Positive affirmations

Usain Bolt avoids thinking about his weaknesses before a race. Sometimes he thinks about how he will celebrate if he wins. See: Self-talk and Positive thinking

Usain Bolt beating Tyson Gay and setting a 100 meter world record at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany.

"Positive affirmations are phrases or words that people say to themselves to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. They can help people feel more motivated, confident, and encourage positive changes in their lives."

Source: Best practices for positive affirmations

Source: What are positive affirmations?

Source: What are positive affirmations?

According to the Mayo Clinic, "Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst."

Articles on positive affirmations:

• Positive Affirmations: Too Good to Be True?, Healthline.com
• Using Affirmations, Mindtools.com.

Science and positive affirmations:

• Do Positive Affirmations Work? What Experts Say, Cleveland Clinic.
• How to make self-affirmation work, based on science, Washington Post, 2022.
• Do Positive Affirmations Work? A Look at the Science by Steve Rose, PhD.
• Is There Science Behind Positive Daily Affirmations?.
• 5 Steps to Make Affirmations Work for You by Ronald Alexander Ph.D.
• The psychology of change: self-affirmation and social psychological intervention, PubMed.
• Reinstating the Resourceful Self: When and How Self-Affirmations Improve Executive Performance of the Powerless, PubMed.
• Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation, PubMed.
• Understanding self-affirmation effects: The moderating role of self-esteem, PubMed.

Videos:

• Science/application of self-affirmations - playlist.

See also

• Self-talk
• Positive thinking
• Positive psychology