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The "State Shift" Method: How to Replace Hustle with Flow
A simple 3-step framework I used to land a 10,000-person audience by following a single, intuitive nudge.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Let’s get straight to the point.
Most people approach manifesting backwards.
They think it’s about getting something from the outside world.
I know I did. For years, my stomach would knot with anxiety as I tried to manifest big goals. Hustle and grind would ensue. Every task felt like a heavy “have-to.” I was building my future from a place of exhaustion, and a nagging whisper followed me everywhere: “Is this ever going to actually pay off?”
Then, a single sentence from Neville Goddard’s book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book) changed everything:
“Manifesting is nothing but experiencing the results of your concepts of yourself in the world.”
Let that settle for a moment.
It’s not about what you do. It’s about who you are while you’re doing it.
Your problem isn’t a lack of action. It’s the state from which you’re acting.
I was acting from “Sophia who wants and struggles,” instead of “Sophia who already has and enjoys.”
The shift happened when I stopped wanting my ocean-view home and started feeling what it was like to already have it. The peace. The security. The freedom.
I bathed in that feeling for five minutes. Then I got up.
My to-do list was the same. But the energy was completely different. A task that used to drain me now felt as natural and pleasant as an ocean breeze. I was no longer building my reality; I was expressing the one I had already claimed.
This is when the magic happens. When you act from this “wish fulfilled” state, your action transforms.
It becomes motivated by inspiration, not force.
It becomes intelligent, guided by intuition to the most effective steps.
It becomes magical, as a “bridge of incidents” unfolds that you could never have planned.
We needed to get our coaching program in front of thousands. The old me would have started a hustle campaign of some sorts.
The new, aligned us? Guided by intuition, we booked a yoga class.
On the community center sign-up page, we saw a link: “Apply to Become an Instructor.” We applied on a whim. Five minutes later, it was done.
48 hours after that, we were scheduled to teach our program, reaching thousands of people via the town’s Parks & Recreations newsletter and guide.
No hustle. Just ease. The path unfolded because we were already the people for whom visibility was natural.
The method is simple. We call it the “State Shift”:
Know What You Want. (Be specific.)
Identify the Core Feeling. (Why do you want it? The feeling is the real goal.)
Step Into the Identity. For five minutes, be the person who has it as a natural fact.
Do this three times a day. Morning, after lunch, before bed. You are reprogramming the source of your reality.
You stop rearranging the furniture and start rebuilding the foundation.
The transformation begins when you stop trying to create your reality and start experiencing it from within.
And if you’re ready to truly live this, not just understand it, our free Shift Your Identity community is where you can practice with a powerful, like-minded group.
You can join us here: https://www.simpleandaligned.com/syi
When you make the shift inwardly, the mirror of life is bound to conform.
Manifesting Isn’t About Getting What You Want
It’s about becoming who you already are. The moment I understood this, my reality had no choice but to change.
For years, I believed in the grind.
If I wanted the dream life — the ocean-view home, the thriving business, the financial freedom — I had to work hard for it. I had to hustle. I’d set a big goal, my stomach would knot with a mix of ambition and anxiety, and I’d start the slog.
The to-do lists were long. The effort was real. But so was the underlying vibration of lack. The nagging whisper: “Is this ever going to actually pay off?”
Every task, from writing a crucial article to the mundane admin of transferring blog posts between accounts, felt like a heavy “have-to.” I was building my future from a place of exhaustion, not excitement.
Then, a simple yet radical idea from Neville Goddard’s book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book) stopped me in my tracks. It reframed everything I thought I knew about manifesting:
“Manifesting is nothing but experiencing the results of your concepts of yourself in the world.”
Let that sink in for a moment.
It’s not about visualizing harder or reciting a thousand affirmations. It’s not about forcing the right action. It’s about your self-concept. Your identity. The state of consciousness from which you operate.
Neville goes on to say,
“Consciousness is the one and only reality.”
The world, he explains, has no motive of its own. It operates with “motiveless necessity,” meaning it has to reflect the arrangement of your mind — the sum total of all you believe and consent to be true.
My problem wasn’t a lack of action; it was the state from which I was acting. I was acting from “Sophia who wants and struggles,” instead of “Sophia who already has and enjoys.”
