INTRODUCING AFFORMATIONS:
THE MISSING PIECE TO HAVING ABUNDANCE
“I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But the questions are sure worth thinking about.”
— ARTHUR C. CLARKE
Did you see what just happened? I ended the last chapter with a question. And what did that do to your brain? Don’t you really want to know what I mean by “asking a new kind of question”? Isn’t your mind feverishly searching for the answer right now?
Are you ready to find out how and why this happens—and why your life is about to change as a result?
What Is a Question?
A question is an expression of inquiry that calls for a reply. When you ask a question, what happens?
For example, right now, you’re probably thinking, I don’t know—what happens when I ask a question?
Do you see that? When you ask a question, your mind automatically begins to search for an answer.
You can’t help it. It’s automatic. It happens without your volition. Searching for an answer to a question is perhaps the most basic and fundamental function of the human mind.
On that fateful morning of The Shower That Changed Everything, I realized that this simple truth of human consciousness may hold the answer to solving life’s biggest problems. Here’s what I mean. . . .
What Every Problem You’ll Ever Face Really Is
No one likes problems. Most of us try to avoid, ignore, or get away from them. Some would argue that problems are the bane of human existence. But really, every problem you’ll ever face is simply a question that hasn’t been answered yet.
Any problem, from the trivial to the tremendous, is really a question searching for an answer. For example, here are a few serious global problems and their associated questions:
Every problem is simply a question that hasn’t been answered yet.
| PROBLEM | QUESTION |
| Global warming | How can we stop destroying the planet and still live the prosperous lives we want? |
| Poverty | How can we equally distribute the world’s enormous wealth so no one has to go without adequate food, clothing, and shelter? |
| Unemployment | How can we get all people working in jobs that produce wealth for themselves and help society function better? |
Notice that I didn’t say these were easy problems to solve. That’s why we haven’t found all the answers yet!
What about regular, everyday human problems? Here are some common problems that many people face, along with their related questions:
| PROBLEM | QUESTION |
| Money | How can I make more money without sacrificing my family, my values, or my freedom? |
| Weight | How can I lose weight, be healthy, and still enjoy the foods I want? |
| Business | How can I grow my business and attract more customers without struggling? |
As you can see, every problem is, at its root, a question (or series of questions) that hasn’t been answered yet.
Let’s say you wanted to solve a common problem that millions of people face every day, like how to make more money, lose weight, or be happier. One approach would be to use the traditional affirmation method by saying things like: “I am rich,” “I am thin,” “I am happy,” and so on.
You may believe these statements, and you may not. However, your Belief Gap may be so wide that even though you want to believe these positive statements, you just don’t. That’s why many so people respond to statements like this with the “Yeah, right” response—and eventually give up on their dreams.
If you’ve been tempted to give up, let me show you something so powerful and yet so simple that the traditional success teachers skipped right over it on the way to breakfast this morning:
If you don’t believe
your positive statements yet,
why not ask a question
that will change your life?
How You Create Your Life
The staggering realization I made in The Shower That Changed Everything on that fateful morning in April 1997 was that you create your life in two ways: by the statements you say to yourself and others, and by the questions you ask yourselves and others.
Traditional success teachers have focused a great deal of time and energy on telling you to change your statements. For millions of people, that method has worked . . . and for millions, it hasn’t.
But until my discovery, no one had fully realized or shown how to harness the awesome power of what happens when you change your internal and external questions.
You create your life by the statements you say to yourself and others and by the questions you ask yourself and others.
Your mind has what we could call an automatic search function—which means that when you ask a question, your mind automatically begins to search for an answer. (Psychologists have referred to this function of the human brain as the “embedded presupposition factor.”)
For example, imagine if I were to ask you, “Why is the sky blue?” Do you know what your brain is doing right now? It’s searching for the answer to that question. Notice that it did so without your telling it to. You didn’t try to start searching for the answer. You didn’t have to make yourself do it. In fact, your brain couldn’t help it. Literally, you couldn’t not do it!
This is often referred to as the Law of Sowing and Reaping, because you reap what you sow. Emerson called it “First Law” or the “Law of Attraction,” which means that what you focus on—the thought-seeds you continually plant—will grow and bear fruit. (By the way, the answer to the question is that molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. Now you can impress your friends at parties!)
