The Brand Journey Podcast Ep 27: A practical guide to manifesting in your business.

In this episode, we explore manifestation in a way that is grounded and practical yet intuitive. We share our steps for manifesting in our businesses through aligning and directing a clear channel for our energy and focus when it comes to our vision, goals, habits, mindset and actions.

We chat about:

Why getting super clear with your intention is a must-have for manifesting in your business
How to channel our energy and focus toward a clear vision and goal
Daily practices to shift our mindset and beliefs for manifestation
How expanding your comfort zone can help you shift your belief and identity
Opening up portals for aligned opportunities
Letting go of attachment and how that helps in manifestation

TRANSCRIPT:

27. Manifesting-In-Your-Business

Donaji: Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode. I am here, uh, having some, uh, technical difficulties with Jo, but anyway, happy June. It's a nice start to the summer. I've been, uh, planting new seedlings. I said I wasn't gonna, you know, do anything on the garden, but. I kind of caved in.

Jo: Oh, wow. That's so exciting.

Donaji: What about you?

Jo: I have the intention. I haven't done it yet, but I've set the intention, um, to just do a few things for the front garden. And yeah, there's this place where I've been able to get some kind of native Australian…

Donaji: oh, yay.

Jo: Like not flowers, but just shrubs and like, yeah, yeah. Just like little pieces of grass and things like that, that I can put along the front part of the house.

It's just looking a bit bare because since we moved in, we haven't really done much for the front garden and it just needs a little bit of TLC. So I'm excited to hopefully do it this weekend. We've kind of scheduled some time aside for Sunday planting and then just ripping out the tomato plants from the summer because they've, the season has finished here in Melbourne, so yeah.

Donaji: Did you get a lot of tomatoes? Oh, did you get?

Jo: We did. They looked really lovely on the vine, and then I think they got eaten by some possums. So we've been using like, like a natural deterrent to get the possums to stay away from the, from the tomatoes. But it's such a shame cause they, they're, we planted like cherry tomatoes and they're just like really easy for the picking, you know, as a totally little possum.

It's like a nice apple sized treat for possum. Yeah. And they've just been going through for, through the really ripe ones. So we've just finished the season. I've done like the final pick of green tomatoes that were left on the vine. Um, and apparently you can make. That into a green tomato chutney. So it's waiting for me.

Oh yeah. In the fridge. And hopefully I'll be able to make it this weekend. So yeah, I'm looking to forward to a little bit of like homesteading and gardening on the weekend, which will be nice. What about yourself, Donaji?

Donaji: That sounds so exciting. Ah, I have all these just bugs all over my plans, which is very frustrating. And just, you know, it's disappointing. I have thrips and one of my plans is, so it's not very, it's not thriving very much, but I've been treating it organically and it's just, thrips are one of the worst pets you can have, pests you can have. And then I have spider mites on my succulents outside and ants, oh, and then aphids.

And it's just, it's like, it never ends, you know? It's so relentless. Yeah. Yeah. And like, I just feel like they're not really thriving. All the other plants are fine. Anyway, so that's why I said I am not doing any more gardening. Like, I'm not gonna plant anything else cuz this is just exhausting. And you know, the, the amount of money that I've spent has not come nowhere near what I've, you know, what is given back.

So, yeah. But I caved in and I, I did. Some seeds I've had for the past couple years. Mm. So I have some greens and definitely not tomatoes. I give up on tomatoes. It's just, I just can't, I don't know why. I dunno what's going on, but, um, yeah, planting some lettuces and, um, beads and carrots and kale and those kinds of things on onions.

So we'll see what happens. Last year we had the lettuce, it just went crazy. So we, we did have a lot, and then they got filled with aphids, so I don't know. We'll see.

Jo: Mm-hmm. Oh, I think it is a big learning curve. I found also with planting and gardening in general is like, maybe the first sort of few years you don't see the return, and I think I'm just experiencing that as well with like the tomatoes and also like everything else that I've grown, you know, things get dug up by my dog.

She really enjoys digging up like snow peas, for example, like the snow pee plant. She dug it up like three times and she doesn't do it, do it to any other plants, but she really doesn't like the snow peas. Yeah, it's just been a nice learning curve, even though it has been a little bit demoralizing because you did put a lot of effort in and it looks nice at the start and then it just goes a bit.

It's just like pests, like rotten lettuce leaves and all of that kind of stuff. But yeah, I, I'm hoping that with time and like with a few more seasons, I'll become, I'll be able to turn my, like mediocre gardening thumb into a green thumb eventually.

Donaji: I hope so too, because I don't know, like when I look for information, it just seems like, oh, just do this. People feel like, it just seems like they have it and I'm like, how do they yield so much produce? Yeah, yeah. And not deal with all of these things. And I'm like, I'm doing everything they're saying to do. So the only bad thing about our location is our yard is, it gets a lot of shade, but then we have our deck.

Jo: Mm-hmm.

Donaji: That gets too much sun, so it's like too much sun or shade. So there's no in between. So that's definitely a problem, but I can't wait to see what you, uh, what you get out of that. That's exciting.

Jo: Yes. We, we'll have to share. Yeah.

