I tried manifestation for a week in an attempt to ace my assignments

Yes, I’m that desperate for a first


With deadlines fast approaching, I think we can all agree that everyone’s feeling a bit stressed and despite frequent caffeine fuelled Robbo trips, I still wasn’t feeling great about my assignments. As a result, a spiral into a Tiktok rabbit hole led me to the idea of manifestation. Manifestation is based on the idea of Law of Attraction, first introduced in Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling self-help book “The Secret”, and works using the following principal: you will receive what you speak out into the universe. By this law, if you have positive thoughts, you will receive positive results. So, with desperate times calling for spiritual measures, I decided to give it a shot.

Now, I am actually a pretty big believer in the power of the Universe, I’m just very lazy with it. I have a few crystals dotted around my bedroom that I don’t fully know how to utilise, I’ll occasionally meditate if I’m feeling extra stressed and I’m way too reliant on astrology (I’m a Virgo, in case you were wondering). Embarrassingly, I have actually tried to manifest true love into my life once or twice but that one hasn’t worked just yet.

After a quick google, I decided to use the three six nine method, which involves writing down the affirmations you want to manifest three times in the morning, repeating them verbally six times in the afternoon and rewriting them nine times before bed. I used affirmations such as “I succeed in stressful situations”, “I always get the grades I aim for” and “achievement is natural for me” – it’s a key element of manifestation that you believe your affirmations are already happening, so should be in present rather than future tense. I also opted to pair this with the visualisation method, which involves visualising yourself achieving your affirmations to make them more likely to happen in real life. For good measure, I also involved crystals (amethyst, rose quartz and citrine), lit some energy cleansing incense and listened to a high vibrational Spotify playlist. Here’s what I found:

I felt more confident

Okay, so this could definitely be a placebo but after manifesting that I was going to do well, I felt more confident that I would. My thesis was coming together better than before and my essay was flowing as freely as Jesmond Dene waterfall. I wasn’t worried about handing in on time or doing the best that I could in each essay, I just sort of felt that I would, which makes a change from the usual pre-hand in panic that we can all relate to.

I was less stressed

Perhaps the most noticeable different was how much less stressed I felt throughout the day. I’m already a huge advocate for morning yoga, but pairing this with a meditative exercise like manifestation set me up even better for the day ahead. As an added bonus, I was sleeping well. This is unusual for me – I’m a very light sleeper and between the sounds of drunk students and the Neuron scooter lady telling people to “enjoy their ride”outside my window, it’s usually a bit of a task. I really felt that the affirmations were soothing my overthinky brain, helping me to actually do more work instead of just panicking about it.

I was more productive

I’m a notoriously bad procrastinator, but after starting my day with my affirmations and repeating them in the afternoon, I found that I actually wanted to do work. Instead of starting my day with endless social media scrolls, I was motivated to get into my work as soon as I could. This productivity didn’t stop at uni work either – from going on walks round Jes to cleaning the bathroom, arguably the worst task in a student house, I was doing tasks I usually put off because I genuinely wanted to. This led me to believe that perhaps, manifestation is more to do with changing your mindset and attracting your goals to you, rather than letting the universe do all the work.

Overall, I definitely see the benefits of continuing manifestation, it’s just a case of whether I can actually be bothered. As for whether it worked to get me a first, only time will tell…

Related stories recommended by this writer