Can Manifesting Backfire? (Yes! Here’s How to Avoid It)

Last updated on October 26th, 2023 at 11:14 pm

If you’ve been wondering can manifesting backfire, you are in the right place! Manifesting in itself can be a pretty straightforward process.

Take that burning desire that you have, figure out a plan, execute that plan as best as you can, and allow God to do the rest.

While manifesting itself is pretty simple, it’s each step you have to take that can be a bit tricky. And I’m sure everyone who has manifested, including myself, has wondered can manifestation backfire?

Well, my friend, it actually can, and I’m going to tell you not only how manifesting can backfire but also how to avoid it. So, let’s cut the small talk and get straight into it.

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5 Reasons Why Manifestation Can Backfire

There are plenty of reasons why manifestation can backfire, but luckily for you, I’ve compiled the most important reasons into a list just for you! So, let’s get into it.

1. You’re Not Clear About What You Want

If you are not clear about what you want, then you may bring just anything into your life. Let’s use money as an example because who doesn’t want more money in their life right?

Let’s say you want to manifest more money into your life. Okay, great! Your wish is granted (this is not how manifestation works, this is solely for explaining purposes). You come across a crisp $5 bill in a parking lot.

There you go, there’s your buttloads of money that you asked for.

You asked for more money in your life, right? I mean, that’s what you said. But that’s not what you really meant huh?

The same way that you have to say what you mean in a conversation is the same way you have to say what you mean in manifestation. Be specific.

How much money?
Why do you want all this money?
What are you planning to do with the money (at least one thing)?
How do you plan on obtaining this money?
Who do you want to spend this money on?

Of course, things sometimes don’t go to plan and that’s okay. This isn’t about whether your manifestation is going to specifically work out the way you planned it to because to be quite honest with you, everything is in God’s hands so we have no control over the outcome.

HOWEVER, what we do have control over is our actions and attitude. And if you have an attitude of whatever then you’re going to get whatever.

2. You’re Not Taking Any Action (this is a big one)

Action is essential. The most surefire way to cause your manifestation to backfire is by not taking action.

You can sit around wishing and wanting all day long, but if you don’t get up and do something about it then you’ll just be one wishing mfer like the rest of them.

You will never enjoy the desires you have if you don’t do something about it.

It doesn’t get more simple than that folks. So, if your day looks something like this:

Wake up
Complain
Clock into work
Complain
Work 8 hours a day
Go home
Play video games
Scroll on Instagram
Complain
Go to bed
Rinse repeat

Do you think that is going to get you to 1 million dollars? Even if you say to yourself every day, “I’m going to be a millionaire”?

No.

Your actions need to be aligned with what you want. So, what does that look like in this scenario? Something like this instead:

Wake up
Journal
Get some sun for 15 minutes (There are 1,440 minutes in a day; there is no excuse why you’re not going outside for at least 15 minutes a day.)
Work your regular 9-5
Contribute to your dream on your breaks
Get home
Take action with that dream that will make you more money than your 9-5 ever would
Give your brain 10 minutes to just rest before bed
Go to bed
Rinse repeat

While this may not look too fun for some of you in the beginning, guess what? It will be a whole lot more fun than being stuck at a job when you actually want to be a millionaire, just saying.

And I also just want to say that it is okay to take breaks when necessary. Don’t work yourself into an early grave because that defeats the whole purpose of living out your wildest dreams.

If you’ve gotten to the point where you physically and mentally just cannot take action then take a break. Just don’t quit, whatever you do.

3. Your Intentions Aren’t Aligned

A lot of people say, “Your intentions need to be aligned” but what does that really mean? Well, I will tell you.

When someone says your intentions need to be aligned, what that means is your purpose, objective, or desire needs to be aligned with what you’re asking for. So, let’s use manifesting a new job as an example.

You want to manifest a new job but your actual objective is to not have to deal with an overbearing boss. So you do all the “right things”.

You say the affirmations, you believe you will get the new job, and release the outcome to the Universe, and then BAM you get the new job you were asking for.

Only this time, you ended up with the same type of overbearing boss that you were trying to get away from. Why did this happen?

Because you weren’t being specific and your intentions didn’t align with what you were asking for.

You were manifesting a new job, not a new job where the work environment is not toxic and suffocating. Those are two different things. You must be specific and ensure that your goal matches up with what you’re manifesting because I promise you, you will get what you asked for in due time.

Being specific and your intentions aligning go hand in hand.

Another way your intentions may not be aligned is if you have bad intentions, as in you want to harm someone else.

