October 24, 2025 • 12 mins
On this episode of “Tommy Talk,” Tommy discusses if manifesting really works. Everywhere we turn, there is a book, Instagram post, or guru talking about manifesting. But is this all just a trend, or is there validity to incorporating a daily manifesting practice into your routine? Today we are diving into what’s real and what’s hype. For anyone that may be a skeptic, a believer, or somewhere in between, this episode is for you.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, guys, welcome to Tommy Talk, and today's topic is
does manifesting really work? Okay, this is kind of a
hot topic. I feel like we live in a day
and age where you always are hearing about manifesting. People
are posting about it on social media, there's segments on
TV about it, there are books about it. I mean,
you can't escape the world of manifesting. So is it
(00:24):
all that it's cracked up to be? Well, let's dive in,
because at my core, I am a very spiritual person,
right and I have a deep practice in gratitude and
my faith is very important to me. So I am
someone inclined to want to jump into the manifesting you know, world,
and feel like I'm a part of it, but to
(00:46):
a certain extent, because I think there are a lot
of positives to manifesting. But then I think there's also
a lot of negatives that we have to be a
little cautious of in this day and age where it's
becoming such a big thing. So let's talk first about
what manifesting is. At the baseline, At least to me,
manifesting means that you put out these positive thoughts about
(01:08):
your life that you say are true in hopes that
they will turn true. So whether you're writing that down
in a journal or you're saying it verbally. For example,
let's say I wanted to be a rock star, I
would tell myself every single day when I wake up,
I am a rock star. I am a rock star,
or I would write it in a journal ten times,
I am a rock star. I'm a rock star. That's
(01:30):
kind of the idea of manifesting. You say it as
if it's true, so you're putting it out in the
universe in the airwaves to attract that energy back. That's
kind of what it is. There's also different variations of it,
like I tell myself I'm ready for all the great
things professionally and personally every day, and that's kind of
a little bit less of a literal manifesting, you know,
(01:51):
I guess way to go about it, but also in
the same category. But that's really what it is. You
say something as if it's true so that it becomes true.
So let's dive into why I like it, and then
we're going to talk more importantly about what I don't
like about it, which I hope is really helpful for
you guys, because I think. I think it's dangerous to
get caught up in it in a way that makes
you feel worse for things not coming true. Like it's
(02:13):
it's a very complex issue, but I really think it's
an important one because it's something a lot of people
are making a lot of money off of. So I
want you to proceed with caution. So I guess the
first thing I like about manifesting is that it brings
you hope. We are in a world where it's sometimes
really hard to find the hope and to find the
things that make us feel good and like things could
(02:36):
get better. We live in doom and gloom. The new
cycle can be vicious. People are posting on social media
all the time, really hard things to see and you
want to see on a daily basis. So I think
we can do something that brings a little glimmer of hope.
Why wouldn't we want to do that. It's a beautiful thing.
I am all for the hope of it, all right,
(02:57):
and I think that it gives a sense of certainty
in a very uncertain world. So yeah, if it makes
you feel like you're putting a great thing for yourself
in the universe, in the air and that's kind of
a certain thing you can do to try to get
yourself to get a little closer to whatever that thing is. Fine,
why not? There's no harm in doing that. I do
(03:19):
think there's something to be said for putting out some
good energy. I think that's a really beautiful thing, and
there's enough really toxic, hard depressing energy in the world
that we need it. So I stand by that. I
really do think we need it. I do like that
you can kind of possibly, we'll say, possibly influence your
(03:41):
future by doing it. We don't know, we don't know
for sure, right, but if you can possibly influence your
future by putting out those good thoughts and willing it
into the universe, why not, I mean, sign me up.
I'm totally for anything that can help me have a
better life. So it doesn't cost anything to do on
your own time, right to say something to yourself or
put a message out there cost nothing. If it could
(04:02):
possibly help, why wouldn't you do it? That's how I
feel about collagen. I take a collagen powder in my
protein shake. I don't know that it's actually good for
my hair, my skin, and my nails, Like, I don't know.
That's what people say and that's what's on every collagen bottle, right,
But it might be it's not harmful for that, right,
and it might be good for all of that and
for great anti aging benefits and skin elasticity and all
(04:25):
of that. So Okay, yeah, why not I'm gonna do it.