The shift happened in a morning meditation. Instead of wanting the ocean-view home, I decided to feel what it would be like to already have it. I felt the salty air on my skin, the vast, calm horizon, the deep, unshakable peace and financial abundance that view represented.
I bathed in that feeling for five minutes. Then I got up to face my day.
My to-do list was the same. I had to transfer a backlog of articles to our new Medium channel. But something was different.
The task that used to feel like a draining, doubtful chore now felt… pleasant. It felt like the ocean breeze. I was energized, motivated, and confident that this small, aligned action was part of a natural, unfolding process. I was no longer building my reality; I was expressing the reality I had already claimed within.
This is the secret they don’t tell you about “massive action.”
When you act from the “wish fulfilled,” your action transforms.
It becomes motivated: You’re not forcing yourself; you’re flowing with inspiration.
It becomes intelligent: Your intuition guides you to the most effective actions, not the most exhausting ones.
It becomes magical: The “bridge of incidents” — Neville’s term for the unfolding path — appears, offering solutions you could never have forced.
Let me give you a real-life example.
We’re building our coaching business, which means we need to get in front of people. The hustle mindset says: “Cold email 100 people! Go network! Grind!”
But from our new state of aligned creators, our intuition nudged us to simply book a yoga class at our local community center. While signing up, we noticed a link in the town newsletter: “Apply to Become an Instructor.”
Following the nudge, I filled out the form. It took five minutes. The next day, we had a meeting. A day after that, we were scheduling dates and fees. Suddenly, we were being offered a platform to reach tens of thousands of people in the town’s next Parks & Rec guide — not as yoga instructors, but to teach our program, ‘Ace Your Goals.’
No hustle. Just ease. The path unfolded because we were in the state of people for whom visibility is natural and easy.
Your Practical Framework: The “State Shift” Method
If you’re tired of the grind, try this. Don’t just read it — do it.
Know What You Want. Get specific. Is it $10,000 a month? A soulmate? Perfect health?
Identify the Core Feeling. Why do you want it? Is it security? freedom? joy? love? The feeling is the real goal.
Step Into the Identity. Who are you being once you have it? For five minutes, close your eyes and feel that feeling now. Be the person for whom this reality is a normal, natural fact.
Pro Tip: Do this 3x daily.
Morning: To set the tone for your day.
After Lunch: To reset and reclaim your state before your second work shift.
Before Bed: To let your subconscious mind work on it overnight.
This isn’t about denying your 3D reality; it’s about changing the source of your creation within it. You stop rearranging the external furniture and start rebuilding the internal foundation.
The World Mirrors Your Inner State
The bills might still be on the counter. The inbox might still be full. But from the state of the wish fulfilled, you handle it all with a new energy. You are no longer a beggar hoping the universe will provide. You are the architect, operating from the completed blueprint.
You are giving yourself the feeling you’ve been chasing all along. And in doing so, you become a magnet for the circumstances that match it.
The transformation begins when you stop trying to create your reality and start experiencing it from within.
Ready to Move From Knowing to Living It?
Understanding the theory is one thing. Consistently living in the state of the wish fulfilled is another. It requires practice, guidance, and a community that speaks your language.
Inside our free Skool community, Shift Your Identity (SYI), that’s exactly what you’ll find. This is where you can:
Practice the State: Get daily, structured guidance to help you embody these teachings.
Find Your People: Connect with a powerful community of like-minded creators and manifestors.
Get Unstuck: Receive the accountability and support to move through doubts and witness your own bridge of incidents unfold.
If you’re ready to replace the hustle with a feeling of natural, oceanic ease, you belong with us.
Click here to join the Shift Your Identity (SYI) community for free.
Your new state is waiting.
The Childhood Memory That Programmed Me to Self-Sabotage
…And How I’m Rewriting the Code
I (Sophia) couldn’t understand why I kept abandoning my dreams. The answer was 30 years old, hiding in a hallway, listening to my mom on the phone.
I thought my problem was time management.
I’d devoured every book, every blog post. I’d tried every productivity hack. For years, I’d cycle through the same pattern: I’d start a project with fiery passion. For three, maybe four days, I’d feel incredible—aligned, purposeful, and satisfied.
Then, without fail, I’d abandon it.