Donaji: All right. Well, today we're going to talk about manifesting. Mm. And I think this is gonna be a fun episode to discuss some of our perspectives and experience with manifesting. And I know this is kind of a, a topic that feels a little abstract and maybe even trendy. It's a good topic to talk about, even if you've never tried doing it, if you're not familiar with it, I think perhaps we can bring a different perspective.On manifesting and what that means to us. So, yeah.

Why did you, why did you feel like this was something that felt important to share with people?

Jo: Mm-hmm. Manifesting, especially in business, but all, I mean also in our life as well. But I think manifesting can really create a sense of flow as a business owner, and it adds something else to the hustle and the daily grind of doing business. And just moving through the motions. So yeah, that's why I think it's really important.

Donaji: Can you explain a little bit more on what you mean by how it creates a sense of flow? What does that mean?

Jo: Yeah, yeah. When we are talking about manifesting, and we'll dive into this a little bit more, but our perspective of manifesting is that there is a grounded approach to it.

So there is, yeah, clear steps that we can follow. I think when we are clear in terms of what we say yes to and what we say no to, we're also able to direct our energy towards the things that will actually help us move closer to that vision that we have. Mm-hmm. And when we're able to do so, we are moving more consciously with working with the sense of focus or the sense of energetic focus and in turn, that creates that space for flow to happen.

So it doesn't. Mean that we're working without taking a break or like burning out in our business, but it invites a more conscious approach to business. And I think that's what I love about bringing a little bit of this grounded manifesting back into your business and applying that into the different things that you offer into how you work with your customers or clients.

It just creates that sense of flow and ease. So yeah, I think that's what we wanna talk and dive into a little bit more today. So we've got heaps planned, um, and I'm really excited to share some of the things that we've learned along the way as well.

Donaji: I really love this idea of using this to be more intentional, almost like a tool. You know, how can we be more intentional not only in our business, but you know, in our lives, but before we dive into what we mean by manifesting and what we've done or our experience with it. I kind of wanna ask, there's a lot of misconceptions out there about what manifesting is, or a lot of, I'm gonna say negative thoughts about manifesting and what that means because I think there's a lot of people who offer manifesting practices or teach manifesting in a way that feels very, I don't know, like woo woo abstract and it doesn't feel very tangible. It feels like something that's like almost connected to like a spiritual aspect of things. Also, there's a lot of connection to materialistic things and attaining success in that way. And I kind of wanna talk about some of those things that we see because I actually, when I first started learning about manifesting or heard, I started in that way in like, because this was a trend that, like a really heavy trend at that time.

There were a lot of people talking about it in this kind of weird way that I like the concept of it and the idea of it, but I didn't like it connected in the way that they were bringing it or showing me, to do. And I think it felt kind of icky because a lot of people brought it into almost like, if you follow my framework, you're gonna be able to learn how to do this.

And then they also sold like other products that seemed a little bit, I don't know, almost like this is even work. Is this even real like, You know, it seemed so made up and I just wasn't really thrilled about that. But then I understood what it actually meant and it made more sense to me. You know, it's something that we can use in a different way, not, not in this like negative, abstract, spiritual way, which I don't know, I, if, I guess if I would to learn a different perspective on that, maybe I could understand it a little bit better, but at least from my experience and what I saw, it didn't connect with me at all.

And it felt very, I don't know, like, what do you call that? Like, you're just like, somebody was just, um, coming up with some random business opportunity, I guess, and like trying to take advantage of people.

So what would you say manifesting is not?

Jo: Yeah. So I think this is really dependent on everyone's unique perspective of manifesting.

So the examples that Donaji just covered are obviously some people's perception of manifesting in what they believe it to be. But I think like when Donji and I were chatting about this topic, we wanted to define manifestation, especially when it comes to our business and our life in a way that it's not simply about hoping for things to happen. It's not simply about making a wish. Or like praying for what we wanna happen, and kind of sitting back and sort of saying, oh, you know, I wanted, you know, $20 in my pocket and oh, I found it lying there on a couch. I don't feel like that is manifestation, not to us anyway.

I think manifestation is not simply about affirmations or kind of like repeating affirmations daily. I think part of that could be helpful, especially when it comes to shifting a belief over time. But again, affirmations by itself is not what we define to be manifestation in a way that's grounded and tangible for our business.

I think manifestation actually requires intentional action. It's the focused action. So you are really coming at it from a perspective of wanting something to happen or having an idea of what you wanna happen, but you are also coming at it with the tools, the resources, the action to help that actually manifest into reality as well. So it requires action on our part to make things happen.

And that's why sometimes there is also the belief of like, “what if I'm manifesting a deep fear of mine?” Like what if all my thoughts, and this is sometimes in some manifesting communities, people believe that if you believe something to be true, it will happen. And that I don't feel like actually is manifesting because it's something.

Donaji: Yeah, that's something else.

Jo: It’s very difficult to manifest a deep fear, like so I think that actually causes people to get very scared of their thoughts because they think that every time they think something it's gonna happen or they're gonna start seeing that happen.

As an example, like I have a very deep fear of being eaten by a whale or being like trapped in an elevator. And my having like a ghost in an elevator like scare me. I dunno where it comes from. I dunno why.

