20 Signs Your Manifestation Is Not Working (& What To Do About It)

When it comes to manifestation, sometimes it can feel like you aren’t really in control or like you’re just wishing and hoping that your manifestation is going to happen.

This is especially true when you first start manifesting on purpose, or when you are trying to manifest something you’ve never manifested before (and you’re not sure what you’re doing!)

Here are some signs your manifestation is not working – these are KEY to figuring out if you really are going to get what you want!

20 Signs Your Manifestation Is Not Working

You didn’t ask for it.

You can’t get something you don’t ask for!

If you haven’t asked the Universe to bring you what you want, or you haven’t set a deliberate intention to manifest something, how are you going to get it?

The first step of manifestation is to be really clear on what you want, and then ask for it!

You don’t feel excited about it.

If you don’t feel excited about what you are trying to manifest, chances are good your manifestation method isn’t going to work.

You don’t have to feel elated and overjoyed every time you work on manifesting, but if you are trying to manifest something and you aren’t excited about it – why are you bothering?

If you don’t feel happy about what you’re manifesting, work on manifesting something you ARE excited about.

It feels like it isn’t working.

Does it feel like your manifestation method is working?

Or do you feel like it isn’t working?

If you are working with energy, you can usually tell whether or not something is working for you.

It’s an inner knowing – you either know it or you don’t.

If you feel like it isn’t working for you, try a different manifestation method until you DO feel like it’s working.

You are receiving negative signs from the Universe.

If you ask the Universe for a sign that your manifestation is coming – did you receive it?

Or did you receive a negative sign, like something bad happening?

Sometimes negative manifestations can be a sign that the Universe is moving things around to give you what you want.

For example, if you are manifesting a new job, you might get fired from your current one.

If you’re asking for more money, you might manifest something breaking or a large unexpected bill.

Usually, that’s a sign that things ARE working.

But if you’re getting negative signs, like a bad gut feeling, an illness, or something keeps happening that stops you from making move towards what you want – that can be a sign your manifestation isn’t working.

You have a lot of doubts or don’t believe it will work.

If every time you try to manifest you have a lot of doubts and limiting beliefs pop up, it’s better to work through them instead of trying harder or affirming over them.

It’s kind of like trying to run a marathon with 10 lb ankle weights – you might get where you want to go but it’s not going to be easy or fun.

Working through your doubts and limiting beliefs will help you manifest more quickly and more easily!

You aren’t taking inspired action.

While it’s possible to manifest without taking any action at all, USUALLY you will be guided to take some sort of action.

It can be a small nudge that seems completely unrelated to your manifestation and make NO sense, but if you aren’t receiving these nudges at all, it can mean it’s not working.

illustration of girl meditating with flowers

You are questioning the Universe.

If you’re questioning whether the Universe is going to bring you what you want, it can get in the way.

You have to believe (even just a little!) that you can have what you want.

Questioning the Universe and the law of attraction can mean that you’re still in the asking phase and not in the receiving phase.

You don’t really want it or you want something else.

Do you really want what you say you want?

Or do you want something else?

If you don’t really want what you’re trying to manifest then it isn’t going to come.

The Universe will respond to what you actually WANT, but saying you want something else can get in the way.

If you are trying to manifest new clients in your online business but what you really want is a job in a different field, the Universe might bring you the clients but it’s not going to be a smooth and seamless manifestation.

It’s going to be hard because that’s not what you really want!

Go for what you really want instead!

You’re indecisive.

If you don’t KNOW what you want, this can also make your manifestation not work.

Sending a clear signal and making a decision will always make manifestation happen more quickly.

You’re pushing against reality.

Pushing against reality means that you are trying to manifest in order to get away from your current reality.

Abraham calls this “making peace with where you are.”

If the vibration of the problem is more dominant than the vibration of the solution, then the solution can’t come because you’re still manifesting the problem.

You feel like something has gone wrong.

This goes along with making peace with where you are.

If you feel like you’re a victim of your current circumstances, you are still manifesting being a victim.

Until you make peace with the fact that nothing has gone wrong, and you are where you are, you can’t put that vibration to rest and change it.

One way to tell you feel like something is gone wrong is if you are constantly saying to yourself “I shouldn’t have to do this” or “I shouldn’t be in this situation” or even “That shouldn’t have happened to me.”

Is it true that you shouldn’t have to deal with whatever it is you’re dealing with? Absolutely.

But you can’t change it if you don’t accept that you have the power to change it and manifest something different.

You want it because you can’t feel happy without it.

Another layer to making peace with where you are is that you have to be able to be happy even when your manifestation hasn’t come.

