I’ll be honest. I always thought manifesting was a little woo-woo. I love the idea of attracting the things you want in your life through positive thought and belief, but I didn’t really understand how that translated into achieving your goals. That is until I took a deep dive into manifestation and realized I’d experienced the power of manifesting in my career without even knowing it.
When I left my first full-time role out of college, I didn’t know what was next, but I worked really hard to figure it out. Over the course of four years, I went from being lost in my career to landing my dream job through the series of steps I’m about to detail. And by finding a role that fulfills, challenges, and excites me, I’m more motivated to work harder to achieve my goals. If you have a dream job, which I’d bet most of you do, you can use manifestation hacks to help you get it. But first, let’s back up.
How to Manifest Your Dream Job
You might be wondering what manifestation is and how it can help you reach your professional goals. Simply put, manifesting is turning something from an idea into a reality. It’s the thought that you use the power of your mind to attract what you want into your life (aka your dream job). And if you’re a bit skeptical like I was, hear me out. Manifesting isn’t just about thinking and wishing about achieving your goals. A big piece of the practice is about taking action and creating habits. (If you want to take a closer look at manifestation, this manifestation guide is a great place to start.) So while the law of attraction plays an essential role in manifesting, it’s also about how we use intentionality through action and habits to create a life we love. If you’re ready to get closer to your dream job, follow these six steps.
Step 1: Give Yourself Permission to Daydream About Your Dream Job
Remember when you were a kid, and you’d stare out the window in the backseat of the car, and your mind would wander? It’s a stark contrast to adulthood, when you hop in the car and turn on a podcast, call a friend, or hop on a work meeting. As kids, we used to spend time playing, daydreaming or, dare I say, allowing ourselves to be bored. As adults, our brains are constantly inundated with information, content, and thinking about our neverending to-do list. The first step in manifesting your dream job is to give yourself permission to daydream. Let your mind wander and see where it takes you. The world is full of possibilities. See where your thoughts take you if you give them the space to roam.
A big part of cultivating your dream job is confidence; conference to dream and to try new things. Lydia Fenet, author of Claim Your Confidence and The Most Powerful Women in the Room is You and founder and CEO of the Lydia Fenet Agency, knows a thing or two about claiming your confidence and how to take the first step if you don’t know where to start. “Commit to trying something outside of your comfort zone. Don’t worry about the outcome; if it doesn’t work out, at least you tried, and you’ll realize that success isn’t the only thing that is important,” Lydia shares. “If you are successful, you will realize how much more confident you become every time you succeed in trying something new.”
Step 2: Get Clear on the Dream Job You Want to Manifest
If you’re reading this, you might be clear that you want to manifest your dream job. But a dream job can mean a lot of different things to different people. So, you need to get crystal clear on what your dream job looks like to you. Think about what type of role you want and what those responsibilities look like. Consider what industries or companies you want to work for. Ponder what your work-life balance looks like, and how that factors into the big picture of your personal life. Decide whether you want to start a new side hustle, find a full-time role, or find more flexibility at work. Think about what type of work environment suits you best and what type of people you’d like to surround yourself with. To take action towards your goals, you need to get as clear as possible. You can’t work towards something if you don’t know exactly what that something is.
Do you have a picture of what your dream job looks like? Good. Still struggling to identify what that looks like for you? Lydia Fenet recommends, “Write down your three biggest priorities in life and make sure that whatever you are pursuing in your life aligns with those values. Always remember that you can change your life at any time. Every single choice you make in life is yours to make, so make the choices that allow you to have the life you want.”
Step 3: Share the Dream Job You’re Manifesting with the Universe
Once you have a clear picture of what you want to manifest, it’s time to share what you’re looking to attract with the universe. Likely up until this point, you’ve held your manifestation close to your chest, which means it’s only lived in your mind. You can’t just think about what you want because manifestation is about more than thoughts. It’s about action.
Take your manifestation and verbalize it. Share it with family and friends, and talk about what your dream job looks like. Create a vision board so you can be physically reminded about what you’re trying to achieve every day. Journal about every aspect of your dream job and how your life will look once you reach your goals. The objective here is to get your thoughts out of your head and out into the world.
Step 4: Take Action
Manifesting isn’t just about sitting back and waiting for something to happen. It’s about taking action towards the life you want. This is arguably one of the most important steps to manifesting your dream job. Your actions create your reality. So, it’s how you put your manifestation into practice that is crucial to obtaining your dream job. “I like to say that action leads to action,” says Lydia Fenet. Make a list of the action steps you need to take to move the needle. It can conclude items like updating your resume, making connections, learning new skills, applying to open roles, networking often, or taking a class. Get as specific as possible because it’s these action items that will turn your thoughts into reality.
Lydia Fenet explains, “I believe in manifesting, but I also believe in doing the work to prepare so I am ready when it happens. I find the more action I take when I am manifesting it to work out, the more likely it is to work out whether it is a dream job or something that I really want to happen. It gives me confidence to know that even if I don’t end up with exactly what I am manifesting, I am already moving towards success even though it might not look like I expected.”
Step 5: Cultivate a Gratitude Mindset for the Expertise You Already Have
A crucial part of manifestation is appreciating what you have while working toward what you want. You might think that sounds difficult, but the concept relates back to maintaining a positive mindset. If you’re in a negative mindset focused on negative thoughts because you’re lacking what you desire in life, then you’ll continue to lack what you want. But if you focus on positive thoughts and are grateful for what you do have, even if it’s not your end goal, you’ll attract more positive energy into your life. It’s the law of attraction, baby.
“Mindset is such an important part of achieving your goals,” Lydia Fenet states. “You have to be your biggest cheerleader in life, so make sure to give yourself the positive encouragement you need to go after your goals. Also, don’t worry about artificial timelines. Just because you think something has to happen by a certain time doesn’t always mean it will or should.” When we stay positive and practice gratitude, we’re setting ourselves up for success. Try journaling about what you currently have (i.e., skills, knowledge, expertise, hope, opportunities, etc.) that will help you move closer to your dream job.
Step 6: Let Go of What’s Not Serving You During Your Career Journey
While the prospect of manifesting a dream job is exciting, navigating our careers and job search in the day-to-day can be exhausting, overwhelming, and frustrating. These negative feelings can often lead to limiting beliefs, negative self-talk, and fear, all of which can negatively affect our habits, routines, relationships, and overall progress toward our goals. While it may be difficult and challenging at times, you need to trust the process.
The law of attraction suggests that positive energy and thoughts attract more positive energy and thoughts. The same is true on the flip side. You may be self-sabotaging yourself if you’re constantly focused on what isn’t working, what you’re afraid of, or why you haven’t landed your dream job yet. When you feel negativity creeping in, create a toolbox of ways to combat it. Try journaling, practicing gratitude, saying positive affirmations, or finding healthy habits that will move you closer to the life and career you want. Wipe all of those negative thoughts from your mind because you are more than worthy and you absolutely deserve to have the job of dreams.
