4 Steps to Manifest Anything You Want

Looking to manifest your desires but unsure where to start? Below, I lay out the four steps to manifest anything you want. Plus, don’t miss the two bonus steps that will help you turn your vision into your reality!

My Path to Manifesting

Have you ever felt like something was missing in your life?

This was how I felt not that long ago.

A few years ago, I held an administrative, front-office position for a small company in a beautiful little town where my parents had grown up. I had never lived in this town before, and the story that got me to that town and that job deserves its own blog post. That job was undoubtedly the best I ever had up until this current point in my life.

To be honest, the actual work wasn’t always super fulfilling. I stayed busy and cultivated relationships with customers, but it was the people I worked with and the atmosphere of the office that made it one of a kind. There were about twenty to twenty-five employees, and I cared about all of them deeply. It was an eclectic group, but every person had one big, important trait in common: they were all good people who cared deeply about the community and wanted to do the best work they could (and there was a lot of laughter!)

That’s why, when I started to hear a call in my heart that it was time to leave this small town, I struggled with the decision. I knew I wasn’t meant to live in this town forever, and I knew where I wanted to be, but human connection is one of our most powerful experiences, and I had connected deeply with the people there.

I’m not one to ignore those internal calls to action, though, and I knew that if I wanted to experience true growth, I had to leave my comfort zone and step forward into unknown territory, trusting that my path would take me to where I needed to be.

So I made the decision to leave and let my employers know, giving them plenty of advance notice. I had no idea how long it would take to land a new job and a place to live and to uproot my entire life. Knowing it could take a while, I set an intention to find a job that would get me to the new city where I desired to live.

I don’t want to bog down the introduction with a novel here, so I’m going to cut right to the chase: I applied for a single job. A couple days later, I received a phone call for an interview. I was offered the job by the end of the week. My sister sent me a listing for an apartment that had opened up just a block away from her family (and close to where I’d be working). I applied for that single apartment. I got the apartment. Within weeks, I was moving to this new city.

Every single thing I needed to get me to this new place had fallen perfectly into place.

I didn’t know it at the time, but in hindsight, I can clearly see the path I had followed to get from Point A to Point B. In fact, I had followed similar paths before. Throughout my life, whenever I’ve wanted to create a change for myself, whether it was big or small, I’ve successfully followed these same four steps to manifest anything I want into my reality.

The 4 Steps To Manifest Anything You Want

The 1st Step: Set An Intention

In order to manifest what we want, we first have to know what it is that we want to manifest.

An intention is the desired outcome you wish to materialize in your physical reality. There are no rules for intentions. They can be big or small. They can be realistic or far-reaching. And they can be concrete or abstract. The only thing that matters is that they exist.

Sometimes, your intention might be for a specific concrete object like a new car or house. You might set an intention to find true love. Your intention might be set on your dream job or opportunities for travel. Maybe you want to positively touch the lives of one million people. Maybe you want to make one person’s day every day.

You can also set your intention on a feeling, such as to cultivate a life where you get to feel joyful and peaceful every single day. We can also have multiple intentions, which may or may not overlap. Whatever your intention is, there is no judgment. Intentions are put in your heart for a reason, and it’s your right to follow those intentions as far as they will lead you.

For most of us, we spend our time focusing on specific objectives and outcomes. Most of my intentions have been aimed at new jobs, homes, awards, and achievements. It wasn’t until I began meditation and visualization practices that I began to set my intentions on feelings. I once followed a visualization meditation deep into my mind and discovered that I felt like I had a heavy pair of handcuffs clasped around my wrists. After this, I set my intention on the feeling of freedom.

I thought that I’d get my freedom when I published the fiction novel I’d been working on, as that’s all my mind really knew. But I didn’t set my intentions solely on that novel. I continued to focus on the feeling of freedom, and I visualized what freedom looked and felt like. This led me down a path that I never expected when I first set my intention.

It led me to creating my own website on mindfulness, manifestation, and following your dreams.

And it led me to launch an Instagram account to share my words. (Considering I only posted on social media *maybe* twice a year, this was a big leap!)

It also led me to putting myself out there and growing connections with strangers all across the world.

And it led me to fulfillment and finding my purpose.

I never, ever thought this was where I would end up when I set my intention for freedom, but where I am now is better than anything I ever could’ve dreamed of for myself. And it’s all because I let go and trusted the path ahead of me.

The 2nd Step: Believe in Yourself

This could arguably be the first step in manifesting anything you want in your life, but truthfully, self-belief doesn’t have a starting or ending point. Self-belief will carry you through this entire process, and hopefully, it’ll remain with throughout your life.