If you are the type of person to wish bad things on others, this is your queue to exit to the left. Thank you 🙂

If you are trying to manifest something bad on someone else, it will work, but only on you instead of the person you intended it to go to. This is the funniest way (in my opinion) that manifestation can backfire.

The trap you set for someone else is the trap you set for yourself. Be careful what you put out into the world because it will come right back to you.

4. You Haven’t Gotten Rid Of Any Limiting Beliefs

Limiting beliefs can make or break your dreams. What are limiting beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are any thoughts or feelings that are holding you back from your full potential. These thoughts may look like, but are not excluded to:

I can’t do this
I’m a failure
I don’t think I’m going to be able to pull this off
Other people failed at this so I know I will too
A negative nelly said I was *insert negative nelly’s opinion*

Limiting beliefs are your enemy. Every time you have a limiting belief I need you to do yourself a favor and say STOP in your head and then replace it with a positive thought.

I can’t do this. STOP! I can do anything I put my mind to.
I’m a failure. STOP! Just because I made a mistake once doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to go back and try again, only this time I will have the knowledge that I didn’t have before.
I don’t think I’m going to be able to pull this off. STOP! There’s nothing in this world that I can’t do. If someone can go from living in their car to being a billionaire (shout out to Tyler Perry) then I know I can accomplish my dreams.
Other people failed at this so I know I will too. STOP! God has put me down here with everything I need to succeed, and the only thing that can get in my way is me.
A negative nelly said I was *insert negative nelly’s opinion* STOP! Someone’s opinion of me is not always going to be an accurate read of me. I can’t control what people say about me but I can control how I react to it.

Limiting beliefs, my friend, can and will bring you down. We can’t control our thoughts sometimes, but we can control what we do with them.

5. You’re Not Focused

If I told you I was trying to run a hair salon, a nail salon, a bookstore, a Walmart, and become a doctor all at the same time, what would you tell me?

Alright then, so what do you think is going to happen if you’re trying to manifest 10 different things all at once?

Probably nothing.

You’re more than likely going to be in the same place you are today, only this time you’ll be more burnt out and disappointed. I don’t want this for you.

I want you to have everything you truly desire in life, but the only way for you to get there is by focusing on one task at a time.

I’m not saying shrink your goals down to only one thing, but what I am saying is that you have to think about your time, focus, and energy as a pie chart.

You can either give 5 desires 20% of your time, energy, and focus or you can give 1 desire 100% of your time, energy, and focus.

You have to be the one to decide which is right for you. But, let me tell you, the second option is going to get you there faster, with more skills, and a much better outcome.

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1. Doing Nothing At All

The most surefire way to cause your manifestation to backfire is by not taking action. You can sit around wishing and wanting or you can get up and do something about it. But you can’t do both.

2. Negative Intentions

Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT go into something with bad intentions. That may mean:

Wanting to get revenge
Wanting to make someone feel bad
Causing harm to others
Causing someone to lose something or someone important to them
Being spiteful

The trap you set for someone else is the trap you set for yourself. What goes around comes around.

3. Negative People Around You

Many people don’t touch on this enough but when you are striving for better, it is so important that you remove negative people from your life.

You may be thinking, “But they need my help” or “They’re not that bad”. They are. And they don’t need your help; they need to get it together.

If you have to question if they’re a good fit in your life, then maybe they have served their purpose in your life, and at this point, you are watering a dead plant.

If you really can’t tell whether you should hold onto the relationship or not, take 10 minutes and make a T-chart. Title one side good and one side bad.

List all of the good that this person brings into your life and the bad on the other, you can also include good and bad traits about this person. If that bad outweighs the good, to the trash they go.

It may hurt in the beginning, but you will get over it. I promise.

Some of you may be thinking, “It isn’t that simple”, but it really is. Just stop talking to them. They will eventually go away and find someone else to leech off of.

Negative people, similar to negative beliefs, can make or break your dreams. Don’t waste your time focusing on the potential of others when you need to be focusing on the potential of yourself.

If they’re not helping you elevate like you’re helping them elevate, let. them. go.

4. Limiting Beliefs

Limiting beliefs are not your friend. All they are going to do is drag you down. Cut your loose ties and replace them with habits that will get you closer to your dream. Thinking negatively about yourself and others just simply isn’t going to cut it.

5. Stressing Out About Your Manifestation

When you’re manifesting something, you have to let go of the outcome. This is key because ultimately, we don’t have any control over some things.

Stuff happens in life, and we have to be willing to roll with the waves otherwise we will drown.

When you stress out about your manifestation you are signaling to the Universe that you don’t actually believe it will happen. Rest in the fact that you KNOW it will happen when it’s supposed to happen.

