Politicians repeat themselves a lot, have you noticed?

It’s not (just) because they like the sound of their own voices. There is a powerful principle of influence at play there.

It’s the same principle behind marketing. Everyone thinks they are immune to marketing, as if companies somehow pour billions into it for fun. But it works. Even when you ignore it, it works.

The principle that politicians and marketers use so well is this:

We humans like familiarity. The more familiar something is, the more likely we are to like and accept it.

The most familiar ideas are ours. That’s why we like people to agree with us. You may not know what you are talking about, but your own ideas still seduce and conquer you.

This is why politicians are speechless: when you start to recognize and remember their voice and ideas, you start to believe in them a little more. Not much else, this isn’t mind control or anything, but sometimes it’s enough.

Same thing with ads, too. Companies would rather you sit back and fully absorb their ads… but hey, just noticing the brand, even for a millisecond, makes you more familiar.

This doesn’t have to be a problem. If you remember to think about your big decisions, like big purchases and who to vote for, this won’t get in your way.

But while it’s interesting to know how to defend yourself against these things…

… it’s even more interesting to learn how to use them to enrich your life.

And chances are you already are.

This is one of the key components of the affirmation engine.

Saying an affirmation once won’t do much for you. It might get you excited and energized, which is a good start, but the real results come later.

Two, three times, not so much.

It is only once you have repeated it so many times that it embeds itself deeply into your mind that you start to see results.

Your unconscious mind recognizes it as a familiar idea.

And, with your desire driving it, it ceases to be a sentence and becomes an instruction.

But before you write an app to display your affirmations on your phone every five seconds, repetition can also work against you.

Repeating the words every day is one thing.

But it’s the repetition of emotions that really gets things moving.

Feeling hope, determination, and enthusiasm for your dreams, every day, will change your life more than anything else.

So repeat your affirmations, early and often. Just make sure you keep the excitement alive.