WING TIPS

I just finished meeting with the son of a neighbor who desires to go to the Air Force Academy. He is a friendly kid and a bright kid, and I believe he has the potential to be a great cadet if he decides to pursue that goal seriously. I don’t know him that well, but I did detect a potential problem as we had our hour-long conversation. He doesn’t think he’s good enough to accomplish that goal.

As I dug deeper, he seems to be more than qualified to get to the Academy. He has excellent grades and college entrance exam scores and has been a standout athlete and a boy scout. The apparent reason for his lack of confidence is he knew a kid who he feels was much more qualified who washed out of the program at the Academy the first summer. He now has self-doubts about his abilities.

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You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

I explained that kids leave the Academy for many different reasons, and without more information, he would have no idea why this other person left. More importantly, he needed to believe in his success abilities, which would be the ultimate test. I suggested that he talk with himself to build his belief and emphasize all the positive things he had going in his life. I let him borrow one of my books on positive affirmations so he could better understand the concept. We’ll have to see how things go.

Muhammad Ali once said: “I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I was the greatest.”

Positive affirmations like “I believe in my skills and abilities” have an essential role in building the belief in ourselves. They have been shown to help us believe in our potential to accomplish a feat we desire to achieve. And there is both scientific research and psychological theory behind the benefit of positive affirmations.1 Like doing new things, affirmations have been shown to increase the neuron wiring in our brains by releasing dopamine. MRI data has revealed increased activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain as a result.

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Convince Your Minds

Telling yourself that you will achieve what you desire has the effect of convincing your conscious and subconscious mind that it can happen. If you say it enough, you will begin to believe it. Besides, a positive affirmation costs you absolutely nothing, and if others have been shown to benefit, why can’t you?

I’ll be interested to see how this kid progresses and what, if any, the effect the book or other influences have on his decisions. I’ve decided to give him some time and then reach out to see if positive affirmations have produced a positive result.

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A Quote To Consider!

“I am the greatest!”

- Muhammad Ali

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1 Cascio, C. N., O’Donnell, M. B., Tinney, F. J., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., Strecher, V. J., & Falk, E. B. (2015). Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(4), 621-629.