When it comes to manifesting goals, we tend to have a mental picture of what we’ll accomplish by a certain age or self-imposed deadline.  This is especially true with goals that are tied to starting a family, career benchmarks, or financial plans.

It’s all too easy to feel like we’re falling short when we have a looming manifestation deadline and our progress isn’t in line with our expectations or when we compare ourselves to people on social media who seem to be “on track.” Whatever the goal is, anxiety starts to peak as we approach the deadline.

The key to making progress toward our goals is managing the anxiety as it comes up.

When we manage emotions well, we stay open and flexible and solutions tend to follow.

Whether we consider it neurobiology (we can’t think well when we’re hijacked by our emotions) or we see it from an intuitive perspective (we can’t hear our intuition when we’re emotionally hijacked), we’re right.  Recognizing creative solutions and acting on them requires the ability to manage our emotions well.  After all, manifestation deadlines are only useful if they motivate us.

How to Manage the Anxiety of a Manifestation Deadline

1. Reframe Deadlines

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of self-imposed manifestation deadlines because the pressure of a date can snuff out our enthusiasm and creativity.  What I suggest instead is considering your self-imposed deadline a “preferred date of delivery.”  Maybe the outcome you hope for will come by that date, and maybe it will come a few months later.  Use the date to assess where you are in relation to your goal and if you need to be more patient, take more action, or change your strategy.

2. Focus on Micro-Goals

Rather than focusing on your big goal, take it one micro-goal at a time.  You’ll give yourself a chance to feel successful and you’ll inch your way to progress over time.  For example, if your goal is to reach a healthy weight, focus on the much smaller goal of making a salad for lunch today.

3. Give Yourself Some Credit

Give yourself a huge pat on the back for all of the progress you have made in the direction of your dreams.  Not only will this be a mood boost, it’s also the truth.  We have a negativity bias that makes us notice the bad and overlook the good in order to survive.  This can result in a faulty thinking pattern called discounting the positive.  One practical step you can take to noticing the good is to get into the habit of naming 3 things that went well today every night before bed.

4. Act “As If”

Act as if the outcome you “prefer” is on its way to you in the next few months.  You can do this by visualizing your desired outcome and pretending that it is inevitable.  How do you feel after visualizing it or pretending that it’s on its way to you?  Can you use that feeling to guide your next action?

5. Focus on the Things That Are Within Your Control

Rather than focusing on uncertainty, focus on the things that are within your control.  For example, you can’t control whether you’ll be hired for a job, but you can do your best to prepare and to make sure that you are applying to enough positions so that you don’t fall in love with an option prematurely and feel overcome by scarcity fears.  See my post on attachment to outcomes to learn more about dealing with scarcity fears.

If you’d like more help with managing emotions, check out my post on creating a kit for anxiety and my post on managing anxiety.  If you decide that you need to take a break from manifesting because it has taken a toll on your emotional health, you can read more about it here.

I’d love to hear from you.  Do you think that manifestation deadlines are stressful, helpful, or both?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.