Creating Playlists in iTunes of Music and Affirmations

by Bill Marshall

Those of you fortunate enough to have gone to a Tony Robbins seminar know that upbeat music plays a critical role.

I've attended three Tony Robbins events--two of the Unleash the Power Within (which includes the Firewalk!) and The Competitive Edge (a one day event that I don't think he offers any more).

His events are a combination of seminar, rock and roll concert, and block party all in one.

The days at Tony's events tend to be very long. For example, each of the UPW "live" days (Friday through Sunday) typically went until past midnight. And breaks for food were generally late and short. Tony is like the "Energizer Bunny"--he keeps going...and going...

In order to keep the energy of the audience at a peak level, Tony breaks up the day with what I would call "peak state" breaks. During those breaks, the audience is shouting, yelling, clapping, dancing, etc.

Tony makes certain that the audience understands the purpose of these breaks by explaining the importance of using your physiology to create your "peak state." And of course, he is the head "cheerleader" urging the audience to use more and more positive energy.

So What's the Purpose of Music at Tony's Events?

The musical breaks have multiple purposes:

--To keep up the audience's energy through a long day of teaching.

--To provide you with opportunities to practice putting yourself into a peak state. Through repetition with intensity, to develop the habit of being in a peak state. This is actually a type of "autosuggestion" except that you are using your body instead of words.

--To put yourself into a peak state before doing the exercises he gives you at the seminar. The idea is that if you put yourself into a peak state before you do the exercise, you will receive more value from them.

Even though I had studied Tony's book and Personal Power audio program, the seminar far exceed my expectations. I expected a much more "traditional" seminar. And the music played a critical part in the positive impact.

The music used at the seminar was almost all new to me. My musical tastes have primarily been big band and jazz--Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, etc. I was not prepared for rock, techno, and new age.

In fact, I've actively avoided that type of music in the past. I was completely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Because I realized that the music was a powerful "anchor," after the seminar, I went on a hunt to find the songs used at the event.

My idea was to use the music to fire off the anchors to help put me back into that peak state.

Thank Goodness for iTunes...

This was before iTunes and online music services. The only way to get the individual songs was to buy the entire CDs. There was way too much music at the event to buy all of it, so I ended up buying about 20 CDs in order to get 25 songs.

At about $15 per CD, I spent about $300!

It was insane to do that, but the results were worth it. I was able to copy just the songs I wanted to a couple of CDs so that I would have enough music to put myself into that peak state.

Whenever I stated to feel my energy slide, I popped in my CD and pretended I was back at the seminar. My energy and attitude would go back up and my progress and momentum would accelerate.

Now that we are living in the age of iTunes and the iPod, I've taken the process a step further. Now that you can purchase the individual songs (at least those that are available), the cost of getting most of the music is much less.

I've identified 255 songs from the seminar that are available in iTunes (there's links to the "iMixes" I set up for the songs below--keep reading). At $0.99 per song, it's now possible to get almost all the songs for less than I paid for only 25.

My recommendation is that you only get the most important songs or that you buy them in batches in order to reduce your total cost.

Once you get the songs, you can put them in any order on your iPod. You can even have certain songs repeated without having to recopy the entire file (just the name).

...Now Add the Power Affirmations

This is really important. Because you have control over your playlists (even if you copy the audio from iTunes to a CD), you can intermingle music with Power Affirmations.

As far as I know, the Power Affirmations program is the only one that allows you to do this (because each affirmation is its own MP3 file and there is no music in the audio).

Let's say that you have identified 10-12 Power Affirmations you want to focus on. Just pick 15-20 upbeat songs and organize the playlist for variety and impact. When the music comes on, concentrate on putting your body into a emotional peak state.

Music is an Emotional Amplifier

What do I mean by this? Simply that you can use music to intensify the emotions you choose to focus on (in this case positive emotions). With increased emotional intensity comes increased power with respect to the affirmations.

When the affirmations come on, you will have more positive energy that will make the Power Affirmation more effective. You will find that when the songs start to play again, you will be reviewing the affirmations.

This helps with memory retention.

You will begin to associate the affirmations with the songs. Throughout the day you will be "replaying" the music and the affirmations in your head. As that happens, your thoughts will begin to guide your feelings and actions.

It's when you get to the action stage that your momentum will begin to accelerate.

Just to be clear, the power of affirmations is not in the words or the affirmation recording, but the thoughts and emotions they create within your mind.

This is why mixing those thoughts with positive emotions is so important. And upbeat music is an outstanding way to be able to do this consistently.

If all you do is listen to the affirmations without mixing them with emotion--at least periodically--you will likely be disappointed with your results.

The more positive emotion--especially the emotions of faith, certainty, confidence, and determination, the faster you will see positive results.

So How About a List of Songs...

If you would like links to the six different iMixes I've created and/or a list of the songs as a PDF file, just visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com/music-and-affirmations/ There's a total of 255 songs in the iMixes and list that I have created. Using these pre-made iMixes will save you hours of hunting down the songs you want. When you visit the iMix, you can select individual songs out of the mix or you can buy the entire list.

I believe that you will find that creating playlists of music that you enjoy and Power Affirmations will help you use the affirmations more consistently which will make them more effective for you.

Copyright (c) 2006 Bill Marshall - All rights reserved. Feel free to republish this article with copyright and link information included.

For practical self-improvement tips, visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com/info/ . Get my new free e-book, "Power Affirmations: Power Positive Conditioning for Your Subconscious Mind."

You can also subscribe to my free Power Affirmations Podcast. Just visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com/power-podcast.htm for more information. If you intend to do it, do it now!