For me, New Year’s Eve is a time for reflection, as well as a time to look to the future. I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions in the “normal” sense, such as “Get Rich” or “Get in Shape”, because to me they’re not useful as goals. I do set large goals for the entire year, and as with my 90 day goals (described in Keeping a Progress Log, part II), I divide them into 7 categories.
What went right in 2005?
The main highlight of 2005 was gaining my BSc in Software Engineering. I also started this blog, and learnt some interesting and useful personal development strategies. Despite there being little to show, I feel this has been a good year for me.
What do I want to do in 2006?
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve not updated this blog for a while, so in 2006 I want to develop a regular posting schedule. I’ve already got some topics I want to cover, as well as a few more experiments I want to run. I also want to release the rest of this website, and start my own business.
Goodbye 2005!
Related posts:
I’ve finished my second week of using daily positive affirmations, which wasn’t as eventful as the first week. Here’s a look at my observations so far:
What’s working?
I still get a positive boost when reading them in the morning, and they’re still helping me through sticky situations.
I’m still surprised by just how effective they can be at times, and I often find myself repeating my affirmations if I’m feeling low. They don’t completely remove the negativity, but they certainly make a difference.
What’s not working?
Although I look at my affirmations twice a day, they’re still not as ingrained as I’d like them to be. There are still times when they don’t seem to work, and I think this problem could be solved by exposing myself to my affirmations more often.
Some affirmations are working much better than others, and I’ve found that short, simple and focussed ones work much better for me.
What’s going to change?
I’ve got six affirmations, which I’m going to tweak slightly. A few are a little too verbose, and some overlap a little in their intent. I’m also going to increase the regularity at which I read them, and make a small card to carry around with me.
So far this experience has been quite eye-opening. I always suspected affirmations would have a positive effect, but I never got around to trying them out. The results I’m getting so far are certainly encouraging, and I’m hoping these tweaks will improve my performance.
If you like this article, you’ll like my other site, philnewton.net. It’s dedicated to productivity, time management and other personal development tips.
Related posts:
It’s been a week since I started using daily positive affirmations, and I’m seeing some interesting results so far.
There’s definitely been a positive effect. I’ve been in a few negative situations over the past week, and when my usual reaction of feeling down started, my affirmations kicked in and I booted out the offending thoughts. It was certainly an uplifting experience.
If you’ve ever heard of the “Law of Belief”, you’ll probably recognise what’s happening. The Law of Belief postulates that people behave in a manner consistent with their beliefs. It’s a simple principle that can have powerful results, but most people only ever experience the negative effects.
For example, if you sit on your own, slouch down and say to yourself “I’m such a failure”, then that’s exactly what you’ll be! Having this negative belief will do you no good at all, and will only help to reinforce your feelings.
The good news is that you can choose to believe whatever you want, and that is a very powerful tool for personal development. Affirmations will help you reinforce positive beliefs, and banish those limiting negative beliefs.
If you like this article, you’ll like my other site, philnewton.net. It’s dedicated to productivity, time management and other personal development tips.
Related posts:
Lifehack.org has an interesting article entitled “But I can’t…”
How often each day do you tell yourself, or others, you can’t do something? Is it true? How do you know you can’t? What if you’re limiting yourself without knowing it? What if you’re lying to save face or avoid embarrassment?
This is one of things I hope to overcome with the use of positive affirmations. I don’t expect to notice any large changes just yet, but I’m quietly confident that they will have a positive effect on my life.
“I can’t” is simply a negative affirmation, and one I intend to ditch for good.
Related posts:
