2 - Why 'I Will' Works

Toye Oyelese

Welcome back to Mindlessness: The Power of Articulations — Don't Believe It. Just Say It. I'm Dr. Toye Oyelese, your host, and if you caught the last episode, you probably remember me pacing up and down the hallways of my half-empty clinic, muttering 'I will survive, I will thrive' about two hundred times a day. I mean, I'm chuckling now, but back then? Desperation, not enlightenment, was doing the talking. So today, I want to unpack exactly why that worked—and I want to tell you, it’s not magic or positive thinking. The real mechanism is a little something I call SW plus A plus T equals D — SW+A+T=D. That stands for Spoken Word plus Action plus Thoughts equals Direction. It's a bit of a mouthful, I know, but stay with me, because understanding this little formula opens up a whole new toolset for getting yourself unstuck, no belief required.

Toye Oyelese

Let me paint the picture for you with a metaphor—that’s what got me through medical school, after all. Think of Thoughts as gas, floating around, going wherever they want. You ever tried not thinking about something? Like, right now, don’t think of a pink elephant. See? It just pops up—thoughts expand, they fill the available space, they don’t care about your orders. Your emotions and beliefs, that inner narrative, they’re all in that category. Just wild, unpredictable gas. Now, Actions—those are like solids. Much more stable. You’ve done something, it’s got weight, it’s got shape, it’s—what’s the word—permanent, in a way. But habits, those things are tough to change precisely because of that. They’re set, kind of like a rock you’ve rolled up a hill. And then there’s Spoken Word, which is liquid. Spoken words flow, they adapt to the container. And here’s the important part: you can control what you say, right now, out loud. Even if your thoughts are contradicting you, or your emotions are dragging you down—you can still open your mouth and say, 'I will succeed,' even if not a single cell in your body buys it in that moment.

Toye Oyelese

I’ll give you a quick clinic memory to bring this home. There were these medication names—tongue twisters, honestly, like hydrochlorothiazide or methimazole, and I would triple-check to pronounce them in front of patients. I’d repeat them quietly under my breath until I built up enough confidence to say it out loud. Mind you, I still nearly trip over 'hypokalemia'—that’s one of the great ironies. But the practice of saying it, over and over, out loud, it was always the spoken word that pulled my thoughts and actions into line. Not the other way around.

Toye Oyelese

Now, this is where it gets interesting. These three factors—spoken word, action, thoughts—they interact, and there’s a trick to it. When you get any two of them pointing the same way, the third—no matter how stubborn—eventually comes along for the ride. Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance reduction. Your mind just doesn’t like contradiction. If your thoughts and your speech are negative, your actions will probably reflect that, and you go through life slouched, sighing, expecting trouble. But—and this is the bit folks miss—it works the other way. If you line up your words and your actions, even if your thoughts are skeptical or even, let’s be honest, downright rebellious, eventually those thoughts start shifting. Not because you forced it, but because your mind wants harmony. The pressure builds until the odd one out, usually your thoughts, stops fighting so hard.

Toye Oyelese

Now the big question always comes: Could this really work for everyone? Doesn't mindless repetition hit a wall if my beliefs are just too strong, too negative? It’s a fair question. I mean, if you say 'I will succeed' but you’re really, truly convinced you won’t, surely the brain just digs in its heels, right? But here’s where repetition creates what I call 'critical mass.' The more you repeat your articulation—say, 'I will thrive'—the more pressure builds for your thoughts or your actions to catch up. And that’s regardless of whether you start off believing it. You don’t need buy-in from your skeptical brain; you just need persistence, stubbornness, maybe a little bit of that factory-shift stubbornness that kept me awake on those cold Canadian nights.

Toye Oyelese

And let’s talk about the word 'will.' Traditional affirmations go, 'I am confident.' Your brain, my brain—most brains—hear that and immediately start fact-checking: 'No, you’re not. Don’t lie to me.' That approach just invites pushback. But if you tell yourself, 'I will be confident'—well, that’s an intention, not a claim about now. See, your brain doesn’t argue intentions the way it argues right-now reality checks. I call it the 'WILL' loophole. It slips past the mind’s sentries and doesn’t trigger as much resistance. You say it enough, and your mind stops fighting you long enough for your actions—or eventually your thoughts—to start drifting in the same direction. That’s how I survived those long days—two hundred times a day, even if ninety-nine percent of me was busy doubting or grumbling the whole time.

Toye Oyelese

Here’s the part that drives some of my meditation-loving friends nuts: This method isn’t about mindfulness, or belief, or getting into a meditative state, or feeling the words deep in your heart. No, what I’m talking about here is pure, unapologetic, mindless repetition. Like, remember learning to drive? You twist the mirror, signal, step on the brake, and at first, you’re sweating bullets, monitoring every tiny thing. Say you’re like me—maybe you even check the rearview mirror five times out of pure nerves! But after enough tries, it becomes automatic.

Toye Oyelese

That’s exactly how these articulations work. You repeat your phrase so many times that your subconscious just grabs onto it, whether or not you ever had a moment of insight or belief. Studies back this up—automaticity, the fancy word, shows that skills and thought patterns shift from conscious to subconscious through repetition, not reflection. I saw this in the military, too. Training drills were pounded into us—sometimes with a literal pounding—until prep became automatic. Feeling 'ready'? That came after automaticity, not before. The same principle applies here. Mindless is truly the point.

Toye Oyelese

Now, before I sign off, there is a caveat—if you’re struggling with severe depression or anxiety, you might need a little extra support, like medication to balance the chemistry, before this method can really work. Doesn’t make you broken—sometimes, just like a short-sighted person needs glasses to drive, you might need some extra help. But once the foundation’s there, repetition does the real heavy lifting.

Toye Oyelese

So, quick recap: Spoken Word is liquid—use it, because it’s controllable. When two out of three factors align, the third eventually follows. Use 'will' to sneak past your brain’s resistance. And above all, don’t overthink it—just say it. We’ll get into crafting your personal articulation next time, and I’ll share why most people get the wording wrong. Until then, just keep repeating. I’m Dr. Toye Oyelese, and thanks for joining me on Mindlessness. Talk to you soon.