Of course, you’re going to have times where you question and even worry, but that’s when you will tell yourself, STOP! Everything always works out in my favor. It always has and it always will. God gives me exactly what I need when I need it, so I’m letting the rest go.

Can Manifestation Backfire? Here’s 4 Ways How

1. You Manifest Something That You Didn’t Realize You Were Manifesting

One of the biggest ways manifesting can backfire is by manifesting something you don’t even realize you’re manifesting.

For example, let’s say you’ve been seeing a cute couple on Instagram, and you say to yourself “Their relationship is goals. I want a relationship like that”.

Each day you think about how much you want to be in that relationship. But, the entire time, the people in that relationship are unhappy, argue every day, and someone is getting cheated on.

Now, you didn’t know that about their relationship, but you were steadily asking for it. And when it comes to manifesting, you’re gonna get what you ask for in due time.

That’s why you have to be careful about what you’re manifesting. You can’t just jump on the next best thing, or at least what looks like the next best thing, because you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. Which leads me to my next point.

2. You Manifest Something You Weren’t Ready For

You need to be specific, and you need to make sure you’re in the appropriate headspace for what you’re asking for.

Let’s go back to the relationship example. You see that cute couple on Instagram again and you think to yourself, “I can’t wait to be in a relationship like that” right?

But while you’re manifesting that relationship you want, have you stopped to ask yourself, “Am I ready for this?” Of course, your immediate reaction is, more than likely, going to be yes. But are you really ready for it?

Have you thought about some of the ways you went wrong in the past?
Have you reflected on those bad habits?
What are some ways you’ve put in effort to replace those negative habits with positive ones?
Are you still holding onto past trauma/experiences?
Are you misdirecting your negative emotions onto other people?

You need to ask yourself are you genuinely ready for what you’re manifesting because if you’re not, you’re going to end up right back where you started.

Make sure you’re doing the work today for what you want in the future. And doing the work today doesn’t necessarily mean changing every single thing about you in one day or even one month.

It means you need to be taking action every day to strive for the change you desire, even if it’s small actions.

The small actions count more than you think. Replacing your negative habits with positive ones will add up, and that is truly the only way to achieve the new results/lifestyle you desire.

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3. You Manifest The Same Situation You’re Avoiding

When you ask yourself can manifesting backfire, this may not be something that comes to mind. But I promise you, my friend, this is a very common way manifesting can backfire.

How might this happen?

By focusing too much on what you don’t want/don’t like rather than what you do want.

See, this is where the law of attraction comes into play. While many have interpreted the law of attraction as like attract like (this interpretation is true, don’t get me wrong, but I want you to have the full picture).

The law of attraction isn’t just as simple as you think positive thoughts positive things will come to you and if you think negative thoughts negative things will come to you. No, no, no, no, no.

The law of attraction is based on more than just your thoughts. It’s a whole collection of your every day (small) actions, INCLUDING your thoughts.

So, if you’re the type of person who constantly sees the negative in you and others, always spewing hateful things out, always saying negative things, and sees the world in a pessimistic way then what are you going to attract?

BINGO!

You’re going to attract negative things into your life. Not just because you think negatively, but because your entire frequency is low energy.

Now, that’s not to say that if your frequency is low, you’re never going to attract anything positive, because that’s actually not true.

What it means is, that if you’re constantly operating on a lower frequency, then if/when you do run into something positive, you’re more than likely going to run it out of your life or turn it sour.

Which will make it seem like you’re only attracting negativity, but you’re actually not. You’re just operating on a lower frequency, so for the time being, that’s all you can see.

Think about when sadness from Inside Out kept touching stuff and it would turn blue. To sadness, it seemed like everything was blue, but in reality, it’s her turning things blue.

To a negative nelly, it may seem like everything is negative, but in reality, it’s negative nelly turning everything negative.

So, I said all of that (if you’re still with me I appreciate you) to say this, manifestation can backfire when you’re coming from the wrong place.

Because when you’re coming from the wrong place, all you can see is how things will go wrong, and eventually they will go wrong for you. UNTIL, you decide to make that change for yourself, which (spoiler alert) you can change!

4. Nothing Happens At All

Remember the most surefire way to cause your manifestation to backfire is by not taking action.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people talk about manifestation and not once bring up action. ACTION IS ESSENTIAL.

Without action, you will get nowhere. Even if it may seem like you received what you’ve been asking for, you have actually gone nowhere. And you know why?

Because you took the easy way out. Taking the easy way out gets you to easy, unfulfilling, and unsatisfying results.

