Manifestation is the process of bringing something into existence through thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions.
It’s about focusing on what you want and working towards it.
When you start learning about it, you’ll come across a lot of stories from people that swear by its effects. They talk about putting things out into the universe, and how they are now living a reality that seemed far out of reach. They’ll talk about manifesting their big, audacious goals into existence.
Of course, like anything on the internet, there’s a fair share of eye-rolling that goes on whenever this topic comes up. So, what’s the deal here? Is manifestation the key to unlocking your best self, or is it a load of hooey?
More than just wishes
To learn more about manifestation in practice, I talked to women in the Realtor community. Many, many lattes later, one pattern became obvious: manifestation is a tool of self discovery.
There’s something special about the term. It lets people, especially women, let go of perceived limitations.
There’s no room for imposter syndrome when you’re manifesting. There is no second-guessing or permission-seeking. It’s just you and your most audacious, daring self.
And something happens when you strip away all of the ideas of who you’re supposed to be. All of the sudden, there’s an enduring identity, a person, that you discover. There’s a reality you’re exposed to, and can’t help reaching towards.
Manifestation in action
You’re no longer completing mundane tasks because that’s just what you’re supposed to do. All of the sudden, you have a rubric to measure your daily efforts, monthly goals, and yearly progress by.
You can now ask, “am I becoming her (or him)?”.
Having your vision be so clear, it cuts through any analysis paralysis or what-ifs. Your options become:
1. Yes, you’re on track to becoming that girl, or
2. No, you’re miles away and in fact going in the wrong direction.
That powerful image of who you know you are supposed to be deep down is incredibly enduring. It empowers you to get through tasks, even when they’re not your favorite thing to do. You have the implicit knowledge that you’re one step, one action closer. You’re not just doing daily stuff, you’re manifesting.
Deep work by another name
After understanding how manifestation works on a personal level for people who swear by it, I was struck by just how powerful the effect is on the individuals I talked to. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around something so life-changing being completely unsupported by research. So I dug into the literature, only to figure out…
As it turns out, manifestation works. It’s just called something else in the literature. (drumroll, please)
Manifestation = setting superordinate goals
What are superordinate goals?
I’ll let the researchers tell you. The following is summarized from a scientific review by Höchli, Brügger, & Messner:
- Goals exist in hierarchy.
- People get bogged down and unmotivated when they’re stuck in an endless loop doing the little, achievable tasks that are necessary but frustrating or hard to do in the moment.
- To actually show up every day, and do the hardest thing – be consistent – you need to have a really strong sense of how the stuff you do in your daily life adds up to the person you want to be.
Manifestation is at the top of the goal hierarchy. It makes all that middle math makes sense.
Manifestation becomes the north star, the superordinate goal. It’s steeped in strong emotions. After all, it’s the sum of your hopes and dreams, the overarching ideal of who you are and what you seek to amount to.
With that caliber of thought backing you, powering through the daily stuff is so doable. How can you let little inconveniences or a lack of motivation get to you, when you ideal self is right there, just begging to come out into the world?
Answer: you won’t let the inconveniences get to you. That daily action adds up to get those little wins, that roll into big wins, that absolutely transform your life.
