- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- Series: 13 Essentials For Success »
- 13 Essentials For Success: #3 – Autosuggestion
13 Essentials For Success: #3 – Autosuggestion
Today we consider the 3rd Essential of Success, namely ‘autosuggestion.’
Émile Coué
The technique of autosuggestion was first developed by the French psychologist and pharmacist Émile Coué in the first part of the 20th century.
It is a term used by hypnotists and hypnotherapists to suggest ideas to the subconscious mind, which then takes these and acts upon them ‘automatically’ to achieve the desired end.
When we consider the first 2 Essentials of Success – Desire and Faith – the ‘Faith’ part does not necessarily come to us automatically. We may have the Desire but this may be sabotaged by fear and limiting beliefs.
Essentially, ‘autosuggestion’ is a means of bypassing the conscious mind and getting directly to the subconscious mind, which is uncritical and accepts everything that is passed to it.
And as long as this material actually is in your interest, that’s OK.
There are many ways of bypassing the conscious mind – Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnosis are such examples. However a less specialised (and much simpler) way of programming your unconscious mind is to use affirmations.
Affirmations are statements that affirm your desire for what you want, detail when you want it by, and the means you use to achieve it.
They are always stated in the present so that the subconscious believes that they are already achieved, and that it needs to take the action necessary for it to be actually true.
Furthermore, they induce pleasant emotional states that the mind always seeks, thus cementing in place an emotion such as ‘motivation’ or ‘enthusiasm’ that creates the drive needed to achieve the goal.
The important thing about affirmations is they must be 1) believed wholeheartedly and 2) heard in your own voice.
For example, if you have trouble believing you can make money, make another affirmation stating that you believe you can make money. Use this for at least 30 days before using the main affirmation.
The process required to construct a ‘well-formed’ affirmation is below.
Decide on what your goal is.
It should be specific, such as a specific amount of money or a specific body weight.
Decide when it will be achieved.
Do not try and guess ‘when’ it will be achieved as this will sabotage your efforts. State clearly the actual date that you want it achieved by.
Decide (in general) what you will do in order to achieve what you want.
Write out the above in one sentence in the present tense – e.g.
‘It is December 31 2020 and I have $5,000,000 in my bank account, which I have received as a result of my consulting services.’
You can store it on your phone if you like.
Twice a day – usually upon waking and retiring – read this statement out aloud to yourself.
The reason for doing at those times is that your brain is either about to go to sleep or in process of awakening. At these times it is producing ‘alpha’ brain waves that make it more suggestible.
Usually at other times of the say you are producing ‘beta’ waves which are the sign of the ‘editor’ or conscious mechanism that may filter out any of these ideas.
As you read the statement, visualise yourself as having achieved the goal.
This should be easy given that the statement itself will give visual clues for you to focus on. Picture the bank statement or a nice big fat cheque in your hands!
The above process will memorise the statement along with a ‘visual representation’ of your successful achievement of the goal.
Over time – usually about 30 days or so – this will install a synthesised emotion such as certainty or enthusiasm, and will provide you with faith that it will be achieved and the motivation to achieve it.