How To Manifest Something (Anything!) By Writing It Down: 4 Methods of Manifestation

Manifestation has become a major buzz word in the online spiritual community. Manifesting techniques are all over TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, and Youtube these days! But what exactly is manifesting and how do you actually do it?

What is Manifesting?

Manifesting is literally just the process of making your will “manifest” – it’s about creating what you desire in the world around you. Anyone can manifest and you can manifest anything (even manifest multiple things at once).

Some common manifestation examples include love and relationships, a new job, your dream home, your ideal physical health, or a certain amount of money, but truly, you can manifest anything you can imagine. You might be manifesting anything from the perfect dress to wear on vacation all the way up to your complete dream life!

Manifesting is also not purely energetic, nor purely practical. In order to have successful manifestations, you need to align your positive energy with that of what you desire AND take the practical actions necessary to create it. This is a manifestation process of co-creation with the universe – doing the 3D work to create the reality you want and also trusting that what you desire will come to you.

There are many different manifestation techniques and we’re going to explore a few of them in this article! I encourage you to try out different methods to find what truly works for you.

Manifesting is not inherently spiritual, but it’s often combined with witchy or intuitive work. As a witch myself, I have a lot of success stories of things I’ve manifested in my own life, including our last apartment and the beautiful home we live in now, a partner who loves me for who I am, being able to work full-time as an astrologer, (and all the jobs and opportunities along the way that led me here), a book deal that came to me unsolicited, and much more.

How to Approach Manifesting

Let’s bust a couple of myths about manifesting!

Myth #1: You need to be “high vibe” and positive all the time or you’ll never manifest what you want.

It is not humanly possible to be positive all the time – period. This is a classic example of what we call toxic positivity.

This kind of attitude is super toxic because it tells us that our human emotions and instincts are wrong and should be suppressed. In all actuality, feeling your feelings and the true depth of your own emotions is a gift. It’s a powerful tool for manifesting and, when you listen to your heart, will guide you to what you truly do and do not desire in life.

Of course, in every myth there is a kernel of truth, though. We do want to be in vibrational alignment with the energetic frequency of our desires. For example, if you want to manifest a lot of money quickly, but you’re completely consumed thinking about how little money is currently in your bank account, then it’s going to be pretty hard to attract what you do want.

It’s important to find a balance here, between focusing primarily on the positive and on what you want to attract, while also allowing yourself to feel and process your negative feelings on the subject.

Myth #2: We are always manifesting, whether we mean to or not, so you’ve created every bad thing that ever happened to you.

This one really gets my goat! If you ever hear a thought “leader” or a manifestation coach say this kind of thing – run for the hills.

First of all, no one deserves to be blamed for the traumatic things they’ve experienced. Especially with the state of the world and huge, systemic issues like racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, climate change, financial inequity and more, there are many outside factors that can bring negative experiences into our lives. You can’t just fix these issues with the power of positive thinking.

This doesn’t mean we need to give up, that manifesting is a worthless endeavor, or that we don’t have any control over our own fate…

But there is a solid middle ground here! This kind of teaching is often mixed up with what’s called the “law of attraction”, meaning that you attract more of what you put out in the world.

While it is totally possible to “manifest” things you don’t want because you’re too focused on the negative, that does not by any means indicate that you are responsible for the negative things that have happened to or around you.

(And if you’ve ever been made to feel this way, then I’m sending you big hugs and lots of love – I promise that it’s not true!)

Myth #3: You can manifest literally anything you want, basically overnight.

Okay, so this isn’t exactly a myth – it is possible to effortlessly attract something – your biggest dreams and goals in a crazy short amount of time. In the spiritual community, you’ll often hear this called “quantum leaping” into the next upleveled version of yourself or collapsing time. (No, not like the Scott Bakula show. Well, kind of!)

However – and this is a big however! The ability to quantum leap like this depends greatly on your own attachment to the desired outcome.

For example, if you’re trying to manifest your crush texting you back within an hour or your ex coming back to you…

There’s going to be a lot of baggage attached to that.

You probably have a lot of emotions and anxiety around that desire and it may not be coming from a place of clarity. Clarity is a really important aspect of manifesting – clarity around what you desire and why you desire it.

This doesn’t mean that we have to always have completely unselfish reasons for what we desire. In fact, you 100% get to be a little selfish in your manifesting! You get to hold those big desires for the abundant, bold life you truly want, filled with love, money, travel, beautiful things, and work that fulfills you.

However, taking the time to get really clear on what you actually want and where that desire is coming from is going to make your manifestations so much more powerful!

