A 33-year-old man came to see me because he was depressed, irritable and had many aches and pains. He slept poorly and had little interest in his work, his wife or his hobbies. “Business is terrible,” he told me. “I sit by the phone all day and twiddle my thumbs, waiting for it to ring.”

The physical examination and laboratory tests revealed no medical problems. It was clear, however, that he had a very negative attitude toward himself, his business, his wife and life in general. Since his lack of business seemed to bother him the most, I gave him a success affirmation.

“When you wake up in the morning,” I told him, “I want you to say: ‘I’ve got so much work I can’t handle it! I love my work!’ And I want you to see and feel yourself as having all that work.”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “Listen, Arnold,” he said, “I sit on my hands all day. My tools are getting rusty. I do all my jobs in two hours, then I sit around waiting for the phone to ring.”

“Nevertheless,” I answered, “I want you to say it 50, 60 times a day: I’ve got so much business I can’t handle it all! Say it, see it and feel it.”

He agreed to write the affirmation down on a card, tape the card to his phone and repeat the affirmation 50 times a day. But he didn’t seem to have much faith in the idea. When he left, I wondered if I would ever see him again.

A few months later he came back to my office and said, with a big grin, “Doc, you’ve got to turn it off! I’ve got so much business I can’t handle it. This affirmation stuff really works! Look, when I left here last time I was going to find a real doctor who would give me some real medicine. But I said the affirmation anyway, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t change my attitude. I started saying and visualizing that I had lots of customers and was happy. I guess my good attitude rubbed off on my customers, because they called me more and more and told their friends about me. The more business I got, the better I felt, and the more I affirmed, the more business I got!”

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