Scott Adams 描述了他的 Affirmation（自我肯定）实践，探究了它的可行性以及背后可能的解释，最后给了一些建议。

我觉得还挺值得尝试的，毕竟不需要投入太多的精力，还有潜在的高回报。其中的难点是真的每天都去做，并且自己内心深处相信这个目标的可达成性和达成的必要性。

people who expect luck have a more powerful ability to notice opportunities in their environment. Optimistic people’s field of perception is literally greater. And the best part is he discovered that when you train people to expect luck, their field of perception increases accordingly. I think part of the mystery of affirmations has to do with the fact that it improves your ability to notice an opportunity.

那些期待好运的人往往具备更强的能力去发现环境中的机会。乐观者的感知范围确实更广。而最令人兴奋的是，他发现，当你训练人们去期待好运时，他们的感知范围也会随之扩大。我认为，肯定语的神秘之处在于它能增强你发现机会的能力。

Writing affirmations also helps you focus on your goal, moving them from wishful thinking to something in which you are willing to invest yourself.

撰写肯定语不仅能帮助你专注于目标，还能将它们从一厢情愿的想法转变为你愿意付诸行动的实际计划。

In effect, you are brainwashing yourself, and this might help you get through the tough patches that come with pursuing ambitious goals. When I started Dilbert, I didn’t take a day off for ten years. You only work that hard if you fully expect something good to come from it. I did.

实际上，这种自我洗脑可能会帮助你度过追求雄心勃勃目标时的艰难阶段。当我开始创作《迪尔伯特》时，我连续十年没有休息过一天。只有当你完全相信努力会带来回报时，才会如此拼命。我做到了。

Since the publication of The Dilbert Future, I’ve received thousands of e-mails from people recounting their own experiences with affirmations. Most people seem to be amazed at how well they worked. I heard all kinds of stories of people changing careers, marrying the person of their dreams, making money, and starting businesses. I also heard stories from people who claimed affirmations didn’t work for them, but the failure stories were the minority. To be fair, the people who had success were more likely to get excited and write to me about it, so the most that I can conclude is that lots of people BELIEVE affirmations worked for them.

自《呆伯特的未来》问世以来，我收到了成千上万封电子邮件，分享人们使用肯定语的亲身经历。大多数人似乎对其效果感到惊奇不已。我听到了各种各样的故事，有人因此改变了职业，有人嫁给了梦中情人，有人赚到了钱，有人创办了企业。当然，也有人表示肯定语对他们无效，但失败的故事只是少数。公平地说，成功的人更可能因激动而写信给我，因此我最多只能得出结论：很多人相信肯定语对他们有效。

I don’t know how long you should try affirmations before concluding that they don’t work for you. But trying it for less than six months probably doesn’t give it a chance.

我不确定你需要尝试肯定语多长时间才能判断它们是否对你有效。然而，若尝试时间少于六个月，可能并不足以见效。

Affirmations have not worked every time for me. But the few times they did not work, I must say I wasn’t fully invested in the objective. For example, there are a few cases where if I had achieved an objective it would have caused a lifestyle change that wasn’t entirely positive.

肯定语并非每次都对我奏效。然而，在那些少数无效的情况下，我必须承认自己并未全心投入。例如，有些情况下，如果我达成了某个目标，它会引发一种并不完全积极的生活方式改变。