Positive self-talk has become more popular than ever before. You may even have attended a positive self-talk seminar, have audio or video courses at home, or have self-talk books on your shelves. Merely reading or reciting the positive self-talk is not effective. To achieve positive results, more is required.

Focus Imagination

Have you ever heard the saying, “Don't do what I say, do what I mean”? This is very similar to how positive self-talk affects the subconscious mind. Words alone have little effect on the subconscious until they are combined with pictures, imagination, or emotion.

In other words, you can read or self-talk for a long period of time, but until there is focused attention placed on what you are saying or meaning attached to it, it will be of little effect. It's as if words alone are a separate language until the focus of imagination has been placed on them.

Have you ever listened to a lengthy lecture delivered in a monotone voice on a topic that you find of little interest? The words of the lecture simply fill the air, and you don't absorb the meaning unless the speaker begins to insert images, emotion, or excitement. Words alone are similar to having a textbook sitting on the table open to a page with no one reading it. Until there is focused attention of some sort, it is merely unused information.

Mindless Repetition

Another misconception of positive self-talk is that if it is repeated over and over it will become part of you. This is similar to the old-school stereotype of the teacher having her student write a sentence on a blackboard 200 times as a way of making him remember a lesson.

Repetition without focus is a waste of time. Many times students trying to memorize answers for a test will read the answer over and over only to find that when the test began they could not remember the answer. If they had taken the time to create a picture with that same answer, chances are they would have remembered it. If they had also placed emotion within that picture and attached it to the answer, it would have come back to them even stronger.