Something “more important” would pop up. A website bug that had to be fixed. An inbox that needed to be zeroed out. I’d tell myself a very logical story: “Let me just tie up all these loose ends. I need a clear mind and a clean slate to do my real work.”
But by the time the slate was clean, my energy was gone. My real work—the writing, the recording, the creating—never happened.
I blamed my willpower. I thought I was lazy, undisciplined, a dreamer who couldn’t execute.
I was wrong. My willpower was fine. It was being held hostage by a story written decades ago. It took a 100-year-old book by Émile Coué to make me look for the puppeteer. He introduced me to the ruthless power of the subconscious mind, which he called the imagination:
“Not only does the unconscious self preside over the functions of our organism, but also over all our actions. It is this that we call imagination and it is this which contrary to accepted opinion always makes us act even and above all against our will when there is antagonism between these two forces.”
My will wanted to create. But a stronger force was making me act against it.
It took a moment of deep honesty to find the source of that force: a young girl, standing in a hallway, listening to her mom on the phone.
I was that girl. I had ranked second in my class for years, and I was proud. I worked hard. I knew who was first, and I was genuinely happy being second. It felt like my place.
Then I heard my mom’s voice, tinged with a disappointment I’d never heard directed at me: “Oh yes, she again has only ranked second.”
The air left my lungs.
The message my heart received was catastrophic: Your best will never be good enough. The highest effort you can possibly muster will still be a disappointment.
So, my brilliant, young mind made a survival decision: If you can’t win, don’t play the game. If your best is a failure, never give your best.
It created a saboteur, a protector, whose sole job was to ensure I never put my whole heart into anything ever again. That way, I could never feel the crushing pain of my “best” being found wanting.
For 30 years, I didn’t know this protector existed. But she’s been running the show ever since that day in the hallway. She made me a puppet, and I never even saw the strings. Coué saw them clearly:
“We who are so proud of our will, who believe that we are free to act as we like, are in reality, nothing but wretched puppets of which our imagination holds all the strings.”
Her strategy is genius: Productive Procrastination.
When I start getting too close to my heart-work—the work that matters so much it could be deemed “my best”—she swings into action. She doesn’t tell me to be lazy. That would be too obvious.
Instead, she makes me productive. She creates a compelling, logical, and urgent case for doing everything except the important thing.
“You can’t write an article with a messy website! Fix it first!”
“How can you record a video with unorganized files? Organize them first!”
“Your inbox is full! You can’t possibly focus with that hanging over you.”
She is the ultimate Streamliner. Her justification is always about creating the “perfect conditions” for genius to strike.
But her real mission is to run out the clock. To ensure I never, ever put myself in a position where I risk giving my best effort and having it be “only second.” Because if I don’t truly try, I can’t truly fail. I had believed so proudly in my free will, but Coué was right:
“If we open a dictionary and look up the word ‘will’ we find this definition: ‘The faculty of freely determining certain acts’. We accept this definition as true and unattackable, although nothing could be more false, this will which we reclaim so proudly yields to the imagination. It is an absolute rule that admits of no exception.”
How I’m Learning to Fire the Protector
You don’t defeat this kind of deep programming with a new planner. You defeat it with compassion and conscious reprogramming. The goal is not to fight the imagination, but to guide it.
“We only cease to be puppets when we have learned to guide our imagination.”
Acknowledge the Protector with Love. I don’t fight her anymore. When I feel the urge to suddenly reorganize my entire life, I stop. I say, “Thank you. I see you. I know you’re trying to protect me from that old hurt. Your job is done now. I’ve got this.” Acknowledging her presence disarms her.
Redefine “Winning.” The child’s definition was: Winning = Being The Best (First Rank). My new definition is: Winning = Showing Up Authentically. My worth is not tied to an outcome—a ranking, a viral article, a number of subscribers. It is tied to the courage of creating and sharing. This reframes the entire game.
The “Good Enough” Rule. I actively practice doing things “good enough.” I send the email with a typo. I post the video with imperfect lighting. I publish the article that feels 80% there. This is direct action against the old program. It’s a rebellion against the need for a flawless “best.” It proves to my subconscious that the world doesn’t end when things aren’t perfect.
The New Autosuggestion. My Coué mantra is no longer about time or joy. It’s about identity and safety. I repeat, every morning and night: “My best is more than enough. I am safe to share my voice with the world.”
