What is manifestation?

And can it help your freelance career?

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Hurrah! You made it through the summer and it’s time to send the little tikes back to school. In my case, my son said goodbye to his nursery last week, and today he meets his teacher before attending his first half day of school on Friday.

I’ve ironed countless name labels in his uniform, read the parents information seven times over (I’m still slightly confused) and joined the obligatory WhatsApp mum’s group. We’ve even read the books (The Kissing Hand and The Invisible String) designed to help children feel supported and at ease about beginning a new chapter. All that’s left to do is drop him off, and walk away with a pit in my stomach and probably a few tears in my eyes.

As a child, I always liked the feeling of a new academic year. The chance to buy a brand-new pencil case, be treated to a new pair of sparkling shoes, and have the chance to be a better version of myself. It’s a feeling that’s never really left me, even as a grownup.

So, while I didn’t need a new pencil case to celebrate this new school year, I did really need a new laptop as the keys were literally falling off of my old one. I also treated myself to a book on Manifesting (Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life by Roxie Nafousi) as I was interested in hearing more about the actual process of how it works - and maybe putting it into action.

If you aren’t familiar, manifesting, according to Wikipedia, refers to ‘various pseudoscientific self-help strategies intended to bring about a personal goal, primarily by focusing one’s thoughts upon the desired outcome’.

You might think that this sounds a bit woo woo, and perhaps it is, but I think there’s definitely something in having a clear idea of what you want and where you'd like to go, no matter how wild it seems. As children we dream big and don't question it - until of course, someone comes along and does that for us. My son, for instance, told me last week that he wants to be a rock star and a police man, and who am I to tell him he can't be?

Once you have your goals and dreams written down or symbolised in imagery on a vision board, you can send them out into the universe. This small act sets the wheels in motion by allowing yourself to believe they could become a reality.

I found that even just thinking about the things I’d like to happen in the next few years made me feel more excited, energised and positive. But I'd be lying if it didn't also dredge up a fair amount of self doubt which manifestation helps you to challenge.

Roxie writes that research shows that only five percent of our cognitive activity is conscious, while the remaining 95 percent is subconscious. “That means that 95 percent of our thoughts, reactions, decisions, perceptions and behavioural patterns are driven by the subconscious parts of our brains”.

This, she says, is why our subconscious can have such a profound influence over our reality. While it can have an unlimited power of driving us towards our dreams, it can equally allow fear and doubt to hold us back. Roxie says that fear can be so powerful, it can even stop us from saying or acknowledging what it is that we really want.

One of the steps of manifestation is to change this way of thinking and have stronger self belief. We all have those bitchy little critics in our heads that make you question and doubt yourself and turn positive thoughts into negative. They take the ‘what if it all goes really well?’ into ‘what if it all goes really wrong?’

I’m as guilty as anyone of telling myself that the reason someone hasn’t replied to an email is because they’re getting ready to tell me bad news, or that the reason they’re delaying publishing something is because it isn’t good enough. It's self doubt behind these thoughts and nothing else.

‘If you don’t, deep down, believe that you are good enough or worthy of praise and celebration then you will not be able to attract the opportunities for your work to be appreciated,” writes Roxie. “We attract not just what we feel, but what we believe’.

So how do you train yourself to think differently?

A simple way of starting is by taking those thoughts such as, ‘What if I send that pitch that I’ve been sitting on for months and the editor thinks I’m ridiculous?’ to ‘What if I send that pitch and the editor thinks I’m really forward-thinking and commissions it?’ By visualising the positive outcome, we start to believe that is the more likely scenario and take more confident, actionable steps to make it happen.

So, I challenge you all to start the week by writing down, or just mentally noting, three things you really want to happen in your freelance career and personal life in the next year. It doesn’t have to be safe and small – the wilder the better. It also doesn’t have to be a tangible thing; it can also be a feeling. If that voice pipes up and tells you to aim lower, try as hard as you can to ignore it.

The whole idea is to use this time to really be honest about your ultimate dreams and aspirations. Perhaps you want to feel more content, confident or happy. Or you want, as Roxie manifested, to become a public speaker to thousands and a best-selling author. Or perhaps you'd like to finally fulfill a dream of living by the sea, or travelling more. No answer is wrong.

Here are a few of mine…

I want to write a book

I want to raise my profile by being on podcasts, putting myself forward for op-eds and interviews etc)

I want to visit and travel around California.

I want to increase the revenue of my business without totally burning myself out.

I want to see myself as an equal to the people I admire in my industry.

I want to enjoy a full nights sleep (joke but also please! When?)

Note yours down, think about how it would feel for it to become a reality, and send it out into the universe. Who knows what can happen when we stop getting in our own way and believe we can fulfill our dreams.

I wish you all a happy and tantrum-free week and if your child is starting school or heading off into secondary school, I hope it all goes really, really well.

Until next time,

Cat x

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