“Everyone has a range of ideas they are prepared to accept. Messages that lie within this boundary are more persuasive than those that fall outside it—those meet the greatest resistance and can even lead to people holding onto their original position more strongly,” states Dr. Bolstad, explaining the results of the studies. “If a person with low self-esteem says a positive affirmation about themselves but it’s well outside the range of what they’ll actually believe, their immediate reaction is to dismiss the claim and feel even worse. Affirmations that contradict a person’s current self-image and basic model of the world, no matter how positive in intention, are likely to trigger mismatching thoughts.”
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The secret lies in one of the greatest tools we have for tapping into the creativity which is at our essence: the ability to dream and imagine beyond the limits of our everyday reality. Humans have the magical ability to project their consciousness into theoretical situations—we can suspend our beliefs simply by asking “What if…?” or any other well-designed question that leads the mind into uncharted territory.
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Half the people in this group were, instructed to use a statement-based positive affirmation, such as “I will do this.” The other participants were instructed to use a question-based affirmation, such as “Will I do this?”. Across all tasks in several different experiments, the researchers found that the question-based affirmation groups were more motivated, more focused and more successful than the statement-based affirmation group.
Furthermore, both groups reported entirely different motivations and thinking about their goals based on the type of affirmation used.
“Those instructed to say ‘I will’ reported later that they felt motivated (for example) ‘Because I would feel guilty or ashamed of myself if I did not,’ whereas those instructed to say ‘Will I?’ reported that they felt motivated (for example) ‘Because I want to take more responsibility for my own health’, reports Dr. Bolstad on the team’s findings, elaborating that “the affirmations had a kickback effect of producing away from motivation, whereas the questions produced towards motivation. The researchers noted that questions open the person to possibilities while affirmations close the mind to other choices. Questioning invites you to explore; affirmation tells you what is and ignores the ability to find unexpected or more useful results.”