If I'm gonna spend money on that or you know,
going to a bar three nights a week, I rather
spend money on collagen. So that's kind of how I
feel about it. It doesn't hurt you, it doesn't cost anything
for you to do it, so why not do it? Right?
I like that. I like that it also makes you
focus on what you want rather than focus on what
(04:48):
you fear, because we live in a very fear based world,
and there are things that are scary, man Like, there's
a lot of uncertainty in the world, and life can
be scary. But it lets you focus on what you want.
I kind of hopefully tune out some of that fear
so that you don't feel as anxious or as incapable
or kind of stunted in whatever it is that you
(05:10):
want to do. So that's a really beautiful thing. I
think that anything I can push away fear is a
really great thing, and it's honestly one of the most pure,
kind of good vibe things that you can do for yourself.
So those are all tremendous pluses to doing it. Let's
talk about some of the negatives. One of my biggest
(05:32):
pet peeves is that everybody thinks they're a guru. And
I'm gonna remind you all, I am not a guru.
This is a These tomic talks are based off my
life and what works for me and what doesn't work
for me. I never pretend to be a guru or
all knowing, because I'm not. I'm learning like you guys
are learning. I think that's why these are fun. I
don't pretend to be perfect because I'm not perfect. But
I don't like that manifesting has turned into a very
(05:53):
commercialized business where you can take courses with people who
claim they can unlock your ultimate manifesting powers or buy
my fifth book on manifesting. Like it's really become a
way for people to profit, and I don't like it.
I don't like it. I don't like when I see it.
I don't like when I see people charging people to
learn how to manifest, Like, to me, that's just kind
(06:15):
of gross because I think there are people out there,
not everybody. There's a lot of good people out there
who are helpful in the spiritual world, but there are
people in that space who kind of are capitalizing on
somebody who might not be in a great place in
their life at the time. And I don't like that.
I don't think that has to cost money to put
(06:36):
out feel good vibes into the universe. So the commercialization
of it is something for me that's a little tricky.
And I don't love that people are capitalizing on people
who are maybe a little more down on their lucky
need help, Like, let's just help people and let's offer
free advice, right, So that for me is a little
I don't know, it's a little weird. I also don't
(06:59):
love this is kind of the biggest one for me.
I don't love the implication of manifesting, which is, if
bad things happen to you, it's because you allowed it
to happen to you. It's because you didn't do anything
to push that energy away. You attracted those bad things.
(07:23):
That is a big problem for me. That is not fair.
That is not fair. Life is hard, man. You don't
attract every negative thing that comes your way. Sometimes life
just happens and it throws you a curveball, and there
is no rhyme or reason as to why something so
terrible happens to you. You can't just say it's because
you didn't manifest that. No, that's not accurate. I think
(07:43):
you have to be realistic about life and how the
world works and the randomness of life. I'm sure people
listening here know incredibly healthy people that have gotten awful,
awful diseases or cancer and there's no rhyme or reason
because it shouldn't have happened. You can't say somebody didn't
attract the right energy, or they weren't positive enough in
their life so they attracted that negative energy. Like that's
(08:06):
just not fair and that's not right. So I do
not subscribe to the idea that if bad things happen
to you, you somehow attracted that. I'm sorry. I think
that's an incredibly irresponsible thing to say and to put
out there when you're talking about the manifesting world. And sadly,
there are a lot of people who do claim to
(08:28):
be professionals who put that messaging out there, and that's
not right. I think that you can be a very
positive thinking person, but also bad things can happen to you.
That's beyond my pay grade. That's beyond how I can
understand what this world in this life is. And that's
something on the other side that none of us know about.
(08:48):
But it's not your fault. It's not your fault. So
if bad things happening to you aren't your fault. I
also don't like that if someone's really going through a
tough time, you know, let's say a job got lost,
or rent is hard to pay for, or but he
does get sick. I don't like this idea that positive
thinking will get you out of it, because that's not
always true. I think positive thinking, as I mentioned in
(09:11):
the first half of this conversation, helps you in many
different ways, and it's got tremendous benefits for helping you
focus on what you want in your life, and for
putting out messages that don't make you step into the fear,
and all the things I said earlier. But I don't
think that that can be true. That it just breaks
my heart that there are people who are down on
their luck thinking if I can only just manifest everything
(09:33):
will be better. That's not true. That's not true either,
So we have to be careful how we're really talking
about this, and there's people who talk about it in
a very positive, beautiful way. I think there was a singer,
it might have been Sean Mendes who said in his
journal every day he wrote something down and then it
eventually came true. And I think that's beautiful because I
(09:54):
think that it shows he had a goal and a
dream and it happened, and that was one tool that got
in there. But I think that's the other important thing.
