Acting as if is a huge topic of interest for me, not only because I know it’s the way to manifest anything I desire, but also because I tend to be really, really good at figuring out how to act as if the thing you desire is already yours.
For those who aren’t familiar with the phrase, acting as if means pretending that what you want is already yours and then acting from that place. It means being the person who has already achieved the manifestation right now.
But here’s the thing with acting as if… you can’t just do the easy stuff.
You can’t sit around, doing the bare minimum, and expect the Universe to fully show up for you and bring you what you’re asking for. (And if you do, you’re delusional #SorryNotSorry).
Manifesting–especially your BIG goals–requires you to take skin-in-the-game actions.
Here’s an example: let’s say you want to manifest quitting your job by the end of the month, so you can take your business full-time. How do you act as if to make this happen?
Most people would do the bare minimum. They’d set a date, put it in their calendar. They would probably spend time visualizing for a few minutes every day. They may even start telling people that they’re quitting their job by the end of the month.
But none of those actions at all imply that you have skin in the game.
Those actions are really the equivalent to sitting on the couch, hoping the Universe will bring you what you’re asking for. And that’s no way to manifest what you want.
It’s been suggested that the Law of Attraction is really the Law of Action, and I couldn’t agree more. While yes, it is true that you can make things happen simply by deciding they will and visualizing it as done, you still have to take action. You still have to act as if.
The actions are how the Universe can reach you with its magic. And the more skin-in-the-game actions you take, the more the Universe knows that you believe its a done deal, and the more the Universe works to send you the people, opportunities, ideas and resources to make it happen.
Now let’s say you decided you’re quitting your job by the end of the month, and you took all of the actions I mentioned above, and then you went a step further and put actual skin in the game by also: clearing everything personal out of your desk, writing up your “two weeks notice” email, and sending it off to your boss.
Before you’re certain. Before you know for sure that it’s all gonna work out. Before you have physical evidence that what you want is yours.
Then what?
Then you’ve put skin in the game. Then you’ve taken powerful actions that demonstrate your faith and belief that you get to have what you want and that the Universe supports you in having it.
Which actions do you think will actually lead to you quitting your job by the end of the month? (Hint: it’s the second set of actions.)
‘Cause here’s the thing… if you know what you want (to quit your job by the end of the month), and if you truly believed that you could have it, and if you trusted yourself and if you trusted the Universe, you wouldn’t have any problems with the skin-in-the-game actions. Sure, they might freak you out a bit and you may worry for a few seconds about what would happen if it doesn’t work out, but then you’d let all that go by reassuring yourself that you know what you’re doing, you trust yourself, and you’re willing to take the risk. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll figure out where to go from there.
But when taking these massive skin-in-the-game actions, you don’t have to worry about things not working out. They will work out and you will have what you want. You just need to have faith.
When I quit my day job 6 years ago this month to turn my side-gig writing business (that was only making about $8k a year at the time) into a full-time thing, I was terrified. I had no savings account, no backup plan, and no idea where my money would be coming from.
But you know what scared me even more?
Staying in that work environment for even another day. Allowing my soul to die a little more every time I went to work for someone else, which goes against everything I believe in and value. Not fully achieving the dream life and business I wanted for myself and knew was absolutely possible.
Even if I didn’t know how in that moment.
So I jumped. I made the leap. I trusted the nudge I felt inside that it was now time for me to take the path less traveled.
It was scary, clearing out my desk of all personal items so all that remained was the stuff my company gave me when I went to work for them. It was nerve-racking to write up my “two weeks notice” email, and then I nearly threw up when I actually hit “send.” I was freaking out a bit inside when I looked at the coming weeks and months, feeling totally uncertain and worried that I might be making a huge mistake.
But I pushed on anyhow. Because I knew what I wanted, and I knew what I deserved and was worthy of, and I knew that it was time for a change.
I also knew that the Universe supports the brave. The Universe sends resources and help and guidance to the seekers who are willing to take risks and put real skin in the game.
When I quit my job, it could’ve all blown up in my face. I could’ve left my job, had no new working coming in, been totally broke, and had to go get another job. That was always a possibility that existed, since in the absence of certainty, all possibilities exist.
But that meant the opposite was also true. It meant that I could also quit my job and be running a thriving business soon after, one that had tons of clients and that kept me busy and making money. That was also a possibility.
Plus, there were millions of other possibilities in between, on all parts of the spectrum.
So it came down to trusting myself and trusting the unfailing laws of our magical Universe. And I made the decision that I was going to act as if I actually was quitting my job and taking my business full-time.
My skin-in-the-game actions sent a powerful message to the Universe that said, I mean business; I’m serious about this; and I’ve decided that it’s this or something better.
What happened? A few days after I turned in my two weeks notice I received a statement from my 401(k) company. I swear I’d never received a statement from them before, but I probably had, I just wasn’t in the receptive mode to see what it actually meant.
But when I put skin in the game, I was finally in the receptive mode. I was finally open to solutions that would bring my manifestation to me.
What manifested was a 401(k) statement which told me in clear black-and-white that I had $12,000 saved up from my 7 years of working corporate jobs and contributing money to it.
Now to get this money I had to take another huge risk… I had to be willing to have no more 401(k), and I had to be willing to take a 20% tax penalty for clearing the account out before I was old enough to retire.
That would be really scary for most people. Most people are terrified of reaching retirement age and not having money saved up.
I, on the other hand, never plan on retiring (’cause what exactly would I retire from? Being me?) so I saw that 401(k) money as a lifeline; as a clear message from the Universe that not only did I make the right decision to quit my job, but that I was being fully supported in it.
And six years later, here I stand.
I now run a full-time business doing work I love, love, LOVE (and when I’m not doing something I love, I stop doing it!). I made more than $80k last year and it grows every year. I get to be in full control of my time, my location and what I do all day long. I get to take time off whenever I feel like it and don’t have to ask or answer to anyone.
The freedom life that I dreamed of for so long, while my soul sat dying in a gray-walled cubicle, doing work for 8 hours a day, working for companies that I gave a fuck less about.
Can you be, do and have ANYTHING you dream of? Fuck yes you can.
But you have to be willing to put some skin in the game.
Dream Life or Bust
jen