This is how we rewrite the code. Not with force, but with a gentle, persistent persuasion of our deepest selves. We thank the old protector for her service, and we finally, gently, take back the strings.
What’s a story from your past that you know is still running your present? Sharing it, even just in the comments, can be a first step in rewriting it.
All indented quotes in this article are from Coué’s book Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion*. If you’d like to read up on Coué’s wisdom yourself, feel free to explore it. It’s quick to read, a true classic, a treasure for life!
(*Amazon.com affiliate link: If you choose to click it and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.)
This journey of untangling our past from our present is what we explore in the Simple and Aligned Newsletter. It’s about building a life and business that feels good because it’s run by the adult you, not the child who got hurt. Join us here for more.
How Stoplights Became My Spiritual Teachers (And What They’re Trying to Tell You)
I used to rage at red lights — until I discovered they were sacred mirrors. Here’s how to decode their messages and unlock your next evolution.
Photo by Oleksandr Danylchenko on Unsplash
I was late. Again. My fingers drummed the steering wheel as the red light mocked me.
“Hurry up. Change. Why does this always happen to ME?”
My chest tightened — until a whisper cut through my frustration:
“You’re not stuck. You’re being schooled.”
In that moment, I understood: Stoplights aren’t delays. They’re spiritual pop quizzes.
Every red light, every traffic jam, every “why is this taking so long?!” moment is a mirror held up by the universe. It asks:
Will you resist or receive?
Will you curse the pause or let it polish you?
Universal Truth:
“The universe doesn’t delay you — it prepares you.”
The Three Sacred Layers of Every Red Light
Layer 1: The Mirror
Your impatience isn’t about the light. It’s about where you’re resisting life itself.
🔍 Your Assignment next time impatience flares:
Name the sensation (“My jaw is clenched”).
Ask the mirror: “What ancient script am I replaying?” (Hint: It’s usually fear of being “behind”).
Layer 2: The Alchemy
Red lights force you into the one thing your soul craves: a moment of presence.
🌿 Try This:
Breathe in: “I accept this pause.”
Exhale: “I trust what’s unfolding.”
Notice: One beautiful detail (sunlight on asphalt, a child’s laugh from a nearby car).
Layer 3: The Upgrade
Every time you choose ease over urgency, you rewire your nervous system for divine timing.
✨ Soul Truth: “Delays are portals. Your calm is the key.”
The Sacred Mirror Worksheet: Your Personal Decoder
When I started tracking my reactions to “delays,” patterns emerged:
Monday’s traffic jam mirrored my dread of a meeting.
Thursday’s slow grocery line reflected my fear of “wasting time.”
That’s why I created the Self-Referential Reflection Worksheet — not as a to-do list, but as a sacred mirror to:
✔ Spot your soul’s recurring lessons (e.g., “Why does ‘waiting’ trigger me?”)
✔ Decode resistance into wisdom (Hint: Your triggers are portals)
✔ Witness your growth (Compare Week 1 to Week 4 — you’ll be shocked)
“The worksheet isn’t homework. It’s a love letter from your higher self.”
When You “Fail” (Which You Will)
Some days, you’ll still curse at stoplights. Good.
Here’s the magic:
Your frustration isn’t failure — it’s fuel. The moment you notice you’re impatient, you’ve already begun the shift.
“Falling back” is part of the path. Each “relapse” reveals a deeper layer to heal.
💡 Try This:
After a “failed” moment, ask:
“What if this frustration is the exact doorway I need?”
Beyond the Road: Alchemizing Life’s “Delays”
Stoplights are training wheels. Soon, you’ll start seeing all pauses as sacred:
A delayed flight? “What’s the gift in this extra hour?”
A slow-moving line? “What if this is protecting me from something?”
Shareable Truth:
“Tag someone who needs to hear: Your ‘red light’ is a love note from the universe.”
The Self-Referential Reflection Worksheet is your companion to:
✔ Catch soul lessons in real-time
✔ Transform triggers into treasure
✔ Proof of your evolution (Compare Week 1 to Week 4 — you’ll feel the shift)
Remember: Every “delay” is a whisper: “You’re not late. You may be behind schedule, but you’re exactly on time.”