Can you #manifest the success of your business?

The #Protest hashtag has over 18 billion views on TikTok with new undertones – like the “whisper method” – popping up daily. But is there meat to this new age trend? Or is it just like dance craziness and lip-synching…a viral fascination that has more entertainment than purpose?

Until last year, I had never even heard the word “protest”. Now I can’t go a day in the office without someone on my team SEEN connects, the innovative influencer marketing agency of which I am CEO, bringing it into a conversation. After about 15 years of hard work helping me build a brand with a turnover of £20 million, with offices in New York and London, excuse me if that sounds a lot like trust in self reconditioned for Gen-Z.

When I was much younger (and more athletic), I had a trainer who preached, “visualize yourself taking gold.” He not only taught me how to be competitive, but also how to visualize what you want to accomplish. Whether it’s hiring, introducing a new client, or facing an investor meeting, I find myself channeling this mantra. At its heart is manifestation.

Manifestation demands a specific result from the universe. It’s positive thinking mixed with prayer, but without any religious baggage. Where it would be rude to go to Gd for a Gucci dress or a raise, the protest has no qualms.

There are many methods for this practice, it can oscillate between a full-fledged woo-woo and a more general positive attitude. One of them is the “ask, believe and receive” exercise, which involves visualizing a specific desire and bringing it into existence. On TikTok the ‘3-6-9’ method has 87M views on its hashtag, it advises to note the desired result several times a day. Or there’s the positive affirmations route, where daily compliments create the positive attitude that delivers the good life (and Gucci dresses).

“Manifestation is a catch-all phrase for spellwork, for setting intentions, for creating a more honest experience for yourself for what you seek in this lifetime,” the astrologer and author of “This Is Your Destiny: Using Astrology to Manifest Your Best”. Life,” said Aliza Kelly Nylon magazine.

Although it may have gained traction with the next generation on social media, the practice actually dates back to the New Thought movement of the 19e Century, who believed in the “law of attraction”. A little more recently it has enjoyed a resurgence thanks to this Noughties self-help book “The Secret”, which, to give credit where credit is due, has sold 30 million copies, cashed in on a Netflix deal and counts Oprah as a fan. We can say that the demonstration worked for the author Rhonda Byrne.

It was during those dark days of lockdown that the latest resurgence of this school of thought gained momentum. With nothing to do, even less control over the outside world and TikTok inflates new users, he found a new audience. Google searches reportedly jumped 600%, and #protest received 7.5 million Instagram posts. It seems that while some of us were baking banana bread, others were creating vision boards.

I hesitate to say that my success has manifested itself. It undoes every late-night office session, every ounce of my team’s hard work, and the constant plotting and grinding that has brought SEEN Connects to where it is. It removes personal guilt and places the blame for failure, as well as the rewards of success, on the universe.

As an employer who has complex conversations about compensation and promotions, I know it’s the person, not their daily log, that manifests their next career step. A positive attitude inherently breeds a team that will support and help you, but I’m sorry to say that’s not enough. Diligence with creative and strategic thinking is also required.

That said, I have rituals like everyone else and rely on them to get my head in the right space for different areas of professional life. While for some, saying the idea out loud makes it feel and sound real, I have to focus on it internally to feel soothed by it. For example, before each throw, I usually walk around the bridge before falling asleep. Does this improve the deck? No. Does it prepare me better for the field? Shit yeah.

Forget TikTok, much of the success I’ve been lucky enough to bank has been driven by a different social channel… LinkedIn. At first, it was awkward and uncomfortable to express my thoughts and feelings to the world to wish for the future of my career. But self-confidence (and self-promotion, if we’re being honest) has brought customers like Nike and eBay to SEEN Connects. Is it a demonstration or a network? Who can say?

The machinations of the business side of #Manifestation are hard to quantify, but it’s a growing area of ​​the wellbeing industry, one that’s well worth the effort. $1.5 billion. You can now buy manifestation jewels, journals and of course crystals.

What interests me is not the trend itself, nor the resulting business opportunities, but the power of social media to propel an idea from dormancy into popularity. Apps have the muscle to push trends and their influencers into the feeds of millions of people around the world. TikTok has successfully created interest-based communities of subcultures that seem left behind, but are actually consumed by large swaths of the world’s population. All I will say is underestimate the supremacy of social over trends at your peril!

Written by Sedge Beswick.
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