Instead of thinking, “I fucked up. I’m shit, I can’t believe what an awful failure I’ve become.”
You say. “I made a mistake. It happens. I’ll figure out how to solve the problem and move on. This doesn’t make me a failure.”

Its easy to pay attention to the worst definition (like the one found in The Secret) instead of the one that is most commonly practiced. As someone who has suffered depression, I’ve never thought of affirmations as some magic cure all, just a reminder that things will be ok, that there is hope, and that I just need to take life one step at a time. 

An excellent comment. I acutally agree that belief is essential to taking action. But really. How much belief do you really need? You only need to know that it’s possible. I could run some numbers and find out it’s possible for me to get a new Macbook Pro. Then, I can take action and buy one. But I am certainly not going to sell a product based on mathamatical equations.

That being said, when I say affiramtions suck, it is because the vast majority of people who trade in affiramtions, think that they WILL lead to results, If affirmations were presented as you say, a way to get yourself boosted up, I would not disagree.

But people like those in The Secret believe that your thoughts can cause reality. And when it doesn’t work, they say that someone is “doing it wrong.”

Well…that I don’t buy.

But I do buy what your saying. I just see an affiramtion at best is just a temporary solution to get you pumped uo to take action. In other words, kind of like self-talk. Like before giving a speech, I kind of tell my self everything will go well.

Again, a great comment. This post generates most of my hate mail, so it’s good to actually discuss the issue with someone.

Telling yourself over and over again that you have a mercedez will not put a mercedes in your driveway.

I do believe that taking action is the only way to make change. BUT! You do have to 1st believe you can take the action required before you can actually take action, and this is where affirmations can be very powerful.

They are not magic, but they can help motivate you to take action in your life that most people just flat out don’t do.

Affirmations don’t suck. They actually are pretty awesome if you really understand them and accept that the buck stops with you, there are no free rides.

Affirmations will help, if you know how to apply them.