I know for sure that even though I have this fear, and I think about it often, especially when I'm like near the water, like by the beach or like when I'm in an elevator, I know that I'm not actually manifesting to be eaten by a whale just because I have this thought. I'm not actually taking action. Of course, if I'm putting myself in the position of a whale daily, uh, repeatedly, potentially the opportunity will arise where maybe that might be more likely, but I sincerely doubt that I will ever do that because I'm not taking action to help that.

Move forward. So hopefully that helps explain what manifestation is not.

Donaji: Those are some really good points. And I liked what you were saying about, first of all, I am not an expert on this at all. Like this is just me sharing what I think and my perspective. There is a difference between thinking you're manifesting something like that, and also versus creating a belief system or a belief about yourself, whether it's negative or positive, because that also requires work, but in a different way.

I think it's a different thing where if you want to change a belief or something like that, that can certainly be positive or negative. We all do that.

Jo: Mm-hmm.

Donaji: You know?

Jo: Mm-hmm.

Donaji: And we all can do that. What do we consider manifesting? What do we mean by that?

Jo: The more grounded approach where we can actually break this down into some clear steps is having clarity in your vision, having clarity in your goals, and then taking regular intentional action steps to close the gap between where you currently are to where you wanna go.

And I think that's in a nutshell, that's what we mean by manifesting.

Donaji: Yeah. What I like about this is that it feels something that we all can do. It doesn't require any sort of belief about something that's, uh, abstract. We can make it tangible for ourselves to be able to, yes, to actually make it and, and create a practice around it.

I like this structure and I like calling it the manifesting cake because, uh, we have some layers here that we're gonna share. So if you think of this as like your manifesting cake, each layer has a different action. What would be like layer one?

Jo: Yeah, so we'll just go through like the four. There's actually four layers of the cake.

So the first layer is probably something that traditionally people are already doing. It's not really. Anything new. So some of these will be things that you might be already doing already. So layer one is getting clear on our goals and goal setting is around defining our goals in a way that it is essentially the smart goals, you know?

So it's like achievable, it's time-based. There is definition to it, that's, mm-hmm. The first layer. The second layer, and some people are also doing this already, is really getting clear on your vision. So layer two is all about adding on to what your goals are, but it's adding context and purpose and motivation and drive.

Yes. For you to understand why you actually want those goals in the first place. So that's the second layer. So it's a little bit more, it's a little deeper and it adds more to your goals. Already.

Donaji: Yeah. If you haven't heard our past episodes, we are always talking about goals and vision settings, so this is something that we're very, just feel very strongly about.

Jo: Yes. And then moving on to layer three. Layer three is about defining the version of who you wanna become in order for you to firstly achieve your goals, but also achieve the vision or move closer to the vision. That you hold for yourself. So it's around changing your perception of yourself, but also taking steps to become the version of yourself that you wanna become.

So that's layer three. In some cases, it's also referred to as identity shifting. So essentially you are, shifting your identity from who you currently are to where you want to be or who you want to become.

Donaji: It doesn't really have to be also that deep in that sense. Like we're always working towards something, or we want to learn something, or we want to improve something.

And I think, yeah, it can just be that simple. It doesn't have to be this like life-changing thing. It could be just something that you want to improve on that you're working towards. Whether that's just being a better partner, a better friend, a better, you know, business owner, a more conscious person, whatever that is.

Jo: Yeah, I love that. And that's exactly, um, something that James Clear talks about in Atomic Habits is around, yeah. When it comes to identity shifting, it can be just this small part of you that you wanna become. This is a non-work example, but if you're a smoker, you wanna maybe quit smoking. That's the goal.

The identity shift is that you want to become someone who's a non-smoker, who tells the world you are someone that doesn't smoke.

So it could be the simple shift in terms of one aspect of yourself. It doesn't need to be, everything about you needs to change. It's thinking about the different characteristics that you might wanna tweak for you to make your vision and your goals more possible.

Donaji: I love that because that makes me think like a really good. Way of thinking of this, which is you just said, is I'm the kind of person that fill in the blank and yes. When you think of like, I'm the kind of person that whatever now versus, you know, five years from now that might be slightly different because of the types of goals that we're, we want to achieve or, you know, things that we want to change in our lives.

And I like that. I like kind of thinking of it in, in that way because we all want to be a certain type of person that's perceived a certain way. And I think that like could be an easy way of coming up with this definition of that version that we want to become.

Jo: Yeah. And then lay of four is actually making this more possible.

So it's really about increasing the possibility for the vision and the goals to essentially manifest and. Doing this requires taking actionable steps. So that's layer four is around taking intentional steps and they can be tiny steps or tiny habits to help you close the gap from where you currently are to where you wanna be.

So that's the fourth layer or the final layer in the manifesting cake.

Donaji: So we're talking about a lot of goal setting, like visioning. Yeah. And thinking of the future, like it's all thinking about the future now, what would you say the differences between. Because this could sound just like regular goal setting.

What the heck is the difference between manifesting and goal setting? Why do we have a different term for that?

Jo: Yeah, I love this because yeah, goal setting is really the first layer of the manifestation cake. So goal setting is really just about focusing on the result or the finish line. It also involves taking action.

