Ep.114 / Does Manifesting Actually Work? The Psychology Behind Getting What You Want
Does manifesting actually work, or are we giving the universe credit for something our brains are doing behind the scenes? After the 8/8 Lion’s Gate Portal took over social media, Josh decided it was finally time to investigate the psychology behind manifestation.
Does Manifesting Actually Work? The Psychology Behind Getting What You Want
If you were anywhere near TikTok or Instagram on August 8th, you probably received the memo: the Lion’s Gate Portal was open, abundance was flowing, manifestation energy was apparently at an all-time high, and if you had not written down your dream life by midnight, the universe was presumably going to place your request at the bottom of the pile.
And listen, I participated.
I’m a Leo. You cannot tell me there is a cosmic portal involving Leo energy and expect me not to immediately make it about myself. Jupiter is doing something fabulous? Great. Give me a journal. There is an eclipse in some house I do not understand? Incredible. Shall I request financial freedom now or after I light the candle?
I love manifesting. I love vision boards, writing down goals, imagining an enormous future and occasionally behaving like the universe has a customer-service department dedicated exclusively to my career. But I also wanted to know something much more interesting: does manifesting actually work?
Not “does somebody on TikTok swear it worked?” Not “did you think about an ex and then they texted you at 11:47 p.m.?” I wanted to know what psychology can actually tell us about manifestation, visualization, goal setting, attention, motivation and the actions we take after deciding something is possible.
And it turns out there may be something valuable happening here—even if Jupiter has absolutely nothing to do with it.
What Is Manifestation, Really?
At its simplest, manifestation is the practice of clearly imagining or describing something you want to bring into your life. Depending on who you ask, that can involve visualization, affirmations, scripting, vision boards, manifestation journals, meditation or the law of attraction—the belief that your thoughts and energy somehow attract corresponding experiences.
That last part is where science and manifestation culture begin having a somewhat awkward dinner together.
There is not scientific evidence showing that thinking about a penthouse causes the universe to deliver one. Tragic, because that would save all of us an enormous amount of paperwork.
But thinking repeatedly and intentionally about a goal can affect your attention, expectations, planning and behavior, which means manifestation may influence your life without requiring your thoughts to possess supernatural powers.
That distinction matters.
“My thoughts can influence my behavior” is psychologically reasonable.
“My thoughts control every external event in my life” is a completely different claim.
Why Do You Suddenly See Your Manifestation Everywhere?
Have you ever decided you want a particular car and then suddenly noticed that exact car everywhere?
You start thinking, “Oh my God, this has to be a sign.”
Maybe. Or perhaps those cars were driving around yesterday too and your brain simply did not give a shit.
Human attention is selective. We are surrounded by far too much information to consciously process all of it, so our goals help influence which information receives priority. Research on goal-directed attention shows that actively held goals can influence attentional selection and the information we prioritize.
Now apply that to manifestation.
If you vaguely think, “I would love to start a business someday,” information related to entrepreneurship may be mildly interesting. But once you have written down a specific goal, started researching it, visualized the business and decided this is something you genuinely want, conversations, opportunities and resources connected to that goal may suddenly feel much more relevant.
The opportunities may not have magically appeared.
You may simply be more prepared to notice them.
And that is still powerful.
Visualization Can Help—But You Might Be Visualizing the Wrong Thing
Visualization is probably one of the best-known manifestation techniques. You picture yourself getting the job, receiving the money, standing inside the dream house or holding the finished book.
Fun? Absolutely.
But psychology gives us an important twist: visualizing yourself doing the process may be more useful than only fantasizing about the outcome.
In a well-known study by Lien Pham and Shelley Taylor, students who mentally simulated the process required to prepare for an exam studied more and performed better; enhanced planning and reduced anxiety helped explain that result.
Which is deeply inconvenient because nobody wants to visualize the boring part.
Nobody’s vision board contains a photograph of themselves answering forty-seven emails.
You picture yourself accepting the award. You do not picture the years of rejection before it. You visualize the successful company. You somehow forget to visualize yourself fighting with accounting software on a Wednesday night.
But that may be exactly the part worth mentally rehearsing.
If you want to write a book, picture the finished book—but also picture yourself writing when you do not feel inspired. If you want to become financially successful, visualize the freedom—but also picture yourself negotiating, learning, budgeting, pitching or building whatever could realistically move you there.
Let the fantasy contain instructions.
Positive Thinking Is Not Always Enough
There is also an uncomfortable piece of research for anyone whose manifestation technique consists entirely of lying in bed imagining themselves becoming rich.
Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen’s work has distinguished positive expectations from idealized positive fantasies. Positive expectations about attainable futures can support effort, while simply fantasizing about an ideal future has sometimes been associated with lower effort and achievement.