There are many tools that get you to where you
want to be and to allow you to achieve what
you want to achieve. I think positive thinking and putting
out good vibes is one tool of many, and people
don't always talk about that. But manifesting doesn't work without action.
(10:17):
That's my big takeaway. You can sit around all day
and say I want this and this is happening and
I am this and I'm going to be this, But
if you're not taking action towards that, it's not going
to happen. And we don't talk about that, right, What
are you doing to reach those goals, to be that person,
to be that final destination for where you want to
be at Why don't we talk about that? Why is
(10:39):
that often left out of the manifesting conversation. So I
guess I would wrap this all up by saying, I
do like to manifest to a certain degree, but I
cannot manifest without taking action. So it's one tool, it
can't be your only tool, and that's something we need
to focus on too. And I think a lot of
the people who commercialize it and want to make money
(10:59):
off of it that don't talk about that because they
want you to believe it's all about just putting out
good thoughts, and that's not true. Take action, what are
you doing to achieve that stuff? Period? So I was
really kind of headen and a little passionate about this
topic because I don't like when I feel like people
are being taken advantage of. It really bothers me. It
(11:20):
really bothers me. And sometimes when we're in a point
of our lives where you feel like you're at a low,
that's when those types of people can come in and
make you feel like you need to do this, this,
and this, or nothing you want in your life will happen,
and that's not true. So manifesting does manifesting really work.
(11:41):
This is this is an answer that might not be
exactly what you're looking for, but I'm gonna say possibly possibly,
And going back to my example of the collage empowder,
if there's a chance that something can work that's wonderful
(12:03):
for you, why not, Why not give it a go?
Just remember you have to take action with manifesting. So no,
I'm stay my friends, manifest away, and just remember that
you are doing great on your own path. I've Never
Said This Before is hosted by me Tommy Dedario. This
(12:23):
podcast is executive produced by Andrew Publisi at iHeartRadio and
by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've Never
Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast
Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more, rate review and subscribe
to our show and if you liked this episode, tell
your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Dedario
Hey, guys, welcome to Tommy Talk, and today's topic is
does manifesting really work? Okay, this is kind of a
hot topic. I feel like we live in a day
and age where you always are hearing about manifesting. People
are posting about it on social media, there's segments on
TV about it, there are books about it. I mean,
you can't escape the world of manifesting. So is it
(00:24):
all that it's cracked up to be? Well, let's dive in,
because at my core, I am a very spiritual person,
right and I have a deep practice in gratitude and
my faith is very important to me. So I am
someone inclined to want to jump into the manifesting you know, world,
and feel like I'm a part of it, but to
(00:46):
a certain extent, because I think there are a lot
of positives to manifesting. But then I think there's also
a lot of negatives that we have to be a
little cautious of in this day and age where it's
becoming such a big thing. So let's talk first about
what manifesting is. At the baseline, At least to me,
manifesting means that you put out these positive thoughts about
(01:08):
your life that you say are true in hopes that
they will turn true. So whether you're writing that down
in a journal or you're saying it verbally. For example,
let's say I wanted to be a rock star, I
would tell myself every single day when I wake up,
I am a rock star. I am a rock star,
or I would write it in a journal ten times,
I am a rock star. I'm a rock star. That's
(01:30):
kind of the idea of manifesting. You say it as
if it's true, so you're putting it out in the
universe in the airwaves to attract that energy back. That's
kind of what it is. There's also different variations of it,
like I tell myself I'm ready for all the great
things professionally and personally every day, and that's kind of
a little bit less of a literal manifesting, you know,
(01:51):
I guess way to go about it, but also in
the same category. But that's really what it is. You
say something as if it's true so that it becomes true.