As we’ve seen, traditional success teachers have told you to change your thinking if you want to change your life. And that’s quite correct. Yet even as far back as biblical times, we’ve been reminded, “You have not because you ask not,” and “Ask and you shall receive.”
If you change only the statements you say
without changing the questions you ask,
you’re missing out on the most
simple, effective way to bridge
your Belief Gap—and change your life.
How a 13-Year-Old Girl Cured Her Compulsive Worrying
I got a phone call one day from Mary, a working mom from Wisconsin who had attended one of our seminars. The first words she said to me were, “Noah, your work has changed my life!” When I asked her what she meant, she told me the following story:
After attending your seminar and learning how to use Afformations, I realized that if it could work for me, it could also work for my 13-year-old daughter Stefanie. She’s a high achiever who gets all A’s in school, but she was also a chronic and compulsive worrier.
Stefanie worried so much that she had developed severe sleeping problems. She’d lay awake many nights worrying, until finally she’d come into our bedroom and wake us from a sound sleep so we could comfort her.
We tried everything. We read to her. We prayed with her. We were even considering taking her to therapy. Still the worrying—and the sleepless nights—continued.
She would cry and ask me, “Why do I worry so much?” It broke my heart because I couldn’t help my own daughter.
When I heard you teach Afformations, I realized that this was the answer I’d been praying for! I came back from your seminar and immediately taught Stefanie how to use Afformations.
She was as excited as I was! The questions we came up with for her were:
Why am I worry free?
Why do I enjoy a full night’s sleep?
Why do I put my trust in God’s hands?
Why do all my friends love me?
Why do I love me?
From the very first day she started using Afformations, Stefanie’s worrying stopped! It was truly miraculous!
She also became much happier, is more relaxed, and seems to be at peace in her own skin. And you know how hard that can be for teenagers nowadays.
Your books were the first self-help books I’ve ever read that inspired me to actually do the exercises. Thank you, Noah, for making such a difference in our lives!
Mary then told me that not only did Afformations enable Stefanie to quit worrying, but they also helped Mary build her home-based business and attract more customers. She started telling all her friends about Afformations and using them in all areas of her life.
Then, when Mary’s husband, Scott, told her that he wasn’t passionate about his work any more, she began afforming, Why is the right calling coming to Scott? Within weeks, he landed his dream job. And get this: it was a position working at Stefanie’s high school. That means this family used Afformations to gain more peace of mind, find more fulfillment at work, an increased income, and even enjoy more family time together. Now that’s what I call afforming!
Empowering vs. Disempowering Questions
Most people are going through life asking a lot of disempowering questions without realizing it—then they wonder why they’re not getting the results they dream of. Therefore, let’s begin by examining the disempowering questions you’re unconsciously asking right now, then learn how to consciously change your disempowering questions into Afformations, which are empowering questions.
What are disempowering questions? They’re questions that do precisely that: they disempower you and effectively take away your power to act by focusing your mind on what you don’t have, what you can’t do, and who you are not.
Questions like, Why am I so broke? Why doesn’t anyone love me? How come I never have enough money? Why am I so fat? and Why can’t I lose weight? are examples of disempowering questions, because they cause you to believe you can’t do the things you want to do in life.
Of course, no one goes around asking these negative questions on purpose. But you may be unconsciously asking disempowering questions like these without even realizing it.
That’s why I’d like you to try something right now. I want you to say these common disempowering questions out loud, and see how you feel as a result. Ready?
Did you do it? When you consciously ask disempowering questions, say them out loud, or even think them, it doesn’t feel very good, does it?
Disempowering questions take away your power to act.
As I explain in my seminars and mastermind programs, each of us is carrying around what I call a Negative Reflection in our subconscious mind—that negative inner voice that tells us we can’t do anything right. The Negative Reflection always asks negative or disempowering questions like the ones listed above.
The ultimate result of them is that you manifest what you focus on. In other words, when you ask yourself negative questions, you get negative results.
In your Afformations Journal, I want you to write the five most disempowering questions that your Negative Reflection asks you on a regular basis.
Yes, I mean right now.
