I dare you to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself, “I love you.”

Seems like it should be easy, right? But many people can’t bring themselves to do this simple thing. Heck, I couldn’t do it at first. I just stared at my reflection with a deer-in-the-headlights look, opened my mouth a few times, then walked away. I felt like a dog that had its tail tucked between its legs.

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Talking to yourself and repeating daily affirmations while looking in the mirror is going to be awkward at first. At best, you’ll think it’s silly. At worst, it will be like stripping down to your underwear in a roomful of strangers. There’s a huge sense of vulnerability.

And when you think about it, it’s pretty sad. Most people are so used to hearing criticism and putting themselves that they can’t even accept a compliment from themselves. Often they don’t even know how to handle praise from someone else–they brush it off with a negative, self-deprecating remark. (Incidentally, the PROPER response to a compliment is “thank you.”)

But if you can overcome that initial embarrassment, the results are powerful. Your positive affirmations will feel stronger, more real. It increases the force of your words. You’ll end up feeling better about yourself in a shorter amount of time than you would have if you simply relied on daily affirmations by themselves.

Many people have used the mirror technique, though not always for the same purposes. Winston Churchill usually practiced his speeches in front of a mirror, as did Woodrow Wilson. Even the military hero George Patton perfected his scowl by using the mirror technique. The point is, they each used a mirror to help them influence their behavior, their expressions, their speech–they were shaping themselves, becoming the person they wanted to be for an audience. And it worked.