So let's dive into why I like it, and then
we're going to talk more importantly about what I don't
like about it, which I hope is really helpful for
you guys, because I think. I think it's dangerous to
get caught up in it in a way that makes
you feel worse for things not coming true. Like it's
(02:13):
it's a very complex issue, but I really think it's
an important one because it's something a lot of people
are making a lot of money off of. So I
want you to proceed with caution. So I guess the
first thing I like about manifesting is that it brings
you hope. We are in a world where it's sometimes
really hard to find the hope and to find the
things that make us feel good and like things could
(02:36):
get better. We live in doom and gloom. The new
cycle can be vicious. People are posting on social media
all the time, really hard things to see and you
want to see on a daily basis. So I think
we can do something that brings a little glimmer of hope.
Why wouldn't we want to do that. It's a beautiful thing.
I am all for the hope of it, all right,
(02:57):
and I think that it gives a sense of certainty
in a very uncertain world. So yeah, if it makes
you feel like you're putting a great thing for yourself
in the universe, in the air and that's kind of
a certain thing you can do to try to get
yourself to get a little closer to whatever that thing is. Fine,
why not? There's no harm in doing that. I do
(03:19):
think there's something to be said for putting out some
good energy. I think that's a really beautiful thing, and
there's enough really toxic, hard depressing energy in the world
that we need it. So I stand by that. I
really do think we need it. I do like that
you can kind of possibly, we'll say, possibly influence your
(03:41):
future by doing it. We don't know, we don't know
for sure, right, but if you can possibly influence your
future by putting out those good thoughts and willing it
into the universe, why not, I mean, sign me up.
I'm totally for anything that can help me have a
better life. So it doesn't cost anything to do on
your own time, right to say something to yourself or
put a message out there cost nothing. If it could
(04:02):
possibly help, why wouldn't you do it? That's how I
feel about collagen. I take a collagen powder in my
protein shake. I don't know that it's actually good for
my hair, my skin, and my nails, Like, I don't know.
That's what people say and that's what's on every collagen bottle, right,
But it might be it's not harmful for that, right,
and it might be good for all of that and
for great anti aging benefits and skin elasticity and all
(04:25):
of that. So Okay, yeah, why not I'm gonna do it.
If I'm gonna spend money on that or you know,
going to a bar three nights a week, I rather
spend money on collagen. So that's kind of how I
feel about it. It doesn't hurt you, it doesn't cost anything
for you to do it, so why not do it? Right?
I like that. I like that it also makes you
focus on what you want rather than focus on what
(04:48):
you fear, because we live in a very fear based world,
and there are things that are scary, man Like, there's
a lot of uncertainty in the world, and life can
be scary. But it lets you focus on what you want.
I kind of hopefully tune out some of that fear
so that you don't feel as anxious or as incapable
or kind of stunted in whatever it is that you
(05:10):
want to do. So that's a really beautiful thing. I
think that anything I can push away fear is a
really great thing, and it's honestly one of the most pure,
kind of good vibe things that you can do for yourself.
So those are all tremendous pluses to doing it. Let's
talk about some of the negatives. One of my biggest
(05:32):
pet peeves is that everybody thinks they're a guru. And
I'm gonna remind you all, I am not a guru.
This is a These tomic talks are based off my
life and what works for me and what doesn't work
for me. I never pretend to be a guru or
all knowing, because I'm not. I'm learning like you guys
are learning. I think that's why these are fun. I
don't pretend to be perfect because I'm not perfect. But
I don't like that manifesting has turned into a very
(05:53):
commercialized business where you can take courses with people who
claim they can unlock your ultimate manifesting powers or buy
my fifth book on manifesting. Like it's really become a
way for people to profit, and I don't like it.
I don't like it. I don't like when I see it.
I don't like when I see people charging people to
learn how to manifest, Like, to me, that's just kind
(06:15):
of gross because I think there are people out there,
not everybody. There's a lot of good people out there
who are helpful in the spiritual world, but there are
people in that space who kind of are capitalizing on
somebody who might not be in a great place in
their life at the time. And I don't like that.
I don't think that has to cost money to put
(06:36):
out feel good vibes into the universe. So the commercialization
of it is something for me that's a little tricky.
And I don't love that people are capitalizing on people
who are maybe a little more down on their lucky
need help, Like, let's just help people and let's offer
free advice, right, So that for me is a little
I don't know, it's a little weird. I also don't
(06:59):
love this is kind of the biggest one for me.
I don't love the implication of manifesting, which is, if
bad things happen to you, it's because you allowed it
to happen to you. It's because you didn't do anything
to push that energy away. You attracted those bad things.
