My Morning Affirmations// Overview
How I start every day with intention and direction, even when self doubt chatter plays in my head.
Read time: 7-10 min
You know that feeling of self doubt? The one that chatters off in your head saying “you’re doing it wrong,” “no one will like you,” essentially “you’re not good enough...”
The voice tells you “you’re all alone," and "no one can relate to you,” even if we know it’s a statistical impossibility given the number of people who ever lived.
When I heard this voice, I knew I should shut it down, but my real struggle was recognizing when the voice was speaking in the first place. I wanted to remove it at the source.
I thought if I could live the life of the sage, and say the right things or do the right things, life would be much easier...
If only I had the words, I could listen to a different voice. I could change the narrative.
I knew mindfulness practices like prayer, meditation, and silence were good to do, but with my brain running a thousand ideas in million directions, how could I hope to stay focused?
My practices were inconsistent at first...
Without knowing how to start, it’s difficult to set a routine,
Without a system to follow, it’s difficult to sustain a routine; and
Without a routine, it’s difficult to have consistent growth.
Does this sound familiar at all? 💬👇
If I wanted to recognize and systematically remove destructive patterns in my life, I needed to go to the source.
This is when I discovered affirmations.
What is the Affirmation habit?
I would describe Affirmations as:
"Bold statements of emotional support or encouragement, often to reinforce value and overcome limiting beliefs."
Simply put, it’s reminding myself of truths and the direction I want to head in.
While the topic of truth is a whole other series, I’d love to share both how I came to practice affirmations, and how you can easily adopt this practice as well if you so choose.
By turning my mindfulness practice into a repeatable system, I felt confident having a tangible way to re-write and align my beliefs and behaviors.
Over the years, I tested and blended several practices as I sought to find a rhythm that works for me.
Traditional affirmations: Often only a phrase, or short sentence.
Prayer practices: Inspired by my family, local church, or something spontaneous.
Journaling practices: Helpful for writing out a prayer or thought to visualize my brain, rather than just speaking it. It also helps when reflecting over time.
Meditation literature: Ancient wisdom meant to be read repeatedly for reflection e.g. the Bible, rather than something like a textbook used for reference, or a one-and-done novel.
The result?
These truths began to resonate in my life and I could lock them into my thought processes. Instead of the voice of destruction, I could redirect the conversation with the voice of life.
Knowing what I could do made it much easier to start. Instead of the creative intensity of a "blank page," I at least had a template to start from.
Since it was so much easier to practice and I could make it my own, I’ve been able to hold a consistent practice for years.
My Affirmation Process: The Phases and Styles I Explored
But what do I actually say?
Well over the years I've come across many styles, and some methods worked better for me than others. Over time, I started writing them down and refining them. In curating this post, I realized I had 20+ I’ve been circulating between!
I noticed the affirmations fell into 4 categories, mostly based on the stages I went through in the development process. I also included the approximate time it takes me to voice each affirmation.
💬👇 Let me know in the comments which affirmation scripts you'd like me to share! I'll update this post by linking to the new publications as I release them.
📩 Then Sub for the updates so you don't miss out when I release the affirmations you're requesting!
I. Notes-Based Template
These were broadly a collection of quotes, or notes I jotted down and used as an outline, rather than a formally written script. At one point I even recorded myself talking through them so I could play it back as I read it. I thought it would help me stay focused, or reduce any intimidation of reading by myself, but found the audio too distracting. I soon abandoned the recording in favor of a printed outline I could hang on my wall. Templates include:
Identity in Christ // Who am I? (~5 min)
Armor of God (~5 min)
Purity (~5 min)
Goals // Future Self (3-5 min)
The Lord's Prayer // Evening prayer template (5-10 min)
II. Based on Some Dude
As I started to systemize my process a bit more, I began to take a closer look at what other people were doing. Sometimes I came across an affirmation someone else wrote and it resonated with me, so I copied it into my records and started to merge them by theme. These include:
Identity 1: Power (1:40)
Identity 2: Image (2:00)
Peace, Psalm 23 inspired (2:30)
Faith Deconstruction, Psalm 73 (3:10)
Finding Joy + Affirmation purpose, Psalm 119 (5:00)
Part 1: Psalm 119; Finding Joy + Affirmation purpose (2:10)
Part 2: Psalm 119 Affirmation (2:55)
Or I’ll just read from Psalms in general
III. Topical
Over time I began to refine the inspiration I gathered from others. In this category, I re-sorted and re-wrote affirmation by topic. The most popular ones I developed include:
Direction 1: Character of God (2:15)
Direction 2: Purpose (3:10)
Direction 3: Warfare/ The Battlefield of the Mind (2:10)
IV. Scripture Affirmation
I like to write all my affirmations in first-person, and when it comes to the Bible it's especially more personal. I like the context of longer passages, and put together my own translation by blending several modern translations. I then compare against the original languages before simplifying it into a first-person poem.