Now, I want to pause here to acknowledge that self-belief is often easier said than done, especially if you’re still working through internal battles with feelings of self doubt and unworthiness. To try to suppress or brush these feelings aside will only harm you long term. And for me to exclaim, “Just believe in yourself!” without acknowledging your inner battles, like it’s just that easy, would be irresponsible.

First, if you find yourself struggling with cultivating self-belief, know that it’s okay. Have compassion for your feelings. If it feels okay to you, you might try to probe these feelings to discover where they come from. For instance, a fear of failure that leaves you in a paralyzed state of inaction may come from a deep fear that you won’t be loved if you make a mistake.

I love using positive affirmations for cultivating self-belief, but even affirmations can be counterproductive if they’re not used correctly. The key to affirmations is that you truly have to feel and believe the thing you’re affirming. If you don’t believe it, then you’re going to continue to fight an internal battle with your mind.

Here’s an example: Say your intention is to find real, lasting peace and love for your body. You’ve been struggling with body image for years, and now you’re ready to take the first step to cultivating a healthy relationship with your physical self.

You start with the affirmation, “I have the greatest and most beautiful body on this earth.” Even though it’s a positive statement, something feels off. You realize you don’t really believe it. And because you don’t believe it, the affirmation isn’t helping much.

Then you try, “I love everything about my body.” But no, that doesn’t feel good either.

Then you try this: “I am open to loving my body. I am grateful for all my body does to keep me alive. My heart is strong, and my lungs are healthy. Even though I don’t always see it, I know my body is beautiful. I’m willing to seeing more of its beauty and to speak to it with loving kindness.” Okay, that feels better. You repeat this affirmation for several days or weeks or months, and then you find yourself adding, “I am falling more and more in love with my body every single day.” Yep, that feels good, too.

(Want more affirmations? Check out my free ebook, 400 Powerful Affirmations to Uplift, Inspire, and Empower Your Highest Self.)

When it comes to creating the life you desire, it’s important that you feel able and worthy of your dreams coming true. But I promise, if you find that you don’t feel 100% able and worthy all the time, it’s okay; you don’t have to be stuck where you are forever. With a little bit of conscious effort and little steps every day, you can cultivate this inner self-belief until it becomes so ingrained within you, you can’t imagine ever feeling unworthy again.

The 3rd Step: Follow Your Intuition

Intuition can be tricky. Why? Because sometimes, your inner knowing is in conflict with that thing you so badly want. Or, sometimes your intuition is telling you to do something that you’re not sure you’re ready to do.

Talk about a buzzkill.

Your intuition may tell you it’s time to break up with that partner, but you’re emotionally connected and don’t feel ready.

Your intuition may tell you not to accept that perfect job with the great pay, but how could you turn down that money?

Or your intuition may tell you that you need some more time to yourself before you dive into another relationship, but you really hate being alone.

I’ve often fallen into the category of my intuition telling me to do something that I’m not sure I’m ready to do. Like moving away from that small town, even though I was emotionally connected to my community. Or leaving my last job, which was pretty close to perfect, so I could take a leap into the world of writing. I’ve also had experiences in which my brain really wanted something, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t right for me.

So what are you supposed to do when you’ve set an intention for something specific, but your intuition is telling you it’s not right for you? I mean, I did title this The 4 Steps to Manifest Anything You Want, right? Is there some kind of loophole that will still get you what you want?

Well, kind of.

This is where we circle back up to intentions and manifesting feelings rather than specific objects or outcomes.

Often, when our intention is focused on a specific, defined outcome, it’s because we imagine that outcome will make us feel a certain way.

You may want to manifest a perfect partner, even though your intuition is telling you to take some time to be single, because you imagine the partner will make you feel loved.

You dream of getting that prestigious position for the well-known company, even though your inner knowing says it’s not as perfect as it seems, because you imagine you’ll finally feel successful and worthy of your parents’ approval.

Or you want to manifest the money to have that cosmetic surgery, even though you’re unsure about it, because you imagine it’ll make you feel beautiful and empowered.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to create these things for yourself. Nothing. It only becomes a negative when it goes against your inner knowing. This is when I urge you to step back and re-evaluate your intention. Take some time to pause. You can meditate or journal your stream of conscious thoughts. Set a mini-intention to understand your desires and what you really want. Allow yourself to shift your vision.

