Can Positive Affirmations Help Students with Their Studies? A Practical Guide to Affirmations for Students

Can Positive Affirmations Help Students with Their Studies? A Practical Guide to Affirmations for Students - Affirm Effect

College life can be challenging. You have assignments to complete; you need to study for the tests and still spare some time for your social life. The tasks get more overwhelming if you have a job and boss to please, a family to be there for, or you’re in an internship. The societal pressure is even worse for the college-going age.

All this pressure can easily take a toll on your confidence, disrupt your peace of mind, and break your self-esteem. With subsequent trials and failures at meeting your expectations and those of your tutors, it’s easy to start self-blaming and speak negatively about your life or abilities.

According to reports, up to 44% of college students struggle with depression and anxiety. 

The pressure could be there, but you can train your brain to focus on the positive side of life instead. That’s where positive affirmations come into play. Here’s how positive affirmations work and how you can use them to make your college days easier.

What Are Positive Affirmations?

Positive affirmations are optimistic statements you can speak to yourself, listen to, or read as many times as possible daily. They are designed to shut down negative thoughts about yourself, your school, or your studies. Speaking these words to yourself can train your brain to believe in the positive.

Statements such as “I’m enough,” “I’m capable of achieving my dreams,” and “I have everything I need to succeed” are what we term positive affirmations. While the pressure of college life may be overwhelming, telling yourself these words each day can divert your focus from the perceived challenges. That way, you find the strength and motivation to face your failures and win them.

Still, it’s worth noting that positive affirmations aren’t some magic words that get things done for you. Thus, you need to be realistic in what you manifest to yourself and work towards achieving your dream.

How Do Affirmations Work?

Affirmations can help you banish negative thoughts about yourself, your school, or your studies. They apply in several aspects of life generally. Alongside school, positive affirmations can help you improve your social life, deal with parenting difficulties, or find peace in a hostile work environment.

How self-affirmations work is relative to the brain’s ability to adjust and alter its form, structure, and shape following different situations over a person’s lifetime (neuroplasticity). According to research, positive affirmations change neural pathways and activate the parts of your brain responsible for self-related processing.

The human brain sometimes can’t distinguish between reality and fantasy. This surprisingly helpful feature of your brain makes it easy to manipulate it either positively or negatively. This aspect explains the adage that says your beliefs are your reality. 

Forming a mental picture of you doing something activates several parts of your brain responsible for the experience of the situation. For instance, if you keep telling yourself (through affirmations) that you can face that exam and pass or you’re able to crack that interview, your brain ends up accepting that as a reality.

If you follow your affirmations with actions, you find it much easier to do things you consider challenging.

Benefits of Affirmations to Students

Frequent affirmations alter the brain’s pathways, making it a powerful self-help tool in dealing with your school-related issues. If you keep manifesting positivity and shutting down negative thoughts, you’ll soon find yourself:

  • More resilient when facing stress
  • More calm and peaceful
  • Improving in studies
  • Healthier

How Can Students Use Positive Affirmations?

Affirmations are positive phrases you can form or get from a source and intentionally keep telling yourself. Alongside speaking, you can get the affirmations by:

  • Printing or writing them on pieces of paper and sticking them in places you see often.
  • Asking someone to say them to you as frequent as possible
  • Recording and playing them out as audio.

Whatever works, affirmations will change your life if you keep listening to them daily. For best efficacy, speak at least one statement to yourself three times before bed, when you wake up, and a few more times during the day. This is especially helpful when you feel stuck or whenever negative thoughts strike.

How Do You Come Up With Affirmations?

Affirmations aren’t a one-size-fits-all type of treatment. Thus, you choose what works for you, depending on your challenges with school or your studies. 

For instance, “I can do this” best fits you when you feel less confident, while “I love my school and teachers” best suits you when you hate your school.

You can form these affirmations yourself or get them by reading books, blogs, or buying stuff with printed phrases. Go for whatever works best for you. A few tips to keep in mind include:

  • Acknowledge your challenges, and find an affirmation that helps you think positively.
  • Ensure your affirmation is realistic and achievable. (You can’t say you can perform surgery when you’ve never been into a medicine-related class.)
  • Speak your affirmations in the present tense. (I am, I can, etc.)

Examples of Affirmations for Students

Depending on what point of your studies you are currently at, these affirmations can help you get positive vibes into your school life:

  • I’m doing my best
  • I’m approachable and teachable
  • I can become a great student
  • It’s okay to ask questions
  • I failed. But I can do better
  • I can achieve my dreams if I set my mind to them
  • I love my studies
  • I’m ambitious enough to achieve my goals

Final Thoughts

School life can be challenging, but that doesn’t mean you should give up or endure the experience. Use affirmations to positively impact your beliefs in the school, your studies, and yourself. Grab some materials with positive affirmations for students here.

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Image credit: JESHOOTS-com | Laptop Woman Education - Free photo on Pixabay

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