Coaches Ask a Sport Psych, Episode 02, “Manifesting?!”
I'm excited to share the second episode of our "Coaches Ask a Sport Psychologist" video series, where we tackle an intriguing question: "How do you feel about manifesting?"
In this episode, I delve into the concept of manifesting and its role in athletic performance. I discuss how acting "as if" you've already achieved your goals can be a powerful tool for athletes and coaches alike. Rather than simply expecting success to come without effort, I emphasize the importance of engaging in sustainable behaviors that lead toward your desired outcomes. By modeling the skills and actions of those you aspire to be, you can pave the way for future success.
Join me as I explore how manifesting, when approached constructively, can benefit athletes on their journey toward excellence.
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Edited Video Transcript:
The question was asked, "How do you feel about manifesting?"—*manifesting* put in these scare quotes.
I suspect this is kind of a bait question in some ways, but I'm going to take it in a direction that I think might be useful.
Manifesting, in some uses today, tends to fall into the same category as where we may have encouraged people to "fake it until you make it"—do the thing as if it's already done.
In that context, encouraging an athlete to act as if something is already accomplished—to act as if you can already do that skill or as if you're already getting a paycheck for the thing that you perform or compete at—is honestly a good thing. As psychological skills coaches, we want our athletes, our competitors, our performers to engage in behaviors that are sustainable, behaviors that will benefit them in the future in a way that doesn't lead toward suffering, compounding problems, or really damaging negative outcomes.
When we're talking about advocating for somebody to manifest something—to engage in behaviors as if a future goal outcome has already been attained—yes, I support that.
If you want to be paid to be a competitor, act like it now. Build your ability as a competitor as if it's a business, as if it's the thing that gets you paid.
If you want to be recognized as a leader in your field, start modeling the behaviors of the leaders you look up to and aspire to be.
If we're talking about manifesting in this light—"fake it until you make it," do the thing as if it's already occurred—I absolutely encourage it.
However, if we're talking about manifesting as this sort of "put a sheen on everything," as if life is good and things are just going to come your way, I don't encourage anybody to just expect things to occur. The most constructive way to make something happen is to work towards it happening.
Sometimes it can be really beneficial to learn the skills and behaviors that support that thing before it is the actual situation. In some ways, manifesting is kind of a comical idea, but in other ways, if we're saying we're learning the skills to do the thing that we want to achieve someday, it's a really good idea.