What is the point of manifesting a desire if you won’t be able to enjoy it?
What is the point in manifesting a desire if you’re going to be the same person you were on day 1?

Manifestation is not this woo-woo thing that some people may make it out to be. It’s simple. Taking a thought/desire and bringing it into reality, and the ONLY way for you to do that is by taking action. If you don’t take action, nothing will come of it.

Some people may sell you the lie that they got where they are by luck or chance, but I promise you, it will never be as rewarding or enjoyable as it would’ve been had you taken action.

So, can manifesting backfire? Yes, and it’s guaranteed to happen if you don’t take any action, no doubt about it.

Reminder About Believing In Yourself

Believing that your dream is attainable, believing that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to, believing that you can manifest your wildest dreams is very very important.

Because, if you don’t believe in it, then who will?

You have to think, you are literally taking something that is not physical or touchable and bringing it into the physical world. That is going to take some sort of power, and if you don’t think you even have the power to do so, then it just isn’t going to happen.

No one else can believe it for you, it has to be you. You HAVE to believe in both yourself and your dream. Otherwise, it will remain just that, a dream, neurons firing between your two ears.

If you want to take those neurons and turn them into something real, something you can be proud of, something that you can even show off (don’t overdo the showing off please), then you have to believe you can.

When you’re feeling doubtful, because we all feel this way eventually don’t let anyone else make you think otherwise. I want you to repeat a line that speaks to you and genuinely believe it. Use all the energy you have to truly believe this will happen for you.

Affirmations To Let Go Of Limiting Beliefs:

I can do anything I put my mind to.
There’s nothing in this world I can’t do.
The only thing that is stopping me from success is me.
I deserve to be in spaces that I’ve dreamed of.
I am capable of making my wildest dreams come true.
Even when no one else believes in me, I believe in myself and that is good enough in itself.
I can and will make this happen.
I won’t let anything get in the way of me and my dreams, including myself.
I deserve to live a life of love, excitement, and joy.
I know I can accomplish all of my goals.

If no one has told you this today, I know you can accomplish every single one of your goals. I know that God has put you down here with everything you need to succeed and I know you can and will. I believe in you. It’s just a matter of time. Keep going.

FAQ On Can Manifesting Backfire

Why does manifestation backfire?

If you’re curious to know why does manifestation backfire the reason why is because your intentions aren’t aligned with your desires. There are several reasons why manifestation backfires, but this is the most common.

When you’re manifesting from a negative mindset that can attract negative results, which can ultimately cause your manifestation to blow up in your face.

Does law of attraction backfire?

If you’re wondering can law of attraction backfire? The answer is yes, the law of attraction can backfire.

The law of attraction is based on like attracting like. So, when you’re someone who complains a lot and always sees the negative in things, and you’re trying to manifest positive things, then I guarantee you it will backfire.

Can manifesting go wrong?

Many wonder can manifesting go wrong and the answer is yes! There are many ways that manifesting can go wrong, but one of the most common ways that manifesting goes wrong is when you receive something that you didn’t ask for (or so you thought).

When your intentions aren’t aligned or you’re not specific that can cause your manifestation to go wrong.

What are the negative effects of manifesting?

The negative effects of manifesting only happen when you come from the wrong place or go about it the wrong way. Some of these negative effects include hopelessness, disappointment, self-blame, exhaustion, and even guilt or shame.

These negative effects can be avoided, however, by making sure you’re manifesting the right way.

What happens when you let go of your manifestation?

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you let go of your manifestation, the answer is miracles! You must let go of your manifestation because when you try to control every aspect of your desire you wind up becoming resistant to it.

Yes, you should take action, but also accept what is not in your control.

What stops your manifestation?

If you’re curious to know what stops your manifestation the answer is not believing it is possible! Believing in both yourself and your capabilities is crucial to manifesting.

When you focus on what you can’t do, you’re taking away from what you can do. And one thing I know you can do is bring your dreams into your reality.

Conclusion on Can Manifesting Backfire

Can manifestation backfire? Absolutely, but it’s completely avoidable. There are many ways that manifestation can backfire. You could wind up manifesting something you never even asked for or you could manifest something you thought you were ready for but weren’t.

However, we now know that it’s not going to backfire for no reason. As long as you’re taking the right approach, which is 1. taking small daily actions 2. believing in yourself and 3. letting go of both limiting beliefs and the overall outcome, you will be successful.

There is no doubt in my mind that you can achieve your dreams. Never stop reaching for the stars and always know you everything will work out in your favor.

Until next time, my friend!

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