How to Manifest – The Ultimate Manifestation Guide

Manifestation and the law of attraction have gained a lot of popularity in recent years, with many trying to find out how to manifest their dream life. What is great because manifestation works, and I have seen how it has changed many lives. Unfortunately, it also comes with a lot of myths and misconceptions. That’s why I created this manifestation guide, helping you to understand what it really is and, more importantly, how it works.

woman with rainbow colors reflecting on her face

But we also look at different manifestation methods & techniques, tools that help you to manifest faster. And, of course, how to use all of them to attract anything you want in life. Are you ready to get my top manifestation tips to manifest love, money, health, and so much more? Then read on!

What Is Manifestation – A Manifestation Guide For Beginners

Before you can manifest what you want, you need to understand some basics about it. And even if you are not a beginner manifestor, I suggest you read this part where we look at what manifesting is (and what it is not.) Understanding this is key to manifesting your dreams successfully.

So what does manifesting mean? Manifestation comes from the Latin word “manifestare” which mainly means to make something real. And one point here is very important: “manifestare” is a verb. And verbs express action.

It means that YOU make something real, you create your new reality, and you do so by leveraging the power of your subconscious mind and with a specific manifestation technique, which I show you in the next part.

There is actually a big misconception about the law of attraction. Many do believe that to manifest something, you just have to “think it into existence” or to wish for something and then believe hard enough, and you will get it.

The thing is, manifestation is not magic.

The meaning is that you set your manifestation goals, then get vibrational aligned with them, and to finally manifest them into existence, you have to take inspired action.

But don’t worry, today I’m going to show you step by step how to do that.

mockup of free manifestation email course by selfmadeladies mia fox

Where Does Manifestation Come From – Is It The Secret?

So, where did manifestation come from originally? What’s the history of the law of attraction?

I often hear the question of who invented manifestation or who discovered it. And because it became well-known through the book and movie “The Secret,” which screened in 2006, many believe that’s where it did originate.

“The Secret,” including its famous casts like manifestation coach Bob Proctor and (my dear mentor, and one of the reasons I started my manifestation blog) Jack Canfield, did definitely help to make it more mainstream.

But did you know that the Law of Attraction dates back more than a hundred years? 

The concept of manifestation originated in 1906 when author and publisher William Walker Atkinson released his book: “Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. 

Law of Attraction & The 12 Universal Laws Explained

Manifestation is based on the universal law of attraction, and the definition of it is that like attracts like (what you send out to “the universe” you receive back).

It’s all about energy and vibration when you attract your dreams.

This applies to everything in our existence, from the people around us and all the material things. And even non-tangible stuff like situations, thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

The problem is that this often gets misunderstood. There is this famous quote stating, “Your thoughts become your reality.” – That’s not really how it works. You can’t just “think things into existence.”

What you do, when you concentrate on your manifestation goals and align vibrationally with them, is to attract opportunities, ideas, people, and situations… they will then make you take inspired action.

And THIS creates your new reality.

It’s all connected to your subconscious, and I will explain that in more detail in a moment. 

But it’s important that you understand that the law of attraction is not some magic trick that turns you into an abundance magnet. And it is also not as woo-woo as many make it look like, and it doesn’t require some fancy ritual to make it work.

Manifestation Expert Tip: the law of attraction is not the only law of the universe you should know about; in fact, there are 12 universal laws that help you to manifest successfully. And the most important one, besides the law of attraction, is the law of action.

Does Manifestation Really Work

So now you might say, that’s all great, Mia, but does manifesting really work? And the answer is: Yes! Manifestation works.

We are all attracting things into our lives, 24/7, subconsciously, so you better learn how to make it work for you. And that’s what you do when you learn my action-based process.

(I’ll tell you more about it in a bit, and if you want to go much deeper on that, join my free manifestation email course.)

But the subconscious manifestation is always working in the background, so the question is not really how do manifestations work but how can you make them work for your goals.

How Manifestation Changed My Life

I love to share with others how manifestation worked for me because it was so life-changing. That’s why I started this blog about the power of manifesting (and, of course, wrote my book Become the CEO of Your Dream Life).

My own manifestation success story started more than ten years ago when I was at a very low point in my life, and a friend, and NLP coach, helped me to get get out there. He told me about The Secret and manifestation. Turns out I had that book already on my bookshelf, but it was still untouched.