So goal setting, if you think about the smart. Goal system. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So part of that is around making it actionable. So it does involve action, but it's really just whether you succeed or not. When it comes to goal setting, is whether you're able to tick off the results or not. It ignores the vision. It ignores how you feel fulfilled, the deeper purpose, the motivation, and the drive behind why you're doing what you're doing.

And so that's where layer two really comes into place because it adds on top of goal setting. And the other thing around manifesting is that, In contrast to goal setting it. Goal setting, essentially neglects what is happening in terms of your beliefs and the energy that you hold. I know. So I think manifesting combines it's more, more of a holistic system and that it combines your beliefs, your energy, so that there is greater alignment.

So you're not just running needlessly towards different goals and different actions. You are really making sure that that feels right for you, right for your life, and helps you essentially move closer to that vision and you are able to, By going through the four different layers that we explained before, you are able to create essentially this energetic synergy when all of them are working well, because essentially that's what alignment means, is when everything is brought into alignment, there is an energetic synergy.

There is that flow that we talked about before, and so it becomes a much more efficient system for getting things done.

Donaji: Ugh. That's so good. I feel like it just kind of gives the goal setting these extra bits that make it so much more purposeful and intentional and thoughtful. And it almost gives it, in my head, I don't know why this came up, but it gives it like cushion around.

Jo: Yes.

Donaji: You know, that, um, you know, so there's like a deeper purpose and a deeper look into why you are going after what you're going and examines, like your motivation, the drive, like you said, energy and how things are relating to each other, how the goals are relating to your life and your business and all of those things. I mean, I love that.

Jo: Yeah. So we're gonna go to a short commercial break. Before we dive in to the next parts of the episode, if you are enjoying this episode, please share on Instagram and tag us so we know that you're enjoying the episode. You can also add a review, if you'd like, via Apple Podcasts, or even like, I think, is it, is it just Apple Podcast that does the review? I need to confirm that.

Donaji: You can also leave on Spotify, I believe.

Jo: Oh. Oh, awesome. Awesome. And just a reminder, we do have a vision to goals offering as well, so we'll leave the links in the description below. But essentially, the masterclass teaches you how to set your goals and how to define your vision and take those actions as well. So if you're interested in the offering, please check out the link in the show notes as well.

Donaji: So we're gonna talk about how we have. Manifested, or at least used this practice to work towards our bigger vision and our goals and what progress we've made through this practice, I guess I should say.

I kind of like thinking of it as a practice rather than like this thing that you make happen. But what was interesting is in preparation for this episode a while ago, I was revisiting my 2019 goals and then my 2020 and I should say my vision, not my goals. And I was thinking through what I wrote and I was actually very surprised to see that a lot of the things that I set out to do have really happened.

And I don't know really where this falls, but. One thing I noticed is that when I was looking into this, that I had written down certain things that I wanted in my personal life that in a way happened and that came to be, but it wasn't like a hundred percent exactly what I had envisioned. And I have a couple of thoughts about that.

So one, you know, it makes me wonder sometimes we get so caught up in things like being exactly perfect and hoping for these things to turn out in the way that we want it to. Yeah. And that we kind of look past what we have or what we've accomplished. We don't appreciate it for what it is. So, I get lost in thinking of things turning out exactly how I envision.

And when I learn about manifesting, you know, you think of what you want and you don't worry about how it happens or how it's going to happen. You just kind of work towards this goal and you let go of pressure of like, how is it going to happen?

The way I learned about it is, you know, you're focused on your vision, don't worry about how you're going to get there. And so how that relates to what I realized is that I had accomplished some of the things that I had set out to do, but they weren't a hundred percent how I had envisioned it. But it made me shift my mindset instead of really thinking of the future. And like, I want this, I want this way, I want it, and when is it gonna happen?

And it, you know, it made me think, wow, I actually have a lot of what I wanted. It's just not. In that spec super specific way. So it actually made me have a lot of gratitude towards where I've, uh, gotten since 2019.

Jo: Yeah, absolutely.

Donaji: I’m saying like, I, I could have said, oh, this hasn't happened because it's not showing up in this specific way.

Whereas I realized the feeling that I was after is there the physical. Part of it is not necessarily there what I was feeling, just feeling of like not having enough worried about money, worrying about feeling burnt out, not confident, just feeling like I wasn't really able to do a lot. Because of my lack of confidence, it's like now I feel less pressure to hurry up and get to where I wanna get to, and I give myself some, I guess, grace in knowing that I've worked so hard to get here.

Yeah. Yeah. Does that make sense? I feel like I just like…

Jo: No, no, absolutely. I think there's this beautiful spaciousness that you've created in terms of releasing the pressure to tick off something. At the end of your to-do list. And essentially that's like if you were just doing goal setting, then you would've been like, ah, did I succeed or did I fail?

But when it comes to like alignment and manifesting and that more holistic approach, it's really around, you know, part of that is around the energy, it's around your intention, how you feel, um, how aligned you feel. And I love that you're saying that a lot of the things that you're observing now is like coming into alignment emotionally, you know, in terms of how you feel about yourself and how you feel more comfortable sharing your voice.

That's awesome. That's really, really cool. I'm interested to see like, what are the things like specifically have you been able to essentially manifest over the last two years? Mm-hmm. Or even like longer than that.