Basically, your brain may enjoy mentally spending the reward before you have completed the work.
You have imagined the beach house so beautifully that, psychologically, part of you is already sitting beside the pool.
Unfortunately, physically, you remain on your couch.
This does not mean stop dreaming. Dreaming is valuable. It means connect the dream to reality.
Ask: What would have to happen between where I am now and the thing I keep visualizing?
Why Writing Down Goals Can Feel So Powerful
One reason manifestation journals can be genuinely useful is that writing forces specificity.
“I want more money” is a desire.
“I want to earn $150,000 a year through work that gives me more flexibility” is something you can actually begin investigating.
“I want to be successful” could mean absolutely anything.
What does success mean to you? Money? Recognition? Time? Creative freedom? A promotion? A company? Being able to take a Tuesday afternoon off without explaining yourself to Brenda in HR?
Writing makes you define the target.
Then you can go one step further and turn intentions into plans.
Psychologists call specific “if-then” plans implementation intentions: if a particular situation occurs, then you perform a predetermined action. Research has repeatedly examined these plans as a way of helping people translate intentions into behavior.
Instead of “I need to work on my business,” try: “If dinner is finished on Tuesday and Thursday, I work on my business for one hour.”
Not very mystical.
Potentially much more useful.
Manifestation Without Action Is Just a Really Cute Notebook
This is the part nobody wants to put on the inspirational graphic.
Eventually, you have to do something.
You can write “successful entrepreneur” fifty-five times. You can own enough crystals to affect the structural integrity of your nightstand. You can create a vision board so beautiful it belongs in the fucking Louvre.
But your Pinterest board has never sent an email.
Action is where the goal begins interacting with reality.
You apply for the job and discover whether you are competitive. You ask for the higher rate and learn how the client responds. You launch the idea and receive feedback. You go on the date. You attend the event. You save the first hundred dollars. You take the class.
Every action produces information.
And sometimes confidence arrives after you act, not before.
Waiting until you feel completely confident can become a wonderfully sophisticated form of procrastination. You do the uncomfortable thing, survive it, collect evidence that you can cope, and become slightly more willing to do the next uncomfortable thing.
What looks like “manifestation” from the outside may therefore contain hundreds of tiny decisions between the journal entry and the result.
When Manifestation Becomes Toxic
There is also a line manifestation culture desperately needs to stop crossing.
Your beliefs may influence some of your choices.
That does not mean you created every circumstance in your life.
Manifestation becomes toxic when it turns suffering into personal blame: you are financially struggling because you have a “scarcity mindset,” your relationship failed because your energy was wrong, you became sick because you were not thinking positively enough.
No.
People live inside economic systems, relationships, bodies and circumstances they do not completely control. Discrimination exists. Illness exists. Grief exists. Randomness exists. Other people make decisions. Sometimes companies hire somebody’s nephew.
A healthy manifestation practice should increase your sense of agency, not convince you that you are personally responsible for the entire universe.
You can ask, “What can I influence here?” without pretending you control everything.
How to Manifest Without Completely Losing the Plot
So, what does practical manifestation look like?
Start with what you actually want. Not the respectable version. Not what you think you are supposed to want. Write down the embarrassing, enormous, slightly delusional version.
Then ask why you want it.
Next, notice the beliefs that immediately argue against it. “People like me don’t make that money.” “I’m too old.” “I’m too late.” “Nobody would choose me.” Those thoughts are useful information because they may be influencing your behavior whether you consciously realize it or not.
Then visualize the process, not only the reward.
Finally, ask the most important question in this entire conversation:
What would I do this week if I genuinely believed this goal was possible?
Send the email.
Make the appointment.
Write the first page.
Apply.
Ask.
Research.
Start.
You do not need to completely reinvent your life by Thursday. You need one behavior that makes the future you keep imagining slightly more likely.
So, Does Manifesting Actually Work?
If by manifestation we mean that thinking about something causes the universe to rearrange reality on demand, psychology cannot give us evidence for that.
But if manifestation means intentionally deciding what you want, directing your attention toward it, imagining the process, challenging limiting beliefs, making specific plans and taking actions consistent with the future you want?
Now we have something much more interesting.
Maybe manifestation is powerful not because the universe suddenly hears you.
Maybe it is powerful because you finally hear yourself.
So make the vision board. Write the manifestation list. Light the candle. Use the portal. If Jupiter wants to help, fabulous; I am certainly not going to stop him.
But once you close the journal, do something.
The universe can have your vision board.
You need the action plan.
Listen to the full Hot Air episode, “Does Manifesting Actually Work? The Psychology Behind Getting What You Want,” for the complete conversation on manifestation, goal setting, visualization, mindset, toxic positivity and turning what you want into something you can actually pursue.
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