(07:23):
That is a big problem for me. That is not fair.
That is not fair. Life is hard, man. You don't
attract every negative thing that comes your way. Sometimes life
just happens and it throws you a curveball, and there
is no rhyme or reason as to why something so
terrible happens to you. You can't just say it's because
you didn't manifest that. No, that's not accurate. I think
(07:43):
you have to be realistic about life and how the
world works and the randomness of life. I'm sure people
listening here know incredibly healthy people that have gotten awful,
awful diseases or cancer and there's no rhyme or reason
because it shouldn't have happened. You can't say somebody didn't
attract the right energy, or they weren't positive enough in
their life so they attracted that negative energy. Like that's
(08:06):
just not fair and that's not right. So I do
not subscribe to the idea that if bad things happen
to you, you somehow attracted that. I'm sorry. I think
that's an incredibly irresponsible thing to say and to put
out there when you're talking about the manifesting world. And sadly,
there are a lot of people who do claim to
(08:28):
be professionals who put that messaging out there, and that's
not right. I think that you can be a very
positive thinking person, but also bad things can happen to you.
That's beyond my pay grade. That's beyond how I can
understand what this world in this life is. And that's
something on the other side that none of us know about.
(08:48):
But it's not your fault. It's not your fault. So
if bad things happening to you aren't your fault. I
also don't like that if someone's really going through a
tough time, you know, let's say a job got lost,
or rent is hard to pay for, or but he
does get sick. I don't like this idea that positive
thinking will get you out of it, because that's not
always true. I think positive thinking, as I mentioned in
(09:11):
the first half of this conversation, helps you in many
different ways, and it's got tremendous benefits for helping you
focus on what you want in your life, and for
putting out messages that don't make you step into the fear,
and all the things I said earlier. But I don't
think that that can be true. That it just breaks
my heart that there are people who are down on
their luck thinking if I can only just manifest everything
(09:33):
will be better. That's not true. That's not true either,
So we have to be careful how we're really talking
about this, and there's people who talk about it in
a very positive, beautiful way. I think there was a singer,
it might have been Sean Mendes who said in his
journal every day he wrote something down and then it
eventually came true. And I think that's beautiful because I
(09:54):
think that it shows he had a goal and a
dream and it happened, and that was one tool that got
in there. But I think that's the other important thing.
There are many tools that get you to where you
want to be and to allow you to achieve what
you want to achieve. I think positive thinking and putting
out good vibes is one tool of many, and people
don't always talk about that. But manifesting doesn't work without action.
(10:17):
That's my big takeaway. You can sit around all day
and say I want this and this is happening and
I am this and I'm going to be this, But
if you're not taking action towards that, it's not going
to happen. And we don't talk about that, right, What
are you doing to reach those goals, to be that person,
to be that final destination for where you want to
be at Why don't we talk about that? Why is
(10:39):
that often left out of the manifesting conversation. So I
guess I would wrap this all up by saying, I
do like to manifest to a certain degree, but I
cannot manifest without taking action. So it's one tool, it
can't be your only tool, and that's something we need
to focus on too. And I think a lot of
the people who commercialize it and want to make money
(10:59):
off of it that don't talk about that because they
want you to believe it's all about just putting out
good thoughts, and that's not true. Take action, what are
you doing to achieve that stuff? Period? So I was
really kind of headen and a little passionate about this
topic because I don't like when I feel like people
are being taken advantage of. It really bothers me. It
(11:20):
really bothers me. And sometimes when we're in a point
of our lives where you feel like you're at a low,
that's when those types of people can come in and
make you feel like you need to do this, this,
and this, or nothing you want in your life will happen,
and that's not true. So manifesting does manifesting really work.
(11:41):
This is this is an answer that might not be
exactly what you're looking for, but I'm gonna say possibly possibly,
And going back to my example of the collage empowder,
if there's a chance that something can work that's wonderful
(12:03):
for you, why not, Why not give it a go?
Just remember you have to take action with manifesting. So no,
I'm stay my friends, manifest away, and just remember that
you are doing great on your own path. I've Never
Said This Before is hosted by me Tommy Dedario. This
(12:23):
podcast is executive produced by Andrew Publisi at iHeartRadio and
by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've Never
Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast
Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more, rate review and subscribe
to our show and if you liked this episode, tell
your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Dedario
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