As a home baker who runs a solo business, negative self-talk can hurt your success. It might feel like positive affirmations are the latest annoying woo-woo buzz word, but hear me out. There may be some validity to their popularity.
Positive affirmations can be a quick tool to knock over lurking limited mindsets that hold you and your business back. You’ve heard of self-sabotage, of course. Positive affirmations may help you defeat this type of unconscious behavior that limits your true potential.
You may cringe at first saying a positive affirmation, and it will feel all a bit too woo and not grounded in reality. That is quite a normal first reaction. It does feel unusual, and that is part of the reason people use positive affirmations. It challenges our negative-based norms.
Don’t take my word for it. Read what Jack Canfield says on the subject. Or this article on Positive Psychology.
How Do Positive Affirmations Work
You might be surprised to learn that it isn’t woo-woo magic at the heart of affirmations.
Much research has been done around how saying positive affirmations can help people perceive themselves better, decrease stress, and improve positive behaviors – amongst other things.
A positive affirmation is essentially a positive, affirming statement or phrase that challenges our inbuilt negative thoughts.
If you regularly catch yourself comparing your success to other home bakers, you might be having the thoughts of I am not successful enough yet. That thought will probably make you feel pretty unhappy and uncomfortable.
Yet, the stream of thoughts in our mind can happen so rapidly and continuously that we don’t always pick up on it specifically. We just feel down or stressed, and we aren’t still entirely sure why.
If this was a common negative thought keeping you down, you might choose an affirmation that helps combat that negativity. For example, I am exactly where I need to be in my business right now, or I am successful.
At first, it may be weird to say ‘I am successful’ when you just looked at your bank statement, and you aren’t where you wanted to be.
However, saying the positive affirmation will also help you look for clues that the positive is true. Maybe, you start to enjoy the freedom you have in your work and how that is another part of your success. You say it often enough, and you begin to feel successful, not like a loser comparing yourself to everyone else.
You can stop those negative comparisons in their tracks by reciting your positive affirmations. It brings in a lot of awareness that was not present before.
How Positive Affirmations Can Help
Positive affirmations can help refocus your mind. Unfortunately, human beings can be prone to look for problems and defects. But, since we know that we can bring some awareness to our thought stream and not let it get better. A positive affirmation does just that.
When negative thoughts are taking over, a short positive statement cuts through and stops that negative flow. It is like a quick re-wiring onto a more pleasant route.
Positive affirmations also help us transcend our little sense of ‘me’ and all the stories and limitations that come with it. It can quickly broaden our perspective to something much grander and help us think of who we are – beyond the limited identity we often think is who we are.
We all have our stories and histories that bring with them limited thinking. Unfortunately, we are often quite blind to them as they are our norm. It is how we see the world. Yet, if we want happiness and success, we cannot keep viewing the world through this limitation lens.
A great way to discover where we have a limited belief system is to try a positive affirmation. If saying, I am capable, or I am lovable, makes your stomach churn – maybe you have got some clearing to do. The more uncomfortable you feel, the more likely that you sincerely believe the opposite.
Examples Of Simple Positive Affirmations
Some easy, simple affirmations that are good for solopreneur women- or anyone really, are listed below:
I am powerful.
I am capable.
I am abundant in every way.
I am enough, exactly as I am, always have been.
I am ready, and there is nothing to wait for. Right now is perfect.
I have an infinite well of strength and courage to draw upon.
I am an expert at what I do.
I am successful in so many ways.
I am passionate about my business, and that shows in everything I do.
I believe in myself and trust in my abilities.
I use my creativity when baking in the kitchen.
I am energized by my business.
I am a perfect match for my business.
I enjoy baking for other families.
I am thankful for every person who contributes to the success of my business.
There is no right or wrong when it comes to affirmations. It’s about what you connect to and find helpful. Maybe none of the suggestions above speak to you, and you want to write your affirmations. Mind Tools has a great article about writing your affirmation statements.
I describe myself as a pragmatist. Things like meditation and affirmations were tools that I believed didn’t fit into my life. The truth is I always told myself I couldn’t do this but never had a good reason why until I tried it. It wasn’t easy at first, but instead of saying this is not for me, I said, what if this is for me?
The easiest way to decide if positive affirmations are too woo for you would be to embrace them for a few weeks fully. It can’t hurt, right?
