Walking along Oxford Street recently, close to evening rush hour, I overheard a young couple having a loud conversation.
Man to woman: “I’m going to get a sports car, trainers, watches, everything.”
Woman to man: “Yes babe, you deserve it.”
Man to woman: “I do, I do. I’m manifesting it every day.”
Woman to man: “What the hell?”
OK, I don’t know that she actually said that last bit because I’d already scuttled down into the Tube. But that’s what I would have replied. Because what in Mystic Meg’s name is going on when it comes to everyone imagining they can get what they want in life just through dreaming it? Or attributing every good thing that happens to the power of the universe?
I’m talking about manifestation – the specific type that tells you that you deserve a better life or more stuff and encourages the idea that you can get there by simply willing it into existence.
There’s another word for it: entitlement. To me, the mindset it encourages was summed up by that couple: a belief that the world owes you something, rather than any comprehension of personal responsibility or effort.
When did manifesting become this monster? According to an extremely scientific analysis of my WhatsApp messages, it shifted from meaning the evidence of something (message from my friend Sal in May 2015: “I think my obsessive gymming is a manifestation of my lack of sex”), to its current form (jokey message from my friend Alexa in January 2025: “Another year begins, so I’ve been awake since 5am manifesting and affirming”), sometime in the past decade.
Barely a celebrity interview goes by, these days, without someone claiming that they manifested their success. Did Dua Lipa really “manifest” – as everyone on social media seems to think – her relationship with new husband Callum Turner by writing “Training Season” (about how tired she was of training her boyfriends) and singing it the day before they met? Or did she actually just have a proper think about what she wanted in a partner and refuse to settle for anything less? Either way, I’m pretty certain that being Dua Lipa helps.
Except this stuff is trickling down to us mere mortals. Hashtag manifestation has more than 15 million posts on Instagram and “Manifestation TikTok” is full of methods to help you attract what you deserve, such as the 3-6-9 (where you write down your desires at those times of day), or the “lucky girl” where you repeat “I’m so lucky” to yourself, over and over.
The problem is that we’ve got the meaning all wrong. We think manifestation is some sort of magic trick. A way to get what we want without having to put in any real world effort. Placing an order at the universe’s drive-thru and waiting for it to be delivered, because it’s what you’re owed.
