Moving Beyond Manifestation And Making It Happen

When we want to create greatness in our lives there comes a time when we need to move beyond a state of manifesting and take action. Meditation and visualization will help, but there’s more to it. Yes, our thoughts are powerful, and when we go beyond manifestation and blend it with resourcefulness and the discipline to do the work- that’s where the wands wave and big things happen.

This is true with our health goals, our relationship goals and our business goals.

Today we have the ability to take our passion and turn it into a thriving business with little more than a computer, an internet connection and two very important qualities: resourcefulness and discipline.

I’ve been in business for well over a decade now. I have learned more about life, hopes, intentions, people, commitment, money, freedom (and how I define it), and innovation than I ever could have conceived of. What I know for sure is that I didn’t know a thing when I started. I wonder, if I had known, would have had the guts to do it?

When I am asked what my job is, I say that I’m a nutritionist, author and educator. On a day-to-day basis, that is what I do. I read, I write and I share.

But then sometime in the years since 2008, when I began doing those three things as my ‘job’, a business developed. And then the business started working. Then, in 2016, two rather remarkable things happened:

1. I was profiled in Forbes Magazine
2. I was included in the W100 ranking of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs, produced by PROFIT and Canadian Business

When I began my business with 6-person cooking classes around my kitchen table, I knew I wanted to build something that would inspire and empower people to take ownership of their health and improve the quality of their lives. At the time, I didn’t really have an idea of how I would make a living doing this or how I would be able to reach the masses. Most of all, I didn’t know how I was going to grow this business and still maintain my commitment to delivering what my community wanted.

I’ve always had a business of some kind or another. My earliest businesses included selling rhubarb I had picked from the back lanes in Winnipeg in the 80’s, where I grew up. I had a business making and selling friendship bracelets and scrunchies in the late 80’s. For a while I had a business making plaid pyjama bottoms pants when those were cool in ’93. In 2002 I started an online women’s travel newsletter called Chicks Abroad and made money to fund my travels by selling advertising space. In 2004 I had a freelance graphic design business, and did custom upcycled denim and jewelry. It’s been eclectic.

Here’s the thing: whether your goal is to have a thriving business or a thriving healthy life (hopefully if you have the former, you’re also making the latter an equal priority), the very same principles will apply. We need resourcefulness to figure it out and the discipline to do the work.

Whether your goal is to have a thriving business or a thriving healthy life, the very same principles will apply.

I truly believe that we all have the potential to create what we want in our lives and that we already have everything we need to build something that is greater than our wildest dreams.  It doesn’t require any special level of intelligence, creativity or skills – just a daily practice of resourcefulness and discipline.

With resourcefulness we have the ability to learn what we need or want to learn. For the special skills we don’t have, we use that resourcefulness to find the people who shine bright in those areas.

Discipline invites us to sit down every day, like it’s our job, and do the work. Discipline teaches us how to create on demand, how to overcome “writer’s block” or inspiration slumps.

As with my food choices and other healthy lifestyle practices, the same applies to my business. I don’t do my best because I feel like it. I do it because it’s what I do.

When people say they can’t cook, what they’re really saying is they don’t want to or can’t be bothered to learn. Everyone can do it. We can do anything we want. We just have to want it enough to do the work.

Achieving what we set out to requires us to overcome our excuses (that would be the first thing that came to your mind when you read the statement above “We can do anything we want”). So it’s not that we can’t. It’s often that we’re not willing to do what it takes to go beyond the visualization component of manifestation and actually make it happen. Or perhaps we’re just not ready for the results. We have to be ready to receive, too.

If you want it, and are willing to put in the time, it is all possible. If instead you want to focus on the barriers and spend time complaining about those barriers to anyone who will listen, then you will be correct: you can’t do it. You’ve just guaranteed that you will be correct.

If you are ready to move beyond manifesting and into making it happen, here are some first steps for you to take.

5 Steps To Take Your From Manifesting To Making It Happen

1. Plan To Succeed

Whether we’re talking about planning your day, your week, or your year, you need a plan. You are likely juggling multiple things in your life – home, work, children, partner, errands, chores, exercise and more. Rescue your time by scheduling it out. This isn’t to restrict your freedom, but to ensure you make non-negotiable appointments with yourself to do the work you need to do to move in the direction of your goals. Structuring your time will give you more freedom.

There are loads of scheduling tools to choose from. I love Asana, but many use apps like Trello, Basecamp, Evernote or a plain-old pen and paper in a notebook. Find the tool that you’ll use consistently and use it consistently.

Structuring your time will give you more freedom.

2. Plot Your Milestones

Now that you’re scheduling things in, plan out the milestones. The big ones and the little ones. I can’t tell you how important this is. I’ll often start with the end date and work my way back to today, mapping out all of the steps needed for completion. I then schedule in the steps and get started, checking off each one as I go.

This helps me know as soon as I sit down at my desk every morning, or when I look ahead to next week, what has to get done and I can plan my time accordingly. This enables me to work on multiple projects and keep them all moving towards completion.

3. Be The Person You’d Like To Hire

Would you hire you? A simple but important question. If you sit down to do your work and then spend all your time on Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat – unless you’re job for your business is to cruise social media all day – you are wasting valuable time.

You are the most valuable asset to your business so work like it. Do the toughest work when you’re most effective and the stuff that comes easy when you’re feeling less inspired. It comes back to that quality of discipline. It’s one thing to feel like you need to put in face time if you’re working for someone else and actually have nothing to do. But when you’re doing it for you, the time you spend wasting could be time spent doing something else all together. Work like the person you wish you could hire!

4. Stick To Your Mission With Integrity

It can be tempting to be lured away to a quick fix solution. That “6-figure” marketing scheme can seem very appealing when you’re in your second or third year and still barely paying yourself anything. This happens with diets and it happens with business coaching. Be careful, as there is no one size fits all and there are no short cuts.

Make decisions that support your mission and maintain your integrity with every business decision. If you are in it for the money, chances are good it’s going to be tougher to get what you’re after. Inspire engagement with your ideal clients and you will get the results. Exceed expectations, give it your heart and passion and stay true to the mission. Your castle is best built on the solid foundation that can support it.

5. Manifestation Matters

Every thought we have has a cascade of energy behind it. We know this, right? This is at the core of what it means to manifest something. So just because I say we need to get beyond manifesting, it does begin with our thoughts. Pay attention to them and determine what kind of flow they are putting you in.

If you are manifesting lack in your life, you’ll make that connection as soon as you tune into the voice that spins in your mind. This is going to work against numbers 1-4 above and render them useless. It’s true that simply manifesting won’t get your milestones on paper or get the work done, but they will set the stage to make success your reality. Know that everything is possible, but for this to happen, you have to go beyond believing it and know it. This begins with your thoughts.

Though this last point doesn’t get a number, it’s maybe the most important. And that is you just have to start. Start. And continue when it gets hard. Celebrate the rewards along the way. Be bold and be you. Take the leap. Better to dust yourself off from a fall than to keep staring longingly across the gap without ever taking a foot off the ground.

Photo: Nikki Jumper