Donaji: Yeah. So things like: working with my ideal clients and hiring help to get things done. I feel like the working with my ideal clients.

I don't know if I've already said this before in the podcast, but I just feel so grateful for the people that I work with. And I'm so grateful that I've had like, amazing experiences. I, I haven't yet had like, some client from hell, thankfully, that has like, made me feel horrible. I'm so grateful for the people that I, for the women that I've worked with.

They're just amazing and I'm so inspired by them. So that alone, like to me is a huge win because I wanted, The whole entire reason I started this business was to feel more fulfilled because I wasn't in my last job. So working with my ideal clients and also having them feel seen through my website is something that I've heard from them, and that is so, so powerful.

Yeah. And, uh, feeling more comfortable and sharing my voice, definitely through this podcast, through content and other things, financial freedom, and not that I've hit my goals, but I'm debt free now. Like I've worked so hard towards that and I really, really wanted this to happen. Other things are like being able to support organizations that I love.

That was a big thing that I wanted to accomplish, to have enough income to do that. And then on the personal side, being able to take time off with my husband or family and being able to take little trips locally. Yeah. I've been making it a point to do that. And not being afraid to spend money on that.

Not that I'm like, you know, I'm not like going crazy, but I'm being intentional in rewarding myself because I wasn't taking any time off before and I was burned out. Mm-hmm. And now being able to, to do that and just like enjoy time off, enjoy eating out and having fun and not being. Stuck at home. Yeah.

You know? So all of that I feel like, to me, makes me more empowered to believe in myself and believe in the fact that I can have a profitable business and I can achieve these things if I continue to stay focused on that like bigger vision. Because I wanted to have a business that was going to be able to support this type of lifestyle.

And like, there's obviously other things that I wanna accomplish, but yeah, like those are the tangible things that I've been able to do in the past two years, I guess. Hmm. And I think like launching this podcast with you has been so helpful in that growth. Just putting ourselves out there, even though. I may not like what I say a lot of times, or when I hear it back.

Just the effort of it and yeah. You know, getting rid of that fear is something that has helped me get rid of the pressure of like, who cares? You know, like, just exercise this thing so that you can just be better. Like, it's okay to feel uncomfortable and to feel like, you know, maybe not everybody will agree or will see it in the way that I want people to see it, but I'm growing with it, like we're growing through this experience and that has been a huge thing for me.

Jo: Yeah. Oh, I love this. And it's a practice, you know, it's like the ongoing practice. It's essentially your business journey, like taking those small steps towards something bigger that's meaningful and feels true for you and authentic for you. It's so important. I love this. I feel like it gives this sense of, for a lot of people, hopefully this feeling of the vision that they have for a business that they want is definitely achievable.

Um, it's just about exactly. Taking, yeah, taking those small steps in the right direction and having that sense of trust and spaciousness in the manifesting process to know that. You are moving in the right direction. You know you're getting closer. Yeah. I love this.

Donaji: I just love how you can really think of this as a practice that you can really focus on to, I mean, it's all about intentionality and what you decide to take action on.

So I'm interested to hear your side, Jo, what have you manifested? What are some things that you're grateful for that you've seen happen?

Jo: I was kind of doing manifesting without sort of really knowing I was doing manifesting from, um, I would say like from a, not a young, young age, but even like from my uni days.

So I was kind of trying to do that as much as possible and it just came quite naturally because that was just how I would see the world, you know, in terms of alignment and bringing intention and action together.

Jo: How did you find this thing? I know like you said, it came naturally, but I feel like I wanted to ask like, did it, was it something that you learned from somebody else? Was it something that you experienced through your parents or through other people? Because I learned from it by reading and just meeting other people, and so I wonder, I actually met somebody who told me they've been doing this from a very young age because their mom taught them how to do that and it, it wasn't even like this thing you did, it's just like almost a way of thinking and just being open to possibility and not like holding onto things so strongly, but also being focused on really.

Focus on what you want. So I'm curious to hear how this came about your realm.

Jo: Yeah. So I think it kind of is a blend of maybe my own perspective on how to move through life, but then also I would say heavily influenced by my parents because, um, they've come from a perspective of allowing space. Cuz my parents.

Looking at it from like a Chinese Eastern philosophy background. Yeah. There is definitely this grace and allowance of things to be, it's almost like allowing the path of nature to take its course in our life in some way, and. Granted, we can do things to direct the energy to something that also feels natural.

But sometimes my mom used to say to me like, don't force it cuz I used to like want certain things so badly and I'd get so hung up if I didn't get that, or if I didn't get the grade I wanted. I was like so brokenhearted about it and my mom's just like, don't force it. You know, like take a step back and see the bigger picture and everything.

Oh, and you'll be able to come at it with a more gentle energy rather than a forceful I have to have it and it has to be this way. It has to be this perfect. Yeah. It has to play out perfectly as you were saying. And in terms of manifestation, like what I later learned was that, yeah, part of it is around, you know, things moving.

Towards something through the path of lease resistance. So our job is to kind of get out of the way to help that path be as easy as possible for making things happen. So I think like the biggest ones for me was around getting it accepted into design school, and I had never done any really design.

