Manifestation as planning
Some of you will know I'm a lil witchy (I offer tarot pulls as part of my coaching, for example). While I am broadly a sceptic, I basically use tarot and manifestation as psychology with some sparkly bits.
So lets talk about manifestation as planning.
When I’m in class I have a check-in, so every week I have a moment to check in with people. What I try to do is, on my walk home after class, I ask myself what I want my check in to be next week? What do I want to have achieved, what do I want to be able to share? Who do I want to be?
This is a nice way of figuring out what I need to plan and do over the next week. Obviously there are some things I have to do regardless, but this question of ‘what do I want to be the thing I report?’ means that I can find a little focus. Even if that’s a little thing like ‘I did some reading this week’ or ‘I made a really nice meal’. It’s a small way of planning something for the week.
I can then go (or try to go) and make that plan happen.
What’s meant for you will come to you (but it has to be able to find you first)
We do some form of manifesting in business already. Marketing folks will talk about making ideal customer profiles and advertising to them. What is that if not manifesting customers? You envision your customer, advertise to this as yet imaginary customer, and then (ideally) real customers manifest from that work.
I know there’s a whole ‘law of attraction’ thing attached to manifesting, but really, I find that using it as a fun way to plan and explore a future is really helpful. I tend to do it by asking myself ‘where do I want to be next week? Or who do I want to be next week?’ Another way you can do this is by writing a letter or an email or a journal, or even a to do list, but set in the future. What do you want your life to look like in 6 months? Write that out. Be specific.
We often think about the future as more like ‘I want to be happy/healthy/in a new job’, which can be a bit vague. Whereas if you picture a day in the life of this different, future you, you can start breaking it down into concrete steps.
If you want to be healthier, what does that look like? What’s the smallest step you can make today to move towards that plan? If you want a new job, what does that look like? What do you need to help make that happen from your end?
There’s also power in letting yourself explore a possible future. I find giving myself permission to fully think about it allows me to put things together in my mind. Even if I come to the conclusion that it’s not feasible, I might find something else that will fulfil some need or desire in me.
I’m currently trialling this in my life with two week sprints. I was talking to my therapist about how sometimes my work feels like endless grind in a way I find exhausting. The podcast injected some much needed creative energy, but there was still a feeling of endless work. While talking I realised I was used to working in sprints, that was most of my working life, so I’m going to try it.
Some planning at the start, a retrospective at the end, bring in social media analytics and other metrics and see what comes out of it. I asked myself the question ‘where do I want to be work-wise at the end of this two week sprint?’ The answer was ‘ahead’.
I need to spend time writing some newsletters (this was one of those newsletters, in fact), scheduling some social media, getting my first 3 podcast episodes scheduled to go. In two weeks’ time, I want to not have to think about scheduling anything for a while, especially as I’ll be two weeks out of class starting up again.
This led me to figure out what I needed to do to make this happen. Mainly brainstorming ideas, and recycling some content. I also needed to record little bits of intro and outro to the podcasts that I hadn’t done yet and edit them. Make teaser video clips for all the episodes and schedule them. Small, concrete things that move me towards being ahead on my work.
Now, I needed to do these anyway, so what difference does the manifesting make? Meeting a goal is a lovely bit of dopamine, and we shouldn’t dismiss that. This is especially true if you’re self-employed and don’t necessarily get regular review points.
Also, visualising who you’ll be if you get these goals done is an underrated planning tool. I am going to feel so on top of everything. It’s going to make me feel like a competent business owner/content creator who knows what they’re doing, which is a much needed confident boost.
My retrospective gives me a review point to fully engage with the feeling of being on top of all my stuff, and I’m going to enjoy that. It also lets me make sure I keep doing what works and stop what isn’t working, etc.
All of this is stuff we know well. We know breaking down plans and setting goals are useful, and that making things fit our lives also works. There is something about making something more of a ritual or an event that I think makes this work more meaningful, and so more important to you.
I did it in my own way: therapy, tarot, journaling, and pulling from my agile work history. Maybe you do something else. The point is to make manifesting work for you.
It also makes planning fun, and for me, that means I’m more likely to stick with it, and that is something valuable in itself.
So, if you’re looking to add a little sparkle to your planning, or just try something new, try some manifestation!