How to Manifest Anything You Want! Manifestation In Five Steps

Another Manifestation Post?

I know! You saw the title and part of you was intrigued. You were curious about what Or you rolled your eyes and thought B.S. Either way, you clicked on this blog post and you’re interested in the concept, or perhaps my version of manifestation. Let me begin by saying that I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here.

You can Google this topic and there are probably thousands of articles and tons of books on the subject. I have read many of them myself. Now, I will say that some of the content ranges from downright cuckoo to absolutely brilliant (in my humble opinion).

What I hope to share with you in this blog post are methods that lean heavily into science and research to support the steps I offer. I am someone who has a strong faith in the unknown and the other side, but as a therapist, I have also seen how the power of the mind (and one’s ability to harness their mind), can create unbelievable transformations. It is through my experiences in helping hundreds of people in my practice, that I can offer you some insights and tips for manifesting a life that you want.

Before we begin manifesting

I want you to know that manifestation is actually quite a simple thing. It is quite easy to apply the steps that I am going to present to you, but please understand that the difficulty is in priming your mind to change and to actually implement the steps that I am going to present to you.

As a therapist, I see, how every day, people say that they want change, but yet continue to behave in ways that suggest that they do not actually want the thing they desire or proceed to self-sabotage. This is the area that will require the greatest amount of work and reflection. Getting yourself to work through the self-sabotage is crucial to your success.

My introduction to manifestation

Manifestation has been presented in many different forms. For me, personally, the concept of manifestation was first introduced to me almost twenty years ago when I read “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. I was in my twenties, broke, overweight, and lonely. Sure, I had a job and a roof over my head. I had friends and went out socially. On the outside, things looked fine. I was dating, I had a car and I could pay my bills. But I would say that I just wasn’t happy in my life. I felt like I was a failure because I was an adult, but I hadn’t “made it”.

Can you relate? It felt like I was “ all of the right things”, but I had “nothing” to show for it. I was almost 30 years old, I wasn’t married, didn’t have a well-paying job and didn’t have the income to live like someone with no kids (i.e. travel, buy the things I wanted, go to nice restaurants, etc.). When I was introduced to this book, I was desperate to try anything.

I went down the rabbit hole, did my vision boards, took aligned action and waited. And after 30 days, nothing happened. I prayed and visualized and I think that after about 90 days, I gave up. Nothing on my vision board manifested. I can’t say that manifestation didn’t work, but I decided that manifestation wasn’t in the cards for me. But as I got older and wiser, I can now understand where I went wrong. Hopefully, I can guide you, so that you don’t make the same mistakes that I did.

What manifestation is and what it isn’t

What I learned over time is that manifestation is actually a proven technique. It is backed by science. As a therapist who has had access to psychology studies and has trained in different modalities, I saw data that supported the concept. Something that previously felt like Woo-Woo or some magic potion that some snake oil salesperson was offering to make money was actually rooted in science. I read journal articles and heard from other therapists explain the process they did with their own clients.

Manifesting is not just about wishing or hoping to get something or for something to happen. It is a technique to help you overcome limiting beliefs and conscious mental obstacles. It trains your brain to prepare for a different life and to take action. Manifestation in this realm, involves rewiring your mind. Manifestation involves reframing your mindset to focus on positive outcomes, instead of focusing on negative beliefs and self-talk.

Manifesting is not just about wishing or hoping for something to happen. Manifestation is not about slapping images on a vision board and just looking at the images every day. but rather consciously paying attention to the negative self-talk and negative beliefs, intentionally reframe those beliefs and make conscious choices that support a life that you want.

A word of caution about manifestation

Below, I will describe the five steps. I will preface this by saying that the steps are simple, but not easy. It shouldn’t be easy. You see, you are tasking yourself to undo years and years of conditioning.

You have come to be in your present form by carrying around beliefs about yourself and the world that have existed for a lifetime. It is this messaging that has led you to have limiting beliefs and to make choices that do not support your overall well-being.

Your job is to unpack and undo these years of conditioning that are so automatic that you don’t even realize that it’s impacting you. This is what most people do not realize.

The struggle lies in challenging most, if not all of what you know, to build a life that you have never seen before. So, recognize that the manifestation process may come with some painful insights and tough choices. As a therapist, this is my job to support clients in working through those insights and to cheer them on toward change.

I suggest to you that you find a support person, who can cheer you on in your own life and who will not be threatened by your efforts.

How to Prepare for Manifestation

Take about 15 – 30 minutes a day to work on your manifestation. Take a few minutes throughout the day (morning, afternoon, and before bed) to devote time and energy to this process. Your job is to focus on catching the automatic habits and thoughts that keep you stuck in the life that you are in now.

As in most new things in life, implementing new change requires conscious attention.

Remember when you were learning anything new, like driving a car? It took lots of mental energy and resources to remember all of the things you had to do to drive the car. This is the same with manifestation.