Classes or anything like that, aside from like high school design, a very, you know, I didn't do it in my final years of high school, so it was just something like an art class that I did. Um, and I had an engineering background, which was very different to design. And so I feel like for me, being able to manifest, that took a lot of focus and belief in, in that it could potentially happen.

But also applying for it was so scary and I did it anyway and I was just very clear with the outcome that I wanted. I wanted to hopefully get into the design school and so I ensured that everything that I was doing, In relation to getting accepted was to increase the opportunity or increase the chances of that happening, and that included believing that it could happen.

It included, um, making sure that I was taking some sort of classes and, you know, related to design before that it included me asking my dad, who's a graphic design teacher for help, cuz he, he'd been teaching students for a long time, but he never taught me. So it was just around asking.

Donaji: I didn't know your dad was a graphic design teacher!

Jo: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I think like all of it was kind of, it felt very aligned because I had grown up with design. I just never knew how to apply it. Technically. I didn't have the technical skills. So that was the first thing I think I consciously manifested. And then I think the other ones were like notable ones would've been spending two years in Japan.

And it was like a place that I've always wanted to live. And I just never thought that it would be possible for me even to live in a different country. I was so scared by the fact that that could be a possibility that I almost didn't do it. Yeah. But I remember asking myself, what if I just bought a ticket?

What if I bought, you know, what if I, wow. Like paid for classes in Japan, like what would that look like? And I'm like, okay, maybe the first step here is to break this down and. Researched the tickets for going to Japan and research a Japanese school. Um, and before I knew it, I kind of like had everything organized and I was on my way to Japan with like not many possessions at all.

Uh, exactly. And yes, and two years there. And, uh, essentially built my business when I was overseas. So that would be the third thing I think that I consciously manifested was a business that I built. With my bare hands from scratch, um, to working for myself full-time.

Donaji: Oh, that's amazing. I can't even imagine like just moving to a different country where you don't know anybody by yourself with nothing. And you also wrote a book. Sorry, you were gonna say something?

Jo: Yeah, well I was just gonna finish that little bit off around. I was modeling it after everybody else who I knew that had done a similar thing. Because sometimes you get inspired and that changes your belief system, which is very important.

In terms of manifestation. It's being able to see that it's possible for other people, even if it's not possible for you yet, being able to see that someone else did that. Like my parents did that when they were 30 something years old. They moved to Australia from Hong Kong and they stayed here for a long time.

So knowing that it was possible for other people meant that I was like, oh, well why can't it be me? Or why can't I do that too? Yeah, right. Yeah. And I think like the, yeah, essentially the book deal came a little bit later, and that also came from other things that I had done on the road towards that. I was releasing an e-book and I had like a little Etsy shop and I wanted to create a book that was a physical version of the e-book and what I had already created for the Etsy shop.

So yeah, I would say that that was a surprise manifestation. It came at the right time. It was very, Eye opening process. But yeah, essentially was something that I was able to create from, you know, taking some of those action steps towards a bigger vision of what I wanted to create for myself.

Donaji: Ah, and if you have not looked at Jo's book, you should go check it out.

The Intuition Journal, I think it's on your website, but you should get it. There's so much to do on that journal. I, it's, it's really cool. Let's talk about how we can actually put this into practice. How do we get started in manifesting in your business with an approach that feels grounded and really that feels connected to you?

For me, I think it's definitely crucial that we know exactly. What we want. So being extremely clear about what that looks like. What are we trying to achieve or accomplish? Because if we're not really clear about that, then that means that we can't create that path that leads us. Towards that vision. And so we need to really clarify what our intention is so that we can focus and define what our actions are.

So creating that path, almost like a stepping stone, but we need to find that top of the mountain. What is it that we're working towards so that we can create that path, and how do we actually get there?

And Jo, do you have some examples of what this would look like?

Jo: Yeah, so I think in terms of getting clear around what your intention or your focus is going to be, I'd liken this to the metaphor of being almost like a copper wire that conducts electricity.

And I'll explain what this means in that. If you imagine your energetic flow, you've got a certain amount of energy in your system for you to focus. Towards something you wanna be, like a copper wire that allows that energetic flow to really go through it. So if you've got heaps of wires all around you, then your energy is gonna be dispersed into various.

Places, and essentially you'll probably manifest what you are putting your energy and time and intention and action towards. But it will just take a little bit longer because that energy is kind of split across all these different copper wires. But if you have like a single copper wire and that's really dedicated to one particular focus, then ultimately you are putting a lot more energy and time and intention towards that one thing.

So that's the same with the clarity that's around having clarity for your intention is around whittling down the number of copper wires that you have to a. Specific wire or one or two in your business that you want to really channel your energy towards.

Donaji: That kind of reminds me, it's gonna sound silly, but if you think of like a superhero that shoots bright electricity from their hands. And they're trying to fight against an enemy with one enemy on one hand, and the other one and the other that would probably get them, you know, their energy would be wasted. They would probably be exhausted much faster as if they were to put, you know, both hands towards one or both the same time.

Jo: Yes.

Donaji: So it becomes like a stronger current.