One way to think about this is: you have to be a vibrational match to what you want.

If what you want will make you happy, it follows that you aren’t going to receive it if you aren’t a match to being happy.

Obviously, that doesn’t mean you have to have a party to celebrate not having what you want.

It just means that you find happiness where you are, no matter what.

Otherwise, you’ll never be a vibrational match.

You can’t let go of your present reality or manifestations.

If you are holding on too tightly to your current reality, there isn’t room for the Universe to bring you anything new.

Sometimes you have to create space so the Universe knows you mean business.

For example, if you find yourself saying things like “I can’t handle this” or “I have too much going on” – that’s the vibration you are sending to the Universe.

How can the Universe bring you new things if you feel like you can’t handle anything else?

You haven’t received any signs your manifestation is close.

If you asked the Universe for a sign that your manifestation is coming – did you receive one?

If you asked for a sign and never received the sign, then you might not be in receiving mode.

Again, if you are in the vibration of the question, you’re not expecting the answer.

You have to ask and then expect to receive what you asked for – no matter how big or small.

It’s been a really long time.

If you have been working on your manifestation for a long time and it still hasn’t come, it’s definitely a sign that your manifestation isn’t working.

While some manifestations do take a while to come, it shouldn’t take years and years!

You feel defensive or frustrated when someone mentions it.

Feeling frustrated, defensive, or resentful when someone mentions what you want can mean you’re stuck vibrationally in the feeling of not having what you want.

If someone else receives what you want, try to see it as proof that you can have it too!

If you feel jealous, frustrated, or resentful of someone else receiving what you want (or asking you why you haven’t received it yet) those are definitely feelings that are blocking your manifestations.

Work through them!

You want it too much.

Holding onto your manifestation too tightly can make it take longer to manifest.

This is why most manifestation texts tell you that you need to let go of your manifestation.

Desiring something sooooo much that it hurts that you don’t have it yet is just another way of not making peace with where you are.

It means you can’t be happy without it.

It means all you’re seeing is the absence of what you want.

And that means all you will manifest is more absence.

Thinking about your manifestation makes you sad.

It’s okay if you feel sad sometimes but your dominant vibration when you think about what you want should be happiness and excitement.

If you feel sad every time you think about what you want, you’re picking up the opposite end of the stick.

Allow yourself to feel the sadness and move through it back to expectation and happiness.

You don’t expect it to happen.

If you don’t expect your manifestation to happen, it’s not going to happen!

When you move into expecting and KNOWING that you can have what you want, it will come really quickly.

You’re asking where it is or why it hasn’t come yet.

If you are constantly asking “where is it?” or “why isn’t it working?” you are beating the drum of not having what you want.

Constantly looking for what’s blocking you, why you don’t have what you want, or sitting around and waiting for it to happen are all vibrations concentrating on NOT having what you want.

The more you are focused on not having what you want, the more you will continue to not get what you want!

Abraham says in Ask and It Is Given:

“Unless you are in the receiving mode, your questions, even though they have been answered, will seem unanswered to you; your prayers will not seem to be answered, and your desires will not be fulfilled – not because your wishes have not been heard, but because your vibrations are not a match, so you are not letting them in.”

and also:

“You cannot desire something, predominantly focus on the absence of it, and then expect to receive it, because the vibrational frequency of its absence and the vibrational frequency of its presence are very different frequencies.”

One thing to remember when you’re wondering if your manifestation techniques are working is: Do you believe they’re working?

If you don’t believe that they’re working then you’re going to get inconsistent results.

You have to go into all manifestation methods with at least a little bit of room for the Universe to work for you.

You have to at least go into it with the idea that it COULD work.

If it worked for someone else, then it can work for you!

You aren’t so special that the Universe is just going to ignore you.

It’s not going to single you out and say “nope, YOU can’t have that.”

YOU are the only thing standing in your way.

The Universe cannot override your free will.

If you believe you can’t really have it, then the Universe is going to go along with that belief.

What should you do when you feel your manifestation is not working?

If you looked through this list of signs your manifestation is not working and found one (or more) that apply to you, what should you do?

Be kind to yourself. Now that you know what is standing in your way, you can fix it! It might just be the key that unlocks ALL manifestations for you, so things will move really quickly now!
Expect to move through. Don’t feel doomed – now that you know the problem, expect to move through it.
Work through what’s blocking you. Whatever it is, you can work through it. Every time you bump up against that problem, remind yourself that you’re working through it and you will receive everything you want.
Work on your self-concept. How you feel about yourself affects EVERYTHING. You might find that working on your self-concept solves all of the other issues you’re having with manifestation!