3 Steps You Must Take To Manifest Your Ideal Future & Leave The Past Year Behind

New Year’s came and went, and life feels pretty much the same. To your dismay, you didn’t wake up on January 1st as the fully actualized, ideal version of yourself. Maybe you’ve already broken a resolution or two.

The thought of this year being a continuation of the past might be sending you into panic mode. You’re looking to begin a fresh, new relationship with your life, but have you really broken up with 2021?

The fact is, we don’t need a new year to create a whole new narrative for ourselves or a new trajectory for our lives. Every moment gifts us with a blank slate; a fresh opportunity to step into our power, tap into our latent potential, and create a future that inspires us.

Here is a 3-step plan for releasing the past and opening up the space to manifest your ideal future.

Step 1: Turn the contrast of what you don’t want more of, into clarity about what you now wish to create.

Awareness is the first step to creating any type of meaningful change in your life. And becoming aware of what you don’t want is essential to knowing what you’d desire instead.

As you reflect on the year you just left behind, bring to mind some specific aspect of your life that you’d like to be different, or that you have actively been working to change. What people, circumstances or dynamics do you see as the primary obstacle to you having this aspect of your life look and feel the way you would like it to be?

This exercise highlights the gap between where you’ve been and where you’d ideally like to be. As you feel the point of tension created by this contrast, allow yourself to acknowledge the clarity that is born from it.

What is it that you do want to experience in this area of your life? Identify both the material changes you desire to make (“I want a bigger house”) as well as the immaterial (“I want to feel free”).

Now take this a level deeper by asking yourself, “Who do I want to be in this part of my life?” Your answer to this question will vary at different times and in different aspects of your life, but it will usually be along the lines of, “I want to be powerful. I want to live in gratitude. I want to be a person who finds solutions that are in the highest interest for me and everyone concerned.”

This single question cuts through contrasting experiences of what we don’t want and allows us to see with laser precision what we do want instead.

Times of transition and challenge demand us to expand beyond the self we have known and to redefine, yet again, the future self we desire to move toward.

Step 2: Allow the clarity about what you want to conjure an image of your ‘future self.’

Your future self is simply the version of you that embodies the qualities you most desire to manifest at this time in your life.

To get a sense of it, think back to a much earlier time in your life when you were in the midst of some kind of challenge. Maybe it was a problem you were having with a boss or a breakdown in a relationship with a family member or a friend.

And now, imagine if you could go back in time and talk to that younger version of you, what advice would you give to yourself? What wisdom, perspective, and strength do you possess today that you simply didn’t have access to back then?

Chances are, the older, wiser person you are today would have a lot to offer that younger version of you, right? Well, this same phenomenon works in both directions in time.

Just as you can bring the awareness you have today into the past, you can bring the expanded level of awareness of your future self into your present — and when you do, you will radically increase the rate at which your goals and desires manifest.

No matter what we want to create in the physical world, we always want it for one reason and one reason only: Because we think that having it will cause us to feel a certain way.

By identifying this feeling and then learning how to connect with the essence of it — by learning how to wear your future self in your energy body like you would wear a jacket — you literally draw this new and improved reality into your life. Every manifestation you wish to create in your life is magnetized by this energy.

Step 3: Allow the energetic frequency of your future self to inspire and guide your actions.

Of course, there are some things we can accomplish by applying physical force and mental effort alone. After all, we’re all capable of devising a plan and executing it, in the same way, we can move a pile of rocks from one place to another.

But when you take the time to align yourself energetically with the frequency of your future self, your actions are hundreds of times more powerful. It’s like the difference between using an electronic device that is running on battery power versus one that is plugged in and being fully charged by a live electrical current.

Action that is infused with energy and intention produces results that are astonishing compared to what can be accomplished with action alone.

Actions that are fueled by inspiration produce results that some label as miraculous: It’s the sudden flash of insight that evolves into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. It’s what leads the artist to write a song in 15 minutes that wins her a Grammy. It’s the impulse that delivers you face-to-face with your soulmate, or the single piece of information that drops into your lap and ushers in a whole new way of life.

When we’re connected with the vibration of the future self we desire to bring into manifestation, there is truly no limit to what we can accomplish. We’re in the zone and firing on all cylinders, and therefore receptive to the clues the universe is always sending our way.

To tap into the energy of your future self, make it a priority to first bring your internal energy into alignment with the essence of your desire before you take any external action.

If you’re spending time with your kids, for example, align your vibration with the intention that your relationship with them is harmonious, evolving, and fun.

If you’re doing something that nurtures your body, begin with the intention to fill yourself with whatever vibration will best serve you at that moment — vitality, stamina, sexuality, relaxation, increased immunity, or whatever other feelings you desire to experience.

Even if you devote just one minute out of each hour to making sure your actions are aligned with your intent, the cumulative effect of this over time is staggering.

The vision of your future self is like a North Star that will guide you to the next logical steps to fulfilling each of your desires.

Your only task is to center yourself enough so you can receive these impulses, and be willing to follow them out.

As you start taking actions that are consistent with the future you want to live into, 2021 will be a distant vision in your rearview, and you will literally become lit up by the possibilities of your life.