A lot of times, what seem like our big desires aren’t actually things we even want for ourselves. They might be things that have been projected on us by our parents, our friends, our partners, or society in general. Maybe you DON’T care about having a lot of money or maybe getting married doesn’t appeal to you at all.

If you then go out and try to manifest those things, you’re probably going to end up with a life that doesn’t fulfill you the way you thought it was going to.

That’s why I highly recommend doing the spiritual and intuitive work to get clear on your desires before you start manifesting!

How to Manifest through Writing or Journaling

All right, so let’s get down to the actual how-to here. There are tons of techniques out there for manifesting goals. You can say affirmations in the mirror or in the bath, make a vision board, use crystals, or ask your spirit guides for help.

I think one of the most effective manifestation techniques is journaling or writing and there are even lots of options to try within this category! Writing helps to visualize what you want. Let’s talk about how to manifest something by writing it down.

The first step is goal setting or creating a manifestation list to determine exactly what you want. Next, choose a special notebook or journal to use for manifesting. Alternatively, if you journal daily anyway, you could use that same book for manifestation. I like to dedicate a new journal by writing a little inscription on the first page about what I plan to use the journal for.

A few common manifestation journaling techniques that are popular right now include the 369 method and the scripting manifestation method.

Method: The 369 Technique

The 369 method of manifesting has become increasingly popular in the online world. (You’ve probably seen a few of those How to manifest something by writing it down TikToks on this!)

 In this method, it’s all about manifesting on paper. You write down your desired manifestation three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon, and nine times before going to bed. Some people seem to do this with a single affirmation, while others take the opportunity to approach their desire with different, reaffirming phrases throughout the day.

My friend, Afura Fareed, actually wrote a book, Manifestation Journal Magick, about manifesting through journaling and here’s what she had to say about the 369 method:

“The reason why we write our intention three different ways is so that we can get a more well rounded view of our manifestation. We’re also able to give the universe multiple avenues through which this desire can take form.

By having these three different ideas of how the desired energy can be evoked, you’re allowing the universe room to fulfill your desire in a variety of ways – rather than being overly attached to any one specific path. This is immensely helpful for getting out of your own way so you can receive the most aligned result possible, rather than fighting an uphill battle.”

Method: Scripting

The scripting method is where you basically write a script of your future life where you’ve received the thing you desire. Attraction scripting is a description of your desired reality, written in the present tense, as your future self describes what their life is like, how they feel, and what they have and experience every day. It’s a different way of how to manifest by writing. 

This is a great daily journaling practice to adopt, writing in the present tense about everything you desire to have in the future, whether you are manifesting something specific or just trying to live in the vibe of your next uplevel.

Method: Affirmations

An affirmation is a phrase or sentence that describes, (or affirms), your desired reality. For example, if you want to manifest love, then you might use an affirmation like, “I am loved and supported in my closest relationships” or “I am in a healthy, happy, loving relationship.”

Affirmations can be spoken, written, or both. A great way to practice manifesting is to come up with 8-10 affirmations that you can write down every day. This can be done quickly and easily and you can also read them aloud to yourself or in the mirror after you’ve written them down.

It might feel redundant to write the same positive affirmations over and over again but doing this every day can help rewire your thoughts, especially if you are struggling to believe that it’s possible to receive what you desire. Writing things down and speaking these affirmations daily plants them in your thoughts like positive, abundant little seeds!

The key to how to manifest anything by affirmations is finding the right words to repeat. Sometimes these affirmations can be discovered via quotes. Our Whimsy Writer Kerasa rounded up her favorite self love quotes in this post. 

Method: Gratitude Journaling

One of my personal favorite methods of manifestation journaling is to practice gratitude. Now, I know, it might sound cheesy, but gratitude journaling seriously works.

I like to practice gratitude journaling every day by writing down five things I’m grateful for each morning. Usually this includes one or two things I’m grateful for in that moment, (like a warm cup of tea or a quiet house), one or two things I’m grateful for in a broader sense, (like my partner or being able to work for myself), and often one or two things that future me will be grateful for.

This is actually just another of our scripting manifestation examples! For example, I might write down in the present or even past tense that I’m grateful to have signed 3 new clients this week or that I’m grateful for the relaxing vacation we’re taking, (even if those things haven’t actually happened yet.)

You can also employ gratitude journaling more strategically as a manifestation method. Visualize your future self and everything that version of you is grateful for. Don’t limit yourself to five or even ten things – fill as many pages as you can with all the things your future self is grateful to have, do, be, and experience, in general, or related to a specific manifestation you are calling into your life!

Manifesting things shouldn’t be limiting, but instead freeing. What big dreams are you manifesting? Tell us in the comments!