These disempowering questions may have come from someone in your past, or perhaps you made them up on your own. Either way, it’s vital that you know exactly what your own disempowering questions are so you can begin to turn them around. (Please write today’s date next to the disempowering questions you write, because when you come back to your notes later, you’ll see just how far you’ve come once you’ve been using The Afformations Method, even for a very short time.)
Please do this right now. I’ll be right here when you get back.
Whew. Pretty bad, aren’t they?
Are you ready to find a better way?
Empowering Questions—The Right Questions to Ask
Now that you’ve identified the disempowering questions you’ve been unconsciously asking, you’re probably asking another question right now: “Okay, if those are the disempowering questions I’ve been asking, what are empowering questions—and how can I start asking those instead?”
I’m glad you asked!
Empowering questions are those that have precisely the opposite effect of their negative counterparts. While disempowering questions focus your mind on what you don’t have, can’t do, and are not—and therefore take away your power to act—empowering questions focus your mind what you have, what you can do, and who you are. In short, they unleash your ability to take action and express Who You Really Are.
The answers to empowering questions produce feelings of positive self-worth and ultimately lead to answers that tell the truth about Who You Really Are.
Empowering questions unleash your ability to take action and express Who you Really Are.
Let’s try something fun right now. I want you to change the five disempowering questions you just wrote into empowering questions. How do you do this? Simply reverse the negative question into a positive!
For example, let’s say one of the disempowering questions you wrote was: How come I never get the breaks other people get?
Your empowering question might be: Why am I so lucky?
Or if one of the disempowering questions you wrote was: Why am I so fat?
Your empowering question could be: Why is it so easy for me to lose weight?
Got it? Grab your pen and change your five disempowering questions into empowering questions in your Afformations Journal. Are you ready to experience the Afformations difference? Go for it!
Pretty cool, huh? Did you notice something shift in your mind? What does it feel like? In your Afformations Journal right now, write the difference you feel from doing the first exercise to doing the second one.
Congratulations! You’ve just begun an amazing journey to your new abundant lifestyle. . . .
How an Insurance Salesman Increased His Income by 560 Percent in Less Than a Year
Brandon, an insurance salesman from Utah, had heard about Afformations from a friend and decided to invest in the home-study programs we offer. Here’s what happened next, in Brandon’s own words:
After spending over a decade and more than $30,000 on everything from books, tapes, and seminars, to actually becoming certified as a Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner, what has happened to me as a result of using Afformations is nothing short of amazing!
After going through Noah’s home-study program, I realized that I was subconsciously asking myself a ton of disempowering questions that were stopping my growth—negative questions like Why can’t I get any new referrals? and Why can’t I make more money?
I immediately started asking myself positive Afformations. First, I began asking, Why do I get referrals every day? Within four days, I had received nine new referrals to new clients. I had never received that many referrals in such a short period of time!
Before I met Noah, my sales averaged between $1,500 and $2,000 per month. In the first 30 days of using Noah’s program, my sales tripled. By the end of the year, my personal income had increased by more than 560 percent, and I was named Agent of the Year. I managed to do all this despite going through a painful divorce and mourning the loss of my grandmother.
After that first year, I realized I was ready to get back into a relationship. I began afforming: Why am I so lucky to meet the perfect woman for me so quickly?
In less than 40 days, I met a fantastic woman. But what’s truly miraculous is that if we’d met just one week earlier, I wouldn’t have been open to dating her, because I wanted someone over 21 years old (I was 27 at the time)—and we met just four days after her 21st birthday.
My advice to everyone reading this? Follow Noah’s program—because it will change your life!
Why Are They Called Afformations?
I named the process of creating and asking empowering questions The Afformations® Method. But where did the word Afformations come from?
After my discovery in the shower, I realized that the process of asking empowering questions could completely revolutionize the fields of self-help and personal growth. I also decided to create a new word to describe this process, because I wanted people to more deeply understand how their thoughts and beliefs are forming their lives.
One of my favorite subjects in high school was Latin (yes, I was a geek long before they put the word computer in front of it), and after my breakthrough, I discovered that the word affirmation comes from the Latin word firmare, which means “to make firm.”
