I’m sure that many of your have heard about the power of affirmations and visualizations on your path to personal growth and success. If any of you are like me (a natural skeptic), at first blush these practices sound quite ridiculous. “Think your way to a better life” sounded like a recipe for delusion until I started to unpack my thoughts and reflect on my own organic, and often subconscious self-talk.
Affirmations come in the form of present reminders of who you are regardless of whether or not they are true today. Visualization, on the other hand, is the process of using your imagination to project a future state of being. The most important aspect of either of these tools is the understanding that they can be used for growth or destruction. For instance, affirming that you are a failure who has never amounted to anything will work just as effectively to limit and even regress the future you as any positive affirmation will to build you up. Taking some time in your day to reflect on the ways in which you unconsciously affirm yourself is critical for this very reason.
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.”
– Marcus Aurelius
Experimentation
I decided to deliberately write down each and every time I had a affirmation or visualization in my day. I took notes in a pocket-sized notebook on the situations surrounding the event, classified them as negative or positive, and most importantly, reflected on the “why.” After just 3 days I filled up several of those small, lined pages and learned that the overall outlook I had of myself was quite bad. I had constant ruminations of being subpar in my personal and professional relationships, having no solid future plan, and generally living life without purpose. The few positive affirmations I did find were vague and opaque while the negative ones were vivid… I’m talking 8k.
Something had to change.
But what and how?
“A man is what he thinks about all day long.”
– Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Soundtrack to My Life
During my daily rucks I started outlining the positive affirmations that would define my life today and moving forward. During each mile I would mentally work through and recite an affirmation and the ones that put me into a state of deep visualization made it into my notebook for next steps. After a 6 mile session, I had 5 affirmations that provided me with deep meaning and purpose.
- “I am a beacon of inspiration and hope for individuals across the world trying to find their way and discover who they truly are.”
- “I am in the best shape of my life and I am proud to take my shirt off and show people the hard work I’ve done.”
- “I am an athlete who can climb v5 routes in bouldering gyms and ruck 15 minute miles.”
- “I am a confident and eloquent speaker, able to persuade anyone and able to inspire those around me.”
- “I have a strong business acumen and the entrepreneurial skills to launch a multimillion dollar business.”
Reading them in my own handwriting was one thing, but I needed them to become my new mental narrative. I had to hear those words in my own voice, commit them memory, and bury them deeper than the Mariana Trench. Enter the hidden insights of Cleveland’s finest… Kid Cudi. I decided to create a soundtrack to my life.
I’ve got some issues that nobody can see
– Kid Cudi
And all of these emotions are pouring out of me
I bring them to the light for you
It’s only right
This is the soundtrack to my life
The same way that those negative ruminations continually played in my mind’s eye, what if I created my own soundtrack to rewire those negative thoughts into positive ones? I recorded myself reciting my affirmations and saved the audio files to my computer. Then, I found a song to play in the background, something both meaningful and inspirational to support my affirmations. My track of choice was YLL GRYM – One Of The Greatest.
After obtaining all the audio files, I used a free audio layering tool called Audacity to loop my affirmations and make any final touches. The result was something I did not expect… peace. It took some adjusting to hear my own voice in such a thoughtful and introspective manner, but after a few playthroughs it was as though my future self was mentoring my self of today. 🤯
Results
It’s been less than 1 weeks and I can feel the results of listening to my soundtrack daily for even only for 10 minutes. The affirmations replay in my mind specifically when faced with making critical decisions or to combat mental negativity. It’s as though my mind is now armed with weapons for self-defense and every time I replay my soundtrack, I sharpen those tools and strengthen my defenses.
lifeaccording2chr.is 
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