Ok, I'm interested to know who can say hand on heart.

You've been in a situation where with will and conscoius effort you were unable to do something you really wanted-

facing fears, keeping your desk tidy, approaching women etc

and with the use of these sort of methods had a total success that can be attributed to it.

I used affirmations to study and pass an important computer certification test after studying for 3 weeks. It went something like,

"I'll pass this exam on so and so date. In exchange, I'll study everyday, take practice tests, and read."

It helped in the sense that it focused me, and gave my mind something to think about when I came home from work. Note that I did study, take practice tests, and read. Without that, I wouldn't have passed the test. I think the affirmations helped me get motivated to do the requisite studying.

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I used mental movies when I wanted to get laid. I actually wrote out on paper scenarios of me talking to women and having them respond. I tried to vary their moods in the different scenarios. This helped me visualize and practice my flirting in a rejection free environment.

when I hit ona woman, I was able to be cool and quick-witted when she tried to throw curve balls at me. Also, I may have been able to eliminate some sorry approaches beforehand through practice.

Keep in mind that the important thing with affirmations and whatnot is to always - always - use "positive" phrases. In other words, don't say "I'm not going to fail today." Rather, say "I will succeed today."

I forgot where I heard this, but if there's a chance your mind can simply focus on the negative word in the phrase and nullify what you want to do almost completely.

one thing I wonder about is the present tense/future tense thing.

If I said, "someone will give me $1000 without any work on my part this friday," how would that compare to,

"I have $1000 from someone that I didn't even have to earn,". without the date.

I've never used affirmations that way, I've only used them to bolster motivation, but it would be cool if you could.

I think they mostly only work for things you have some control over. For instance, you can't just say "I will win the lottery," because it's totally up to chance. If anything, you probably wouldn't win the lottery and would feel let down. If you did win it, though, you'd probably feel an immense sense of power...but it's still not very likely to come up that way.

I use this stuff everyday. It works for me. If you believe it won't work, you're probably right. The idea of affirmations is to say it with complete CERTAINTY, with repetitive intensity.

I do it mainly when I'm in the car driving somewhere, or in the shower. I'll repeat over and over "I like myself! I like myself! I really like myself! I like myself a lot!" Over and over again.

Or, "I'm the best!", "I'm so sexy!", "I'm the best salesman!", "I love myself!" You can say anything. Just keep it positive.

Anyways, I'll do this on the way to work or on the way to a hot date. Brian Tracy talks about this in his audio series "The Psychology of Selling". Before any sales presentation, say over and over again in your car "I'm the best! I'm the best! I'm the best salesman!" and just before you get out of the car sit there and visualize. Make a mental movie and visualize the presentation going smoothly. Visualize yourself being calm, relaxed and confident. What this does is programs your subconscious mind to give you the right words to use during the presentation and it will benefit you. Ever had a presentation or interaction go SO smoothly with a girl or whatever and you said everything perfectly and everything went well. You probably thought to yourself, "Wow, that was so easy. I wish everything was like that."

Try it out. =)

Well I'm really pleased people are using this stuff and getting results. The reason I ask is I use them, however by their nature these things can't really be proved to work a such.

I've steered away from written affs on cards, which I learnt from Tom Hopkins books. Too combersome and didn't seem too helpful.

I like mental rehersal, and NLP type visualisation stuff in 1st and 3rd person, but I can't say hand on heart personal progress has skyrocketed as a direct result.

I read a book about people using it for lotteries, but I think this devalues the validity of the thing, unless you believe in the collective consciousness theory or something.

About six months ago I loaded up a program that flashes subliminal messages on your pc. For a laugh I put in lots of stuff about keeping my desk tidy (I'm terrible). I suddenly realised today that infact I am keeping it alot tidier these days, so I'm going to punch in some new affs about 6ft blondes.

I've done a Google for research but I've never seen conclusive proof, just stories of research in pop psy and positive thinking books.

Well...This is just my theory, but I would imagine it isn't a totally inclusive thing, i.e. it might not work so well (or at all) for some.

On some level, though, I would say it at least ought to work if done correctly. In your case (Alpine), I would say doing what you did maybe served as the proverbial "string around your finger" so you'd remember what you wanted to do. Then, possibly, memory turned into a subconcious action manifesting itself in the fact that you're now doing what you wanted to do.

Just a guess, though.

The power of belief is great no matter what form it takes.

I think it's part of the "fake it until you make it" story. If you say it enough times over and over again, with complete repetitition and certainty, you begin to actually believe it. I've begun to believe all of the things which I've said to myself over and over again.

All I can say for one thing is that before when I used to think I was unattractive or didn't like myself... none of that even comes across my mind anymore. I believe that I am sexy, confident, the best and I REALLY do like myself now!! I actually believe this stuff now (it does a lot for your ego). It did take a lot of work and I can't prove that the affirmations was a result of that, but I still enjoy the positive energy it brings me. That's my story.

The thing with the visualizations is that your subconcious mind can't tell the difference between a real life event and something which you've just made up. I think it's something along those lines, maybe someone else can elaborate more on that.

You know one thing that is slightly different than this that I've noticed though is the following:

When I see a girl that looks similar to one I've dated or been with, I instantly feel confident I could have her too. This if anything has to do with the picture you have in your mind of you with a similar girl. So this along with the fun of diversity is a great reason to date alot of different types of girls!

Yeah,

Know what you mean, it's a form of transference.

It goes both ways too. Say you go out with a bird and she turns out to be a complete b1tch. Sure as damn it if you see a girl who looks similar you will make those assumptions about her.

Even if you talk to her and she's not like that, the brain tends to pick up on the similarities and filter out information that goes against that assumption.

Sometimes your 'gut' feeling about a stranger is quite strong and you don't know why. This also ties in with sterotypes and tribal cues, hence the importance of clothes, hair adornments etc.