Religious people might actually have a good idea. Next time, when you hear the chant of monks, the homily in a Catholic Church, the singing from the Gregorian, remember that it is a way of affirmation of themselves and of their faith. And you can use it to affirm yourselves.

People from all walks of life use affirmations to keep themselves going. Warriors, merchants, students, even politicians. This is because affirmations are a surefire way of reminding the self of their choices and their goals.

Affirmations are defined as declarations of the belief of an existence or truth of a thing. This is one of the foundations of self-confidence and the way one can deal with the world.

Sometimes we lose track of ourselves. It happens at work, taking care of the needs of your wife and kids. Or meeting your obligations at church or in your workout, sometimes we forget the "why" of things.

Most people go through life not setting goals. In fact, only three out of a hundred college students in the United States set goals. These 3% eventually go on to realize their goals and earn a higher income than the rest of the 97%. This is a startling figure. It means that goals are not taken seriously.

People with goals are more confident of themselves because they measure themselves against a benchmark. This has the effect of letting them know where they truly stand against the goals they set.

It may be understandable that people lose their way after they set the goals. This may have been a result of having no mechanism to constantly affirm their actions. Or there was no method set up to affirm the goals they have set, reminding them the reason for working long and hard.

When goals are forgotten, time is wasted. And the person loses his self-esteem, his confidence, and gives up.

It is therefore important to maintain a high self-confident attitude that does not depart from reality. The role affirmation plays on maintaining self-confidence is in the area of autosuggestion.

Autosuggestion is a declaration of an intention or a goal is stated over and over again until the mind of the person accepts the statement as truth. This type of affirmation is viewed positively and it mobilizes one's resources and effort towards the attainment of the goals so stated.

It is also a means of harnessing the power of the subconscious in helping achieve goals. It is a form of self-hypnosis, usually accompanied by having a compelling vision with the statement; the person repetitively tries to live through the moment ad if it already happened.

Sports psychology has made use of autosuggestion and visualization to win games and this was proven time and again by claims made by athletes. It seems that human beings are quite good at mentally programming themselves to achieve a specific goal.

However, the opposite effect can also take place. One can repetitively place himself in a position where negative thought repeatedly bombard the mind into submission. The brain makes no distinction between a positive suggestion and a negative suggestion.

Therefore the wording of the affirmation is very important. It is always better to declare a statement in a positive sense instead of the negative because the mind does not hear any negative remarks.

For example, if one wants to stop smoking, his statement should not be "I will not smoke." The mind can only perceive and accept it as "I will smoke." It would always be better to say, "I will exercise daily to be healthy."

The more positive the affirmation the more powerful the effect of the affirmation will have.

Affirmations must be stated everyday. It should the first thing done when one wakes up, before work is started, and before one goes to sleep. This is programming the mind for success.

Visualization is executed by seeing a future event in as great detail as one can. It must involve all the senses, even taste and smell. The objective is to create a compelling vision that the mind will readily accept as reality. If done correctly, the mind will subconsciously work towards the fulfillment of that desire.

The mind is a powerful tool for success. Because it is like a sponge, one must be careful what one or others put in it. Use affirmations and visualizations to clean up your mind as well.

Nothing happens easily. However, employ some of the principles outlined here and in no time your self confidence will soar! Best of luck.