I watched a TikTok once (quite the opening line, I know) where a woman spoke about becoming a billionaire. She said she decided to act like a billionaire as a way to attract that reality. I genuinely detest videos like this, but I kept watching on the off chance it meant I’d stumble onto a pile of cash (joking, kinda!).
I’m not a big fan of manifestation when it drifts into wishful thinking, mainly because I’ve tried staring at a vision board and all I manifested was a mild headache. But I did appreciate what she said next.
It wasn’t that she lived outside her means or whispered affirmations to her houseplants. It was that she asked herself questions like, “What does a billionaire know about finances?” or “Would a billionaire spend their time worrying about x, y, or z?” I liked that reframe. It turned “manifestation” from magical thinking into something more like curiosity and discipline directing action.
When someone has achieved a goal I admire, I try to ask: What do they know that I don’t? Did they take writing classes? Learn to invest? Wake up at 5 a.m. for a cold plunge? (That one’s a hard pass for me. If I’m in icy water before sunrise, it means the boat sank.)
For me, manifesting isn’t about pretending to have what I don’t. It’s about learning the skills, habits, and emotional capacities of someone who does. It’s not about faking it till you make it either, it’s about embodying small, tangible changes that actually lead to our goals (personal, professional or financial).
Here’s the existential bit: if you keep chasing the outcome without becoming the person who could sustain that outcome, you’re just setting yourself up to feel like an imposter in your own life. Sometimes the gap between where you are and where you want to be is not a miracle, it’s a skill set, a mindset, and a set of choices repeated quietly, daily.
Reflection question:
If you applied this concept in a small way, what would change today?
(P.S. This newsletter probably won’t help you become a billionaire but I do hope it helps you reframe the concept of manifestation and inspire you to go achieve your goals.)
(P.P.S. Despite my joke, I have nothing against vision boards. I think they can be really helpful in gaining clarity and focus).
Read the post twice as I felt confused about what the point of it was. Don't we have enough billionaire issues in the world? And they are issues. Ideally, encourage people to ask, what and how does a good community person do and think? How can we connect with those in our community better, how to support those in the world better. We need more selfless people not billionaires.
I once read that most people fail to manifest what they want (or keep it if they get it) because they don't maintain it. You have to maintain what you manifest. Most people miss this bit. How will you maintain and look after the house, the car, the job, the relationship, your ideal body? Focus on doing the maintenance NOW and you'll get the thing faster.