Jo: Exactly. Yeah. When it comes to clarifying your intention, it's not just about understanding exactly what you want, but you actually need to review your vision and the person that you wanna become very regularly, because sometimes, If we've created a vision, there's been so many times where I'm sure we've created a vision or we've set some goals.

And we've just kind of left them aside and we forget to actually check up on them regularly. We forget to check up on the promises that we've made to ourselves around the person that we wanna become and the habits and the actions that we actually should be taking on a daily basis to make that happen.

And that's why part of clarifying your intention also includes reviewing that intention. On a daily basis, if not on a daily basis, pretty regularly. What that actually does is it will help strengthen the beliefs for that to be more likely over time. So it's similar as using affirmations, so it, it happens in a similar way by repeating that daily, you're putting that information into your subconscious, but also into your consciousness so that you're actually able to prioritize the actions and the tiny habits into your daily life so that you're scheduling it in and you're making it more likely that you're taking those steps daily.

Donaji: That I a hundred percent believe in because I am one of these people that if I don't check in with what I've written down, it's just completely out the window. But when I do it on a regular basis, which I actually do it every Monday, now, it really puts that in the front of my mind and it keeps me, I guess, in check for the rest of the week rather than you did it let's say at the beginning of the year for the whole year for quarter one, and then you don't check in for the rest of the quarter.

You forget, and then at the end of the quarter you're like, oh yeah, I did do those things and now I don't even know what. You know what I've been doing all this time. Whereas if you check in, you know, every week and you take a look and this comes in, like what you were saying about breaking those down into tiny habits and scheduling them in, you can actually make those little bits of progress that in the end will pay off big time.

Jo: Yes. So moving on to the second step or on how to get started with manifesting in your business is around shifting your beliefs. And this is probably something that we have come across, especially if we've done manifestation in the past. Shifting our beliefs is really important, but there's certain ways we can do it.

And it's not just about using affirmations, but it takes it a step further. And one of the things that I think is super key for this is around getting out of our comfort zones. And the reason why we are able to shift our belief and also our energetic state when we get out of our comfort zone is because we're creating a new data point in our.

Belief systems, and it's going to tell essentially, our identity, but also our minds that, ah, this experience that we've initially felt very scared about is actually okay and is actually doable. So it means that it's coming up against our fear and coming up against our ego to really shatter those old beliefs and actually create a new data point, which is going to help shift us towards something that is a little bit more aligned.

So when it comes to getting out of our comfort zone, it could be around for me, for example, because my vision was to one day live in Japan, getting out of my comfort zone, was actually booking my ticket. To Japan or making the inquiry call to the Japanese school to see how I could actually pay for lessons when I was over there, and even though these are maybe some smaller steps, they were actually really scary in the process. I would say the other ones for us would be actually doing the podcast because part of the vision for both of us was to learn how to be more confident in speaking and owning the words we speak with conviction. And getting outside of our comfort zone.

In order for us to do that, in order for us to get closer that to that vision version of ourselves starting the podcast was something that was scary but necessary.

Donaji: Yeah, I totally agree with that.

Jo: And the second thing that we could do to shift our belief is around focusing on our gratitude practice. And Donaji mentioned this already when she was talking about her examples of finding her dream customer, her ideal customer, and working with those clients and really feeling a deep sense of gratitude for having the opportunity to work with them.

And when we're able to shift into the space of gratitude, again, it anchors our beliefs. And our energetic state towards, ah, this is actually happening for me. Sure, I might not have hit the final, final goal that is on my to-do list or on my goal setting sheet or whatever it is, but I'm on the way.

These customers or these clients feel so deeply aligned that I'm so forth gratitude and it's saying to us, yes, keep going. This is happening. This is real. I can see that it's a step in the right direction.

Donaji: I am a huge fan of, you know, a gratitude practice because. Not only have I experienced it, as you mentioned myself, but I believe it's a proven thing that when people are happier, they're more productive.

And the more that you look or the more that you focus on things that are positive, the happier that you feel. So yeah, when you, even if it's something small, um, eventually you start focusing more on the positive side of things or the good things versus looking at what is missing or lacking or negative things.

So there's definitely an effect on that that takes place, that makes us more productive and more focused and happier.

Jo: Yeah, and around shifting that attention or shifting our focus to the things that we want to see, rather than wallowing in the despair when we feel like we're not getting where we wanna be.

I think that's really key in terms of shifting our beliefs as well, because it's around putting more of that energy and shining a light on what's working well, what's actually happening, that's showing us that we're on our way versus putting that energy like the energetic flow through the copper wire.

We don't want that to be channeled in towards the things that we feel like are setting us back. And that's not to say that no one experiences a setback through a manifesting. Journey. You know, that's not to say that there's not gonna be times in our business life or in our life outside of business where we're not gonna feel a sense, where we've come against a huge obstacle.

We've just feel really bad about what's happening. You know, we might be very triggered. We might be feeling a sense of despair or feeling lost, or that we're not getting where we want to, but I think when it comes to shifting our beliefs, it's about having that ability to choose where we shine that light so that we can bounce back quicker when we're in those spaces where we're like feeling we're not ourselves, you know?