You must devote the mental resources to catch yourself saying and doing things that do not support you. It is not about obsessing about the outcome, but rather focusing on what you are thinking and doing, and asking yourself if those behaviors align with the life that you want.

Have a journal where you can document your process and your progress. Writing these things down helps you see in front of you what you are doing and what is working (and what isn’t). You can use a notebook or you can get a journal devoted to the manifestation process. I have one linked here.

So, without further ado, let’s get started with our manifestation steps. I’ll also cover some of the mistakes you may make along the way.

Here are the 5 Steps of Manifestation:

1. Set Clear and Specific Goals Choose your desired manifestation and say it out loud

2. Write it down and journal about it daily

3. Visualize your manifested life (Include hardships and obstacles)

4. Take inspired action. Track and review your progress

5. Express daily gratitude

Manifestation Step 1: Set Clear and Specific Goals. Choose your desired manifestation and say it out loud

This is the easy, yet hard part. Be very clear about what you want, and claim it, unapologetically.  Be as specific as possible about the thing you want and ask yourself why you want it. A mistake that people often make is that they are too vague and unclear about what they want. Most people say, for example, “I want a new car” or “I want to be famous”. That does not help you ultimately in figuring out what aligned action you will have to take in the future steps, just by saying “I want a new car”.

Also, by making this simple declarative statement, you don’t do the deeper work of asking yourself why you want the thing, what having the thing will do for you, and how to get there.

Manifestation Step 1: Common Mistake

Previously in my thirties, I said that I wanted a Black, two-door Mercedes Benz coupe. I had a picture on my vision board and everything. It was in my bedroom and I looked at it every day. I told people about it, but secretly I was embarrassed about wanting it.

Secretly, I didn’t think that I deserved it. I didn’t know how I was going to afford it. I was skeptical.

Looking back, I can see that I wanted that car because I wanted people to think that I had money. But the car wasn’t particularly practical for the life that I lived.

I wanted the car, but a part of me also didn’t really believe that I could have the car. A part of me didn’t even really want the car, so I didn’t do much beyond just put it on my vision board.

The thing is, I did want a new car. I hated the car I was driving at the time. The car didn’t drive nicely, it needed frequent maintenance and I didn’t like the interior. I was often frustrated and made negative associations with the car.

So, what happened? I got into a head-on collision and the car got totaled (Be careful what you wish for). I ended up getting a new car (which I was manifesting), but it wasn’t a Mercedes. It ended up being an SUV that I loved driving. So, a car was manifested. I didn’t get the car that I was superficially attached to, I got the car that I was emotionally attached to and met my needs.

Be honest about what you want and ask yourself why you want the particular thing.

Manifestation Step 2: Write It Down and Journal About It Daily

This is an extension of the first step. You want to be focused on this thing that you want. Reflect upon why you want it. Ask yourself if there are insecurities or fears or worries present? What do you fear may happen if you actually succeed at this thing. Ask yourself what childhood messages exist around the thing that you want. If it’s money, ask yourself what your family said about money (i.e. money is the root of all evil). What about if it’s weight. Ask yourself if your family said: “Skinny people are mean”? if it’s a relationship, ask yourself if you hear an ex saying “No one will ever love you because you’re ugly”.

By journaling, you allow yourself to acknowledge any self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs that may keep you from truly being in a place to receive the things that you want.

So often we don’t make change because we are afraid of how that change may impact others. By working through your limiting beliefs or self-talk, you can begin the work of changing the self-talk and challenging long-held beliefs, behaviors, and messaging.

Manifestation Step 3: Visualize Your Manifested Life (Include Hardships and Obstacles)

A key factor in achieving your goals is visualizing yourself taking action towards them. If you struggle with this, imagine someone you admire performing the task and visualize them inviting you to do it with them. Remember, success requires effort and manifestation alone is not enough.

Set aside 5-10 minutes every day to visualize your ideal life. Include an emotional connection to the thing that you want.

Visualization of the steps and actions needed to achieve a goal is crucial in manifesting. While you may not have the how of something, by mentally rehearsing these actions, the brain forms possible connections and possible habits that prepare the mind and body to take action. This increases your overall chances of success.

To achieve your goals, visualize the desired outcome and focus on the details of the experience.

This can be surprisingly hard for people. Most people can “see” their new life but if I were to ask them to give me specifics, they get stuck. People also struggle to feel emotion around something they’ve never had before.. If you struggle with this, imagine someone you admire performing the task and visualize them inviting you to do it with them.

Your manifested life is not perfect. You have to be able to prime your mind for how you want to prepare for the inevitable obstacles that show up. You also want to get clear on the specifics of what you want, because you are establishing standards for yourself.

Your job is to stop settling for the life you have now and convince yourself that you are worthy of having the things that you want. By visualizing your ideal day, you can see where you need to make adjustments, what skills you may need to learn, and how you can make choices that support your manifested life.