(I try to keep this short here, but if you like to read more: check out my about me page.)

a mockup of an iphone showing mia fox instagram account

After making manifestation work, I manifested my soulmate, including our dream wedding and honeymoon. I also manifested financial abundance, first through an amazing career, followed by my dream business. And, of course, many smaller things, such as my dream home, cars, vacations, and so much more.

But more grateful than anything else, I’m for the amazing success stories from our manifestation community. I helped to transform so many lives, and there is nothing that could make me happier.

Here are just a few of them to show you that this isn’t just a “manifestation worked for me, so it should work for you” kind of post. I have seen thousands of transformations over the years…

Testimonials Become the CEO of Your Dream Life Manifestation Book By Mia Fox Selfmadeladies
Testimonials Become the CEO of Your Dream Life Manifestation Book By Mia Fox Selfmadeladies
Testimonials Become the CEO of Your Dream Life Manifestation Book By Mia Fox Selfmadeladies

So you see, manifestation works when you know the HOW. And that’s exactly what we cover next. Let’s have a look at how manifestation works for you…

How to Manifest – How to Make it Work For You

Before we dig into the single steps, let me clarify one more thing.

Since this topic became so popular and so many are talking about it on platforms such as TikTok or YouTube, there are more and more misconceptions coming up. One of them is about different manifesting methods and which technique is the best.

So many people are mixing up manifestation tools with the actual manifestation process. So there are no “different methods”; there is one process (the one I show you below), and everything else is just the supporting tools.

But let’s have a quick look at them, and to keep things simple, I call them what most people do, manifestation methods:

Want to attract more abundance instantly? Then click here and grab my favorite guided manifestation meditation for free.

Powerful Manifestation Methods

As I just mentioned, these manifestation methods are tools to support you on your manifestation journey.

As you learn a bit, the third and last step of the process is really when your manifestation happens. But you are manifesting 24/7 all your goals, intentions, thoughts, and actions; all this is part of the process.

And that’s where these so-called methods come into play. They can assist you in every single step of the manifestation.

To learn more about them and find out what tool is best for what situation/step of the manifestation process, I suggest you read my guide on the best manifestation methods & techniques.

For this post on how here, I like to give you just a high-level overview, so that you understand how they can help you to manifest more abundance. Here the most powerful one:

Try A Vision Board

A vision board is a visual representation of your goal, helping you to send a powerful subliminal message every time you look at it.

It’s a very powerful manifestation technique because your subconscious loves mental images. But of course, you can also get very creative with this manifestation method.

It’s a topic I love to write a lot about on my blog, and my vision board workshop is also one of my bestselling courses. If you love to know more about how to create a vision board that manifests, read my vision board guide.

Write in a Manifestation Journal

Manifestation journaling is another great technique that can help you to manifest your dream life faster.

It’s perfect for the reflection part (you have to gain clarity about exactly what you want), but it’s also great to use it for your abundance blocks and limiting beliefs.

I write in my manifestation journal every morning, and in my guide on how to start a manifestation journal, I tell you why you should do the same.

Use Manifestation Affirmations

Positive affirmations and manifestation go really hand in hand. Words are very powerful, no doubt. But you have to use them the right way.

Affirmations are positive statements formulated in the present tense that state what you want to manifest.

To learn how you can create your own manifestation affirmations, read my guide on how to create affirmations that work.

Manifestation Meditations

Guided meditations can help you to reprogram your subconscious mind, even while you sleep. So no wonder they are a super powerful tool in the manifestation process.

There are guided meditations for every area of your life; you can use them to manifest love, money, or whatever you desire. Learn more about them in my manifestation meditation guide.

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Other Manifestation Methods & Techniques

The above are really my favorite methods to support the manifestation journey, I use them myself daily, and I created a toolkit for every single one of them. And, of course, my students love them too.

(They are also the ones that build my manifestation toolbox, which you get as a bonus when you join my advanced manifestation course.)

But there are many other manifestation methods that I recommend looking into it. As I said, every one of them has its unique features and can help you at a different stage of the process. Here my top three:

Then there are other methods that gained some popularity in recent years, mainly through getting shared by influencers on TikTok, like 55×5, 369, 3X33, 777

What they tell you to do is to write your goals on paper, in the form of affirmations, for a certain number of days/times in the day.

