It’s interesting how we can be so kind and understanding to other people while being hard on ourselves. The way we talk to others comes from a place of love and abundance. Too often, we speak to ourselves from a place of anger, bitterness, and frustration. If you’re going to accomplish your goals and create a life that’s focused on success, you have to realize that the things we tell ourselves affect the actions we take. Whether it’s spoken out loud or it’s that nagging voice in our minds, the things we tell ourselves each day are a predictor of what happens next.

True self-love happens when we treat ourselves with patience and more understanding. Becoming the best version of ourselves requires a daily reminder of how amazing we are and our capacity to accomplish more than our fears tell us is possible.

If you’re serious about creating a success-filled life, there are three essential affirmations you should tell yourself each day. Treating yourself even better than you treat others is how you’ll accomplish your goals. It’s time to love yourself in more than words.

1. I’m going to set a vision for what a successful day would look like and do the work to make that vision a reality.

You can’t get anywhere if you don’t have a clear picture of where you’re going. Too many people don’t accomplish their daily goals because they have no vision of what a purposeful day looks like. If you don’t have a plan for your day, you’ll bounce from thing to thing with no real progress. If you don’t have a picture or vision of what it would feel like to come to the end of your day having accomplished specific goals, you can’t plan properly. It would help if you told yourself kind and motivating things every day. You have to commit to the specific version you have of a success-filled day and agree to do the hard work to fulfill that vision. Tell yourself you can accomplish anything that you envision and plan for — believe it.

2. I’m going to spend as many moments as possible aware, present, and conscious of my choices. 

It’s easy to drift and go through an entire day not having accomplished anything you’d like to accomplish. Life moves quickly, and moments tend to pass unused. The path to creating success happens with awareness and using our time wisely. We have to be aware of what we’re doing and be intentional about how we spend our moments. 

Every choice has consequences, and it’s the little daily choices that determine how successful you’ll be. To create an optimized life, you have first to build healthy habits. One habit is being fully present and living out each moment every day. Commit and tell yourself every day that you’re going to live fully aware of your choices and taking advantage of all the moments we have to be alive. You only get one life to live, so make sure you’re living it.

“The past does not equal the future unless you live there.” – Tony Robbins

3. I’m going to make myself a priority before I think about entertaining the needs and wants of others. 

Other people’s agendas and desires tend to get our priority — that’s not the path to accomplishing our goals. We put others’ wants and needs before our own and then end up bitter because we know better. One decision and thing you should tell yourself every day is that you’ll make yourself, your wants, needs, and desires a priority. You’ll take of yourself first so that you can be in a better position to entertain what other people need. 

You are the primary goal. Becoming your best you and living your best life is worthy of your effort. You can’t get there if you give all of yourself to other people. There tends to be nothing left at that point. Even if it’s family and people you love — success means making yourself a priority. 

It’s safe to say that you could be more gentle with yourself. The things you’re telling yourself every day are either helping or hurting your path to becoming a better and stronger you. 

Start your planning the night before and dream of your daily vision of success. Wake up determined to live out each moment and get to work on creating your most efficient days. Do that for a while, and you’ll accomplish your goals quicker than you realized is possible.

What happens next is up to you. Tell yourself these three things each day, and you’ll vividly experience success.