“Change your thoughts and you change your world.“

Norman Vincent Peale

The afformations method

By Noah St. John

Traditional success teachers are big advocates of “affirmations” - repeating statements that you’d like to be true. For example, a classic “affirmation” is: “I am rich.”

Okay. Try it. Say “I am rich.”

What just happened? Did you hear a voice in your head that said: “Yeah, right!”?

The problem with “affirmations” is that they don’t work for most people. Why? Because you’re trying to convince yourself of something you don’t really believe.

Have you ever been persuaded to try “affirmations”… and then had… absolutely nothing happen?

Me too. And about a billion other people.

One morning in April 1997, I was taking a shower and thinking about how the human mind is always in the process of asking and seeking the answers to questions. For example, if I were to ask you “Why is the sky blue?”, your mind would start searching for the answer.

So I asked myself a logical question: “If the human mind is always asking and searching for the answers to questions, why are we told to repeat positive statements we don’t believe? Instead, why don’t we ask ourselves empowering questions - questions that will force us to change our thought patterns from negative to positive in order to answer them?”

Take a statement like “I am rich” - to which the brain replies “Yeah, right!” What’s the empowering question you should be asking instead?

That question might look something like this: “Why am I so rich?”

Try it. Ask yourself “Why am I so rich?”

Do you know what your brain is doing right now? Searching for a positive answer to that question!

The staggering realisation I made that morning in April 1997 was that you create your reality in two ways: by the statements you say to yourself and others, and by the questions you ask yourself and others. Until then, no one had fully realised, or shown how to harness, the awesome power of what happens when you change your questions.

I named my discovery The Afformations Method.

The 4 steps to creating afformations that change your life

Step 1: Ask yourself what you want.

You can use a goal you’ve previously written down, or start from scratch. You decide.

Please note that traditional success teachers stop right here. They tell you to “set your goals” and then say “affirmations” in an attempt to convince your brain that you will have what you want… sometime, somehow, somewhere.

Let’s use Brandon from Utah as an example. He wanted to make more money doing something he loved. He was an insurance salesman who’d spent R30,000 on every “how to succeed” program out there, with no results. So for his goal, he wrote: “I want to be all I can be in life.”

Now, the breakthrough step…

Step 2: Form a QUESTION which assumes that what you want is already true. 

Forming a question which assumes that what you want is already true is the key to creating Afformations that change your life.

Your life is a reflection of the subconscious assumptions you make. That’s why Step 2 of The Afformations Method is to change your communication with the world inside yourself. Afformations are the fastest, most effective way I’ve ever seen to immediately change your communication with the world inside of you AND the world outside of you.

So Brandon began afforming: “Why am I allowed to be, do, and have all that I want in life?”

Step 3: Give yourself to the question.

The point of Afformations is not to find “the answer” but to ask better questions. When you ask better questions, your mind automatically begins to focus on what you have as opposed to what you don’t have.

Once Brandon began to afform what he wanted, his mind automatically began to search for the answer. He started doing things a little differently and talking to people with new confidence.

Which brings us to Step 4 of The Afformations Method - the one you MUST do to get optimum results…

Step 4: Take new ACTIONS based on your new assumptions about life.

Even though Brandon had spent thousands of rands on every “how to succeed” program out there, he subconsciously assumed they wouldn’t work for him. So they didn’t.

After reading my book, he realised that this was what was keeping him from what he wanted. So he began to take new action on the very programs that had not worked for him.

He began calling more people. He followed up with more confidence. By focusing on what he had instead of what he lacked, positive results naturally followed.

Once Brandon followed the four steps of The Afformations Method, his sales tripled in 30 days. In less than nine months, his income increased 560% and he was named Agent of the Year.

The point of Afformations is not to find “the answer,” but to change your questions. When you follow The Afformations Method, you will form empowering questions that immediately change your subconscious assumptions.

For example, Andrea had been trying to get pregnant for more than a year but had a huge mental block. She thought she didn’t deserve it, her body couldn’t do it, and so on. After her psychologist told her about Afformations, Andrea began asking herself “Why do I conceive so easily?” and “Why am I so fertile?” Within a month, she had a positive pregnancy test. Now she’s asking herself, “Why do I carry my babies full term?” and “Why am I free from morning sickness?”, and all kinds of questions that are making her feel great during her pregnancy.

Can you see how this process must, by definition, change your life? Using Afformations, you can take conscious control of your subconscious thoughts - change the questions, change your results, and change your life!