Nothing wrong with writing affirmations on paper, but first of all, people sharing these methods make them look like this is the answer to how you can manifest anything overnight. And that’s a false promise that drives me mad!

Also, who did say that writing an affirmation 55 times is better than just writing it once? These numbers are so random.

But I actually love to review these manifestation methods once in a while and share my view here.

Subconscious Manifestation Vs. Asking The Universe

Your subconscious is co-creating with you, it has your back when you are manifesting things, and therefore “manifestation” does not 100% equal regular goal-setting and achieving.

But it’s also not magic, or a spiritual ritual, as some want you to believe.

People love to talk about asking the universe or manifesting from the universe, but this “universe” is not out there; it’s within you. It’s your subconscious mind.

In a nutshell, your subconscious mind holds the key to successfully manifesting your dreams. This is where everything happens. And that’s why I connect everything back to the subconscious:

  • the manifestation goals you set
  • removing abundance blocks (that’s where you reprogram your subconscious)
  • the inspired actions to take
  • the manifestation methods you use to support the process

When you fail to trigger your subconscious and listen to the signs and hints it will send you; you will not manifest successfully. No matter how much you believed in it!

So how do you manifest with your subconscious mind? Let’s find out…

STEP-BY-STEP MANIFESTATION PROCESS

There are three main steps to consider when manifesting. Some call these three steps: “ask, believe, and receive,” which is really how “The Secret” laid out how manifestation works.

And while I do think The Secret is a wonderful book and a very inspiring movie, I do not agree 100% with its message.

I actually believe that it is over-simplifying manifestation. But not in a good “let’s make things easy for you” way – but to make it more mainstream and sell better. Therefore it gives false hopes and leads to a lot of confusion.

Of course, telling people that all they have to do is “to believe” sells better than what I do: telling you that you have to take action.

But I always aim to give no BS manifestation advice on my blog, even if it might not be as popular. 

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In my book “Become the CEO of Your Dream Life” (which I later turned in my award-winning manifestation course ), I teach a more advanced manifestation process. One that is tailored to your needs and specific to your situation.

But for this post, and to make things simpler for you, let’s concentrate on the three main steps.

Step 1: Set Manifestation Goals

The first step would be what many call “ask” or “order from the universe.” But you know by now that this universe is not out there.

So you don’t just tell “the universe” what you want, write your goals down, or glue some images with your dream life on a vision board… There’s a bit more to it.

What you really do in this first step is to find out what you want, set manifestation goals, and then communicate them to your subconscious mind.

Manifesting goals starts by getting crystal clear on what you desire and finding your intention behind your goals.

You need a specific goal-setting process, as you need to tap into your subconscious mind’s power, and you do this by triggering positive emotions and by activating the universal laws. Learn more about it in this post, law of attraction goal guide, and also manifestation goals examples.

And if you want to find out what you really want, read this: manifestation questions to ask yourself.

Step 2: Remove Abundance Blocks

The second step is the “believe” part. The problem I often see is that people think it’s enough to just “believe enough” – you then hear bad manifestation advice like “you just have to trust the universe” and that “the how is not your job” because “the universe will just deliver.” -And that’s what I mean by oversimplifying the process.

The problem is that this leads to a lot of disappointment, and I had many reaching out to me because they believed that manifestation wasn’t working for them when in fact, they just followed bad advice.

The truth is: You don’t just expect your dreams to come true. Your goals don’t magically appear just because you believe hard enough. 

Believing is just one (small) part of this step. The second manifestation step is where you align your goals with your subconscious by getting on the same vibrational level.

This process means that you have to overcome your major abundance blocks, such as limiting beliefs, emotional blocks, bad habits, or a negative self-image. But also outer blocks play an important role, such as your relationships, your environment, your looks, and your health.

It’s about decluttering your entire life and making space for abundance.

So you see that this goes way beyond just “getting high-vibe & believing” – this is a personal growth transformation that goes much deeper.

As long as you have major blocks standing in your way, you will have a hard time manifesting your desires. That said, I’m not here to sell you expensive coaching sessions.