Yeah. But there's a difference between really spending a lot of time. Putting all our energy into saying, oh, this is not working. It's not going well. I'm gonna give up. I'm just gonna be in this state and continue feeling these feelings, versus acknowledging that and being like, okay, well let's have a look at what we can focus on that is going to be showing us that we're moving in the right direction.

So we have that choice. We have the conscious choice to focus on what we wanna see.

Donaji: Yeah. And the next part is creating energetic opportunities or portals, which I think goes hand in hand with what I was saying about being open to opportunities.

Jo: I love this because I feel like this is getting really deeper into that manifesting realm of like actually seeing things happening.

The first two points that we made are around getting clear and shifting our beliefs. That's like the foundation, and this is actually like making that opportunity a reality.

Donaji: So yeah, action.

Jo: Yeah. It's around taking the action and it's being very conscious around what actually needs to be shifted, what needs to be changed, what actions do I actually need to take for my vision to become more likely to happen.

So you are increasing the odds for that to be a reality and. Often what I think, and this is how I approach my business, is that if everything was in alignment, if I'm doing all of these daily actions that's helping me move towards the right direction in my business, it's only gonna be a matter of time.

It's only going to be a few clients away that I'm going to get to that next space. You know, like it's actually very close. A lot closer than it may seem. And it's because we're taking those intentional actions to help make this a reality and a lot more likely that the next client is gonna say yes, or the next customer is gonna say yes, or the next project that you wanna work on is going to happen.

So it's all about. Increasing the likelihood and increasing the chances of you moving towards that vision.

Donaji: Yeah. Really setting yourself up for things to happen.

Jo: Yes.

Donaji: By taking those actions and structuring yourself or your your life in a way that allows for things to happen and for things to come to you. And taking away that pressure that we were talking about earlier that Jo was saying, if you're trying too hard, you're holding it too tightly. You're wanting things to go like so specific that if it doesn't happen that way, then you're a failure. So it's like just being open and putting things into practice so that things start to flow naturally and creating those portals, windows of opportunities, et cetera.

So we have a last one, and that's on releasing energetic importance.

Jo: Yeah, so releasing energetic importance means that we're just giving space around our goal, because one of the things that we can get really tripped up about when it comes to manifesting in our business and in our life is that we get very hung up on whether or not we've been able to tick off our goal.

Or whether or not the result has manifested in a particular timeframe. And I feel like this is the part where grace and that space is really required. It's almost accepting that things will take the path of least resistance, which feels like the path that is most natural. And again, if you are increasing those energetic opportunities and portals for things to become more likely, that will be the most natural path that it will take.

But at the same time, we don't wanna be like gripping the results with like white knuckles, so to speak, and really like getting so focused on whether that is happening in the right time. And. Perfectly to our exact sort of specifications, because sometimes those specifications is not the path of lease resistance.

We're putting a lot of like restrictions around what that needs to look like. So it's about giving it a little bit of space to run its course as it needs to, and the focus is instead of focusing on the goal or the result as a measurement of your success, it's about focusing on. Whether you are becoming the person that you desire to be, so you're switching that focus back on things that you can actually control to a certain degree so that you've got a conscious ability to make those decisions, to take the action towards who you wanna become, rather than the goal, which is sometimes out of your control.

Right. It's maybe dependent on a lot of other factors. Mm-hmm. By releasing energetic importance of the goal, you are allowing things to run the course of least resistance.

And then that leads us to the end of the four steps. So, just to summarize, we had the first step, which was clarity.

The second step, which was shifting our beliefs.

The third step, which is creating energetic opportunities and portals, and the fourth step is just releasing that energetic importance and almost trusting in terms of how that may happen in the time that it needs to take.

Donaji: Yeah, focusing on that ultimate vision versus Yeah. How it's going to happen at the same time, I really believe that when you're working towards something big that you're not gonna achieve in the next year or so, maybe it takes five years, ten years, however long, that you also take in and enjoy the journey there.

So even though you're not worried of how it's going to manifest, how it's going to actually take place to really be present in that journey, in that process of getting to that place.

Jo: Oh, I love that. And yeah, it's just about having the consciousness to acknowledge all the wonderful things that have come along the way.

So you, you're really stopping to smell the roses and the flowers along the way rather than trying to like, Chase your way through life to get some finishing point. So we've got some show notes for this episode because it's um, such a big one. So we'll add some of the references for manifesting that we've personally found helpful.

I'll put those in the show notes for me. It’s been the Atomic Habits book by James Clear. So I know that it's not specifically about manifesting, but it's really about identity shifting at its core. And you're doing that through habits. And then the other one is Reality Trans Surfing, which is a really unique perspective on manifesting I've been very inspired by, in terms of what it's saying about manifesting from a very grounded perspective. And that's helped me a lot in my life as well.

Donaji: Awesome. Thank you for sharing that one. Uh, Jo, I am a huge fan of Atomic Habits. I bought it to keep it because it's like a bible at this point.

Jo: Yeah.

Donaji: Um, but I hope that you all enjoy this episode. We hope that you liked it and that there were some takeaways there, or some aha moments.

But to summarize, just think of manifesting as having a vision with intentional, intentional, intentional action.

Let us know if you enjoyed this episode, if you've ever practiced, manifesting what your thoughts are about, or if you have any resource that you'd like to share with us so we can share with others.

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