Manifestation Step 3: Common Mistake

If I said, “Tell me 50 things about the person you want to be in a relationship with”. People will often say “I don’t know. Or I may ask, “Tell me what an argument with your soul mate looks like” and they say “We don’t fight”. There is a lack of conviction about what they really want.

Therein lies the work of figuring out, “Is this really something that you want?” For some, it may be that they have never had a healthy relationship and therefore they do not know what to look for. Or they do not think that they are deserving of a loving relationship.

Studies have been done with athletes, asking them to see themselves playing a game. They not only see the game-winning shot, but they also see the boos from fans in the stadium. In their visualization, they see a rival team member yelling in their face. They imagine how they would handle if their ankle gets sprained.

By visualizing the wins and the setbacks, they can better practice before the game to prepare for the possibilities. Studies have found that the brain doesn’t distinguish between real and imagined experiences.

Create a Vision board

A vision board helps us achieve our goals by keeping them in sight. Include small, achievable steps on the board to stay motivated and build momentum toward your larger goals.

By rewiring our thoughts to see the possibilities and visualizing ourselves achieving our goals, we can create a new path in our minds leading to success.

Please note, this is different than worrying. Worrying about things that haven’t happened is unproductive, and comes from a place of scarcity and fear. Visualization comes from a place of feeling competent. It focuses on how to best use your life to accomplish the things that you want to accomplish.

Know that fear of failure and fear of the unknown may show up. If you allow it to overtake you, that can prevent you from believing that you can reach your goals. By visualizing positive outcomes and rehearsing the steps needed for success, you build confidence, become more comfortable with change, and unlock new opportunities that you may have otherwise said no to.

For example, I worked with a client to manifest a new relationship. I asked her to describe the soul mate in detail, from the physical to the emotional. I asked her to visualize them arguing and how she wanted to argue effectively.

She realized that in her visualization that she was mean and a name-caller. Throughout her time in therapy, she worked to reframe her habit of calling people names and feeling insecure. She worked to be a partner who was loving and could disagree in a civil manner.

Manifestation Step 4: Take Aligned Action

This part is two-pronged. Taking aligned action first has to start with you. You have to get to a place where you like yourself. Dare I even say, that you have to work on loving yourself. Your manifested life requires that you become a different person from the person you are currently

Think about whether the thing that you want would be attracted to you as you are now. If you want a relationship but all you do is complain about yourself and others, do you think your ideal soul mate would be attracted to you? If you wanted to attract money, do you think that disparaging money and saying “money is the root of all evil” would make money want to come into your life?

You have to do the work of treating yourself in ways that you want to be treated. That starts with affirmation work and learning to like yourself.

Aligned Action – Part II

Secondly, you must take aligned action in setting yourself up to receive the things that you want. Within your visualizations, you should have paid attention to what your ideal self was doing. How did they behave? What did their home look like? What were they eating? As you explore the changes of that manifested self, begin to incorporate some of those things into your life.

Ask yourself consciously and in meditation what has to be done in order to receive the thing that you want. Take baby steps. Aligned action doesn’t have to be massive, like throwing away your junk food or quitting your job. It could be that you start eating better foods, or you start learning a new skill, or you start wearing clothes that make you feel good. You are aligning, slowly but surely to the person that you want to be and the life that you want to manifest.

Remember, success requires effort and manifestation alone is not enough.

Manifestation Step 5: Express Gratitude and Release Attachment to the Outcome

Developing gratitude is one of the biggest things that you can do to support the manifestation of your life. By seeing everything that happens as an opportunity for you to be better and do better, you are more receptive to receiving things that improve your life.

In part, if you are someone who is doing the work of loving yourself, and changing your behavior, and truly being in a space to learn, you become happier. Regardless of what outcome shows up, you become a happier and more grounded person and opportunities present themselves.

This is where the WooWoo bit shows up, in my opinion. On your journey to self-love and manifestation, you are going to be tested. You will be given opportunities to revert back to old habits, to be jealous, to be afraid, or to take an easy way out.

The test will be whether you can overcome the adversity. The test will be in how you respond when fear, jealousy, and negativity present themselves. Do you go back to negative self-talk? Do you settle for something you in your heart know is not good for you? Can you be grateful for the adversity?

Depending on your answer, you show yourself (and the Universe) that you are ready to receive.  By focusing on the work and releasing attachment to the outcome, you set yourself up to receive the things that you want.

In Conclusion

Manifestation is real and is backed by science and Psychology. Success requires time and effort on your part to achieve your dreams.

By focusing on your dreams and desires and removing self-doubt, overwhelm, procrastination, and fear, you can train your brain to make them a reality. With these simple shifts in mindset and action, you can pave the way towards creating the life you want.

My name is Edwige and I am a therapist who specializes in mom issues (stress and anxiety) and trauma. Find me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.