I asked myself, “If affirmations are positive statements, what would be the perfect word to describe empowering questions?” After I asked the question, the answer came to me (of course!): I realized that when we ask questions—whether empowering or disempowering—we are really forming thought patterns, which then form our habits, which then form our very lives.
What if you’re making something firm, but it’s in the wrong form?
The word form comes from the Latin word formare, which means “to form or give shape to.” That’s when it hit me: What if you’re making something firm, but it’s in the wrong form? That would be called, “Forming a life you don’t want!”
That’s when I realized why so many people have so much trouble overcoming their Belief Gap using only statements—even though they’re trying to make something firm, they haven’t yet formed their new belief structure or new habits. Seen in this new light, it’s like trying to build a house without first pouring the foundation.
I realized that, before we make something firm, we first need to form questions that will change the thought-seeds we’re sowing . . . which will change our thinking . . . change our beliefs . . . change our habits . . . and ultimately, change our lives.
And that’s how the word—and the teaching of—Afformations was born.
(By the way, it’s perfectly legitimate to invent a word to describe a new technology or a new way of looking at the universe. For example, remember the first time you heard the words Internet, Google, or even computer? Just a short time ago in human history, these words didn’t exist, because the technology they describe didn’t exist. There was no context for them and no meaning. Now we use these words every day! In this book, I’m teaching you a new technology of the mind. Hence, Afformations—a new word to describe a new technology of the mind and a new way of looking at the universe.)
Bottom Line? You’re Already Doing This
In case you’re still wondering if this really works, or thinking this is the nuttiest thing you’ve ever heard, let me offer you one final fact:
You’re already using Afformations.
Thoughts like Why am I so stupid? or Why can’t I do anything right? are simply negative Afformations. Negative, disempowering questions like these are really your Negative Reflection forming itself inside your mind, thereby forming your thinking, your behavior, and ultimately your life.
For example, I was speaking in Virginia doing one of our live seminars, when a young couple came up to me—literally jumping up and down with excitement! They said they’d heard me teach Afformations at the national convention for one of the world’s largest direct-sales companies. Here’s their story:
Our dream was to qualify for the car our company offers as an incentive for sales performance. Since that was our goal, we’d been using affirmations for the past four years just as we’d been told: we made audios and listened to them over and over, repeated them all the time to each other, and placed them all over our refrigerator.
We even hung affirmation signs in the shower to try to reach our goal . . . but all we got was a bunch of wet words!
After hearing you speak about Afformations during your keynote speech at our national convention, we were very excited. We realized that Afformations really are the missing piece to having abundance, because they allowed us to bridge the gap between the positive statements we were saying and our own inner beliefs.
We started asking each other our new, empowering questions, placed them all over our refrigerator, and talked about our new Afformations day after day.
The results were absolutely amazing! We heard you speak at our national convention in July. By August, we realized we were doing a lot of things differently because of the Afformations we were using. And in September, our production had increased so much that we finally qualified for our first company car!
In short, after four years of not reaching our goal, we got the exact results we wanted in less than 90 days using Afformations. Thank you, Noah!
This professional couple had been very committed to using the traditional method. They’d been saying their statements for over four years—now that’s commitment! However, because they hadn’t been able to connect the positive statements they were saying with their inner (real) beliefs, they weren’t able to overcome their Belief Gap, and their subconscious negative programming hadn’t allowed them to get the results they had hoped for.
Why not use your mind to create the life you do want, rather than one you don’t?
Using Afformations, however, unleashed their inner power to search for creative ways to solve their problems—and the results spoke for themselves.
The power to re-create your life using Afformations lies within you and your miraculous, marvelous mind. In fact, since you’re already using Afformations anyway, why not use them consciously to create the life you want, rather than using them unconsciously to create a life you don’t?
By the way, if you still doubt the power of Afformations, there is a sentence that’s 11 letters long that represents the genesis of science, religion, philosophy, mathematics, history, and every work of art in human history.
If you’re still not sure whether Afformations will work for you, here is the question that has, in a very real sense, created human history:
Why am I alive?
In the next section of this book, I’ll teach you the four steps to create empowering Afformations that will change your life and show you the way to a new, abundant lifestyle.
Are you ready?