Actually, I’m a retired manifestation coach because I found something that works so much better. It’s something you can easily learn: that’s self-coaching. (If you like to learn more about it, join my free training here!)

woman sitting on her bed meditation and manifesting her dreams, with a ign in the background saying high vibes only

That’s the point when you become “open to receive” – when you truly align with your desires. Your subconscious will have no choice but to get you there.

Expert Manifestation Tip: In my advanced manifestation method, I flip steps one and two. The reason for this is that you need to set very big manifestation goals to actually activate the law of attraction and to take inspired action.

But when you have very strong abundance blocks and hold many limiting beliefs, this will hold you back from dreaming big.

Step 3: Inspired Action Manifestation

The third step is the most important one. It’s really the manifestation itself.

This is where you make your dreams come true.

And that’s where I absolutely NOT agree with what The Secret teaches us. Because calling it “to receive” makes this step very passive. And this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

(Fun fact, the makers of the movie recently “corrected” that point and said they kind of “forgot to tell” about the importance of taking action.)

That’s a huge point to miss when you take into account that taking inspired action is key for manifestation to work!

The universe is not like Amazon. You can’t just order your dream life and expect the delivery to arrive. You have to go out there and make it happen yourself.

Mia Fox

It’s about starting to tell your subconscious a new story it then starts to believe, accept it as the new reality, and then does everything to guide you there.

That’s how you become your higher future self. The person that is already living the dream life you desire.

But your subconscious can ONLY guide you. It’s still YOU that makes the manifestation happens. It’s you that takes the needed inspired action to achieve your goals.

Learn more about the last manifestation step in this post on how to manifest a goal, and also, learn more about inspired action and how to act as if to manifest your desires.

Hope & Luck Based Manifestation VS Action-Base Manifestation

When you make the mindset shift from “ask, believe, receive” to taking control over your manifestations and leveraging the law of inspired action, that’s when your manifestation will start to work. Guaranteed!

Learn more about my action-based manifestation process (and why you should say goodbye to hope& luck-based manifestation. Join my FREE email course.

How to Get Anything You Want With My Top Tips For Manifestation 

As the title of this guide states, you can manifest anything you want. It works for everything, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone or go against their will.

The process stays the same; it doesn’t matter if you want to manifest love, more money, better health, or just a new car.

That said, every area of your life has its own finesse.

Abundance blocks, for example, can be very different whatever you want to manifest money, love, or health. The same goes for the inspired actions you need to take or the tools you want to use.

That’s why I created guides for whatever you want to attract into your life. So if you want to learn how to manifest something specific, then you are in the right place.

Manifest Love

Whatever you want to manifest your soul mate or the love from a specific person, this love manifestation guide will give you the answers. Learn here how to manifest love.

a couple buolding a heart with their hands

Manifest Money

Financial abundance is the top desire most of us have because money offers so many possibilities. And you’ll be surprised how easy it can be to manifest money.

Learn in this money manifestation guide how to attract more money, even if you are broke right now. Check it out here: how to manifest money

Manifest Health

Manifesting health is another topic I help many women with; it’s something I studied a lot for myself since I have several chronic health issues. But the connection between our body and mind is so strong; there is a lot you can do.

Get in this health manifestation guide my top manifestation tips for health and learn how to attract healing into your life: how to manifest health

Manifest Weight Loss

Part of my personal healing journey was also weight loss (I have PCOS and need to constantly control my insulin), so that’s another area I played my own manifesting guineapig. Get here my top manifesting weight loss tips.

Manifest Your Dream Body

Maybe it’s not weight loss you are after, but you have some serious fitness goals and want to change your body. Then this post on how to manifest your dream body is for you.

Manifest Pregnancy

If manifesting pregnancy is your goal, then this is for you. Over the years, I helped many women to manifest a baby and even twins. So if that’s your desire, check out this guide on how to manifest a pregnancy and baby.

Manifest Job Success

Helping others to manifest their dream job is another passion I have, maybe because I worked in HR and recruiting before I started my own business and this manifestation blog.

Learn how to manifest your dream job, manifest a job offer after an interview, or just a salary raise at your current job.

Manifest Business Success

So maybe you had enough of the 9/5 (I can’t blame you…), and you plan to start your own business, or you are already an entrepreneur (high-five to another #bossbabe) – these posts are for you: how to manifest business success, