth theory, by contrast, leads people to express greater interest in new areas, to anticipate that pursuing interests will sometimes be challenging, and to maintain greater interest when challenges arise.”

The conclusion comes from a study in which people were encouraged to read an article that either coincided with their interests or not.

People who had a fixed mindset didn’t pay much attention to the article that was outside their interests.

However, people with a growth mindset got into the article, even though it wasn’t their usual thing.

Other tests in the same study also suggested that having a growth mindset would encouraged people to push on through barriers.

Moral of the story: take an interest in everything, you might be surprised where a new passion can come from.

Dr Paul A O’Keefe, the study’s first author, said:

“Encouraging people to develop their passion can not only promote a growth theory, but also suggests that it is an active process, not passive.

A hidden positive implication of a growth theory is the expectation that pursuing one’s interests and passions will be difficult at times because people are less likely to give up on them when faced with a challenge.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (O’Keefe et al., 2018).

Pre-existing beliefs can stop people finding their true passion, research finds.

Visualising activities done in the past can help people find their true passion, a study finds.

However, it is critical to do this visualisation in the first person to avoid biases.

When thinking back, it is important to imagine what you saw, heard, felt and thought from your own perspective.

The key is to re-think, re-feel and re-hear exactly what you previously experienced.

Only then can you get a clue to your true passions.

Unfortunately, memories of pleasure and satisfaction are easily blocked by pre-existing beliefs, explained Mr Zachary Niese, the study’s first author:

“When we are developing our interests and looking back on our memories, I don’t think we realize how biased we can be by our pre-existing beliefs.

People think they know themselves and know if they liked something or not, but often they can be misled by their own thoughts.”

For example, a young girl might enjoy a science summer camp at the time.

However, this positive memory can be blocked by a belief that “science is not for girls”.

In other words, stereotypes can hold people back from their passions.

First-person visualisations, though, can help side-step this bias, the researchers found.

Dr Lisa Libby, study co-author, said:

“We can use imagery as a tool to tap into our memories and more accurately identify what our actual experiences are instead of relying on our old beliefs.

People sometimes have experiences that are inconsistent with what they think about themselves.

We may think we don’t like math, so if we enjoy a math class, that doesn’t fit in with our view of ourselves, so we dismiss that positive experience.

That’s what using first-person visual imagery helps overcome.”

For one of the studies in the research, 253 women took part in an experiment that tested their interest and enjoyment of science.

The results showed that women’s pre-existing beliefs about how interesting science is determined their experience.

In fact, at the time, many enjoyed a science-based game they were asked to play.

However, they couldn’t remember enjoying it afterwards because their pre-existing beliefs blocked the memory.

To unlock the memory of enjoyment, they had to use first-person imagery.

Mr Niese said:

“Part of what is so interesting and surprising about our study is that a simple manipulation — just the way people think about a past event — is changing their conclusions about what they’re doing and whether they’re interested or not.

It’s something people could do on their own if they wanted to and gain these benefits in situations where cultural stereotypes or pre-existing beliefs might be likely to bias their judgment or cloud their memories.”

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (Niese et al., 2019).

The key to eating healthily, reducing alcohol consumption and exercising more.

Visualisation is the psychological key to getting more exercise and improving diet, research finds.

Visualising eating healthily, reducing alcohol consumption and exercising more all help people change their behaviour.

The more people visualise the necessary behaviours, the more motivated they become to change.

Professor Martin Hagger, study co-author, said:

“There are strong links between chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes and behaviour, and imagery-based interventions offer an inexpensive, effective way of promoting healthy behaviours such as physical activity and healthy eating.

We found that people who simply visualised the steps necessary to do the healthy behaviour on a regular basis were more likely to be motivated, and actually do, the healthy behaviour.”

The researchers synthesised the results of 26 different studies to test the optimum circumstances for visualisation.

They revealed that imagery worked better when:

• People were given text message reminders,
• the visualisation lasted longer,
• and they had detailed instructions.

Professor Hagger said:

“Previous studies have shown that imagery interventions have been used in various contexts including enhancing athletes’ performance, flight simulation training for aircraft pilots and for symptom relief in hospital settings.

Our research shows that imagery is also effective for promoting participation in healthy behaviours.

Our findings may not only be of interest to health professionals around the world, but could be of interest and potentially implemented within other industries.”

The study was published in the journal Health Psychology (Conroy & Hagger, 2018).