Instead of going after that perfect partner, job, or appearance, set your intention on the feelings of being loved, successful, worthy, beautiful, and empowered. Focus on those feelings, and allow your intuition to guide you forward on your path. Trust that your inner knowing always has the right answers, and believe that the universe will always take you where you want to go. It may mean that your perfect partner isn’t supposed to come into your life right now, but you find that you feel so loved anyway, you’re okay waiting.

There’s a lot more to be said about intuition, but for now, I’ll leave you with this: Trust your inner knowing. Even if it doesn’t make sense today, it will with time. If you’re feeling lost, instead of searching for external answers to guide your path, sit in the quiet of your own mind for a little while, and you will find you already know everything you need to take the next step.

The 4th Step: Take Inspired Action

You’ve set your intention. You’ve cultivated self-belief. And you’ve allowed your inner knowing to speak to you.

Now, it’s time to act.

Inspired action is the action you take based on your intuition. Creating your life and asserting the direction you want your path to go doesn’t mean you slap some images on a vision board and expect everything you want to just show up. It’s time to act on everything your intuition is telling you.

This part can be exciting and exhilarating. It can also be really freaking scary.

This is when you walk into your boss’ office and tell her that you’re giving your notice.

Or when you turn down that job with the high pay that doesn’t feel right.

This is when you set up your profile on that dating app.

This is when you approach that really successful person in your field and ask them to be your mentor.

And most of all, this is when you say “yes” to an opportunity that puts you out of your comfort zone.

Even though you may feel nervous about performing this action, you don’t question it. You know you’re doing the right thing because of the way it feels.

If you’re feeling a little nervous or scared, it’s okay. You may even stutter a bit here, and that’s okay, too. I’ve had experiences where I’ve stayed in one place a little too long because I was so scared of change. I can’t promise a specific outcome, but I can promise this: What’s meant for you will never pass you by. The important thing is, even if you stutter here, you don’t backtrack. If you don’t feel ready, cultivate a mindset where you do feel ready. Use affirmations. Visualize yourself making that leap. Find things that encourage you and make you feel good.

Even small steps forward are still moving in the right direction.

Bonus Steps

Okay, maybe these aren’t exactly steps. More like mindset shifts that will help you on your path.

Have Joy

You don’t need to wait until you’ve gotten that thing you’ve been dreaming about to finally feel happy. The quickest way to bring something into your experience is to feel the feelings of already having it. If you wait until you actually obtain that thing you’ve been desiring, your happiness will be fleeting, because there will always be another new desire or goal in the distance. Don’t let your life become just a few moments of fleeting happiness. Allow yourself to accept joy, peace, and freedom now. Take delight in the journey. Celebrate your life today.

Don’t Be in a Rush

This one’s hard. I know it’s been tough for me. I mean, have you ever tried to not be in a rush? It’s a whole lot easier said than done. But I’m going to buckle down here, even though I know it’s hard. Why? Because when you’re in a rush, you close yourself off. You develop tunnel vision and search for the quickest path from A to B.

This blocks you from seeing new and unexpected opportunities that may have actually gotten you to your desired destination, but in your rush to move forward, you’ve missed those little side paths.

You may stop listening to your intuition, and you lose sight of the lessons that are there to help you grow. So how do you stop being in such a rush to get that thing you want so badly? I’ll circle back to the first bullet here: Have joy. Allow yourself to enjoy the journey. Stop waiting for an external force to bring you happiness or peace, and instead, cultivate those feelings within you.

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Conclusion

Set an intention.

Believe in yourself.

Follow your intuition.

Take inspired action.

Take those four steps to manifest anything you want, and soon you’ll see your beautiful dreams become an even more beautiful reality.

But if you’ll allow me to put a little *asterisk after the final step, I’d like to add this: Don’t wait until you finally get that thing you want to feel happy. You can chase happiness in fleeting moments, but if you want a true life of abundance, allow yourself to feel happy now. Open yourself up to joy. Know that you are allowed to have big dreams and continue to grow while loving yourself and feeling happy in this moment right now.

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Want to Read More on the Steps to Manifest Anything You Want? Check Out These Posts!

• How to Design a Morning Routine for Manifestation
• 10 Journal Prompts to Help You Manifest Your Dream Life
• The Biggest Limiting Belief to Manifesting Your Dreams

And Some More Great Resources For You!

• Liz in Lotus: 5 Ways To Manifest More Happiness and Live a Life You Love and Manifestation Not Working? 10 Ways to Boost Your Manifestation Power and Accuracy
• Gabby Bernstein’s The Do’s and Don’ts of Manifesting
• Marie Forleo & Gabby Bernstein: Manifesting 101
• Chopra.com: 8 Steps to Manifesting Your Desires