You’ve no doubt heard about positive affirmations, but do you know much about them really? 

Do you know how they work? Do you know how to use them? Do you know why they’re useful?

The bottom line is that positive affirmations help you become, as the name suggests, more positive overall. Increasing the positivity level in your life is no bad thing and in terms of productivity at your office desk, it’s certainly a very useful tool.

However, changing your mindset can be difficult and does take time. 

There are many methods you can use to try and become more positive in general, helping you overcome those negative Monday morning moods, but positive affirmations are perhaps one of the easiest. However, it all hinges on your belief in the affirmation you’re using and whether or not you can really focus and take what you’re saying seriously. 

Check out this infographic which highlights a few positive affirmation examples you might like to try for yourself. 

Source - https://liveboldandbloom.com/08/quotes/positive-affirmations

As you can see, an affirmation isn’t a long line of words, it’s something short, sweet, and snappy. A positive affirmation is designed to really resonate with what you’re trying to achieve and it’s repeated several times throughout the day, to try and rewire your brain into believing what you’re telling it. 

In order for a positive affirmation to work, you need to tick the following boxes: 

• The affirmation needs to be something that really resonates with you and your aim
• You need to take the affirmation seriously and believe it
• You need to repeat the affirmation several times throughout the day

How to Use a Positive Affirmation 

For the purposes of this chat, we’re focusing on affirmations that make you more positive and therefore more productive at your designer office desk. So, choose an affirmation that links to positivity and productivity in your workplace, or create your own. It can be anything, but it needs to really hit home with you. Something like “I am full of energy and positive vibes for the working day ahead”, or “I will complete my aims for the day”. Anything you like!

Then, write your affirmation down on a piece of paper or a Post-it note and place it somewhere visible. This can be on your bathroom mirror, so it’s the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning, on your computer monitor at work, or as the background image to your mobile phone. Basically, have it easy to hand, and also have it in your pocket or your bag for extra back up.

First thing in the morning, visualise the affirmation and repeat it three times. If you can say it aloud that will work best, but sometimes that’s not possible. In that case, in your head is good enough, but make sure that you really feel the words and believe in their power. 

You need to repeat it at another point during the day, and then again before you go to bed. If you have any problems throughout the day which cause you to be stressed or you feel like you’re simply dipping in energy and not being productive, repeat it again.

The more you repeat the affirmation and the more you really focus on it being true, the more you’ll believe it and your brain will take it to be the truth over everything else. 

You can use positive affirmations for absolutely anything in your life, and you can have several affirmations on the go if you want to, relating to different situations in your life. For instance, if you struggle with the winter days, perhaps due to seasonal affective disorder, an uplifting affirmation or quote might help you feel more positive as the days wear on towards summer. 

Choose a positive affirmation and give it a try for yourself. Give it time, repeat it several times and see how you feel after a short time. The chances are, you’ll be more positive and more productive as a result of rewiring your brain in this very effective way.