The first time I heard about manifestation was from my friend who lived in DC. She hardcore believed in it, but I thought it was all fluff.

Back then, I thought you just had to work hard to get what you wanted in life. I mean, that was my strategy, and it got me pretty far.

But when I think about the difference in how I achieved my goals back then to how I achieve them today, a few things stand out.

For the most part, I was living in my comfort zone. There were goals that were harder than others (getting promoted, transitioning to a new company), but I knew I could achieve them. I wasn’t stretching myself to dream bigger.

I also was grasping onto the results, hard. I compared my achievements to my friends. If I didn’t get the promotion, I felt like I had failed. I disregarded any and all hard work if I didn’t get the outcome I had hoped for.

But what I understand about manifestation now is that you have to have extreme clarity in your vision, take aligned action toward that vision, and let go of the results.

Six months into a new job and feeling absolutely miserable, my career coach recommended I take a leave of absence. I booked a retreat in the Catskills where I stayed with Saniye and Ivan, a married couple that used to live on Long Island but manifested their Catskills life.

I was just there two nights, but during that time, we shared meals together and talked about manifestation.

“What do you want to manifest?”, Ivan asked.

“Hmm… a boyfriend?”, I responded.

“Ok, but you have to get super specific. What color hair does he have? How tall is he? Where does he live?”

He asked me more questions, but my responses were pretty vague. I hadn’t really thought deeply about it at that point.

Regardless on what you’re manifesting, getting extremely clear on what you want is probably one of the hardest steps. It requires you to face yourself with questions that may require you to make a change and take risks you haven’t done before.

A few starter q’s to ask yourself to gain clarity in work and life:

You don’t wake up overnight and realize that you can do anything you want. The way you believe in yourself is by trying things, “failing”, and trying again. By creating evidence that you can do hard things, your belief in yourself gets bigger and bigger.

A few starter q’s to ask yourself to cultivate self-belief:

When you have clarity in what you want, it’s easier to take aligned action.

For me, taking aligned action can look like writing this newsletter, posting on LinkedIn, and saying yes to clients that I am excited to work with.

Through aligned action, opportunities are now finding me, without the grind I used to associate with success.

Questions to ask yourself to take aligned action:

For me, this is the hardest part.

It’s not about ditching your goals but more about trusting yourself. You have to know that you’ve done your best to achieve your desired outcome and whatever will happen, will happen.

If you succeed, great! And if you “fail”, you’ll learn from it, build resilience, and try again.

Manifestation isn't just about "thinking positive." It’s about clarity, belief, aligned effort, and surrender. The old me thought hustle was the best way. The new me knows there’s power in doing less but with more intention.

So, thank you to my friends and people I’ve met that have showed me manifestation. I guess I can say now, “this is actually working!”

What do you want to manifest in 2026?

P.S. If you need help talking through these questions more deeply, book a free career strategy call with me. Let’s get clarity and figure out what these aligned actions might look like together!

Feeling like I manifested a collaboration with Kindred!

For those of you who followed my London adventures this summer, I stayed in Kindreds for most of my stay, joined the Slack community, and then saw the social media manager post looking for people to feature on social.

My previous belief of thinking I needed to build a huge following to partner with brands was wrong. It was actually pretty easy, I just needed to keep my eyes open to the opportunities.

Events I’m attending or hosting in the coming weeks! I also created this Luma calendar with events on my radar if you want to join me.

Future of Communities Summit with Circle (Virtual) | Nov 18
AI can create content in seconds. Ads can drive clicks. But connection and belonging? Those will truly set you apart—which is why communities are more transformational for businesses than ever. Join Circle to explore how creators and brands can lead that shift, and build what’s next.
🔗 RSVP here

Start Building Your Personal Brand with Maven | Nov 18
Identify your superpowers and unfair advantages, evaluate approaches to showing up, online and IRL, and attract the right people and opportunities.
🔗 RSVP here

Build Your Platform: How to Future-Proof Your Career in 2026 | Nov 28
Taylor will talk about the difference between a “personal brand” that looks pretty on paper and a platform that actually moves your life forward, why it feels so deeply cringe to promote yourself (especially for women), and how to work through that without feeling like a different person.
🔗 RSVP here