(While the details of my translation process are better suited for another post, let me know if you're curious about how I do it in the comments.)
The Way of Love, 1 Cor 13 (3:30)
Spouse of Nobel Character, Prov 31
First-person (2:45)
Speaking over someone// Husband to Wife (2:20)
Identity 3: Eph 1 (2:00)
Humility Gospel, Philippians 2 (2:00)
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Luke 6 (Total: 5:30)
Part 1: Reciprocity (3:00)
Part 2: Discipleship Parables (2:30)
Shoutouts
Over the years of putting this together, I've been inspired by more people than I can name. However, these are a few references to people that directly influenced the specific words I speak across the above lists. As I publish the top affirmations, I'll get more specific, but generally speaking, I have to offer a huge thank you to:
The Church of Grace & Peace, Walt Healy + Jim “PJ” Wehrer
Church on the Move, Willie George + Matt Schroeder
Apps: Dwell; Pray the Word
How to Practice:
Rather than just reading it straight through in my head, I read it aloud and try to keep my eyes forward rather than always on the page. This typically results in a natural pause on the line breaks or commas as I find my rhythm and try to commit the passage to memory.
When my wife Cassie and I do them together, these pauses are also natural opportunities to repeat one after each other, and briefly reflect on the phrase as we keep rhythm.
Cultivating the Routine
My goal was to discover and establish a daily habit, so I scheduled them into my day where I have the most control and stability, mornings and evenings.
I used to start them before bed and after the chaos of the day, but now I typically run my affirmations first thing in the morning. I also tried mid-day over lunch, but found I'm more likely to get distracted or forget as the day goes on.
Because mine are only about 2-3 minutes each, it's an easy win and can be applied anywhere. Since morning activities were already in my daily routine, they became my most consistent habit anchor. For example: as I got dressed, as I was relaxing in the shower, preparing breakfast before work, or at the start of my commute I could speak the affirmation.
When I started working remotely and driving wasn’t as regular, I took morning walks to break up my day. I spoke them once I got to the street and as I walked through the neighborhood. Some people like to speak them as they stare at themselves in a mirror, but I think that’s better for one liners.
While I like to track my daily habits, I don't make it a big deal if I miss a day. I keep the streak going by aiming not to miss 2 days in a row. Before long, it nearly becomes second nature.
Overall, I’ve found affirmations are a great way to start the day with intention and direction.
Next Steps: How You Can Implement your own Affirmation Practice
💬👇 What do you think Hero?
Are you ready to get started today? Or maybe you already have an existing affirmation practice? Either way, there's always something we can learn by sharing our experiences. I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments below.
If you're curious to test this practice yourself, here are a few different ways you can apply affirmations in your own life:
Just getting started? Choose 1 of mine above, and challenge yourself to read it aloud every day for a week. (If not hyperlinked above, let me know the one you'd like to see most in the comments.)
Wanna start your own? Pull out a single quote or phrase that resonates with you, and see how reading it in a "first-person perspective" influences your outlook. If it resonates, start by speaking it aloud and reflecting on it each day for a week. Then host the reference file somewhere you'll see it regularly. For example, save a link to your home screen, or print it out and hang it up inside the closet door.
Do you have a daily practice already? Mix it up by adding 2-3 in your weekly rotation. Mark an "X" on your calendar and see how long you can go without breaking the streak twice in a row. Can you go for a week? A month? 3 months? a year? Try your best 🙂
Going strong for a while? Assign a different affirmation to each day of the week. Attempt to commit them to memory by minimizing the number of times you need to reference the script.
💬👇 If you do end up trying one of these recommendations, I'd love to hear how it impacted you for better or worse. Feel free to report back in the comments.
PS. I can't see your face, but would love to hear your voice!
❤️ If this post resonated with you, let me know with a ❤️
💬👇 Let me know in the comments!
I'd love to hear your experience with affirmations!
Any questions, concerns, or compliments?
Which affirmations from my list would you'd like to see me share?
👤 If you had someone come to mind as you were reading this, use it as an opportunity to reconnect. You can share this post with them as an excuse to start the conversation.
📩 If you're ready to make your beliefs your own, or simply curious to see my journey unfold, subscribe below while you're still thinking about it! Be the first to see if I publish your requested affirmation.
👍
Among four, I want to try "scripture affirmation". I love all the process you introduced. Blending modern translations and simplifying words in first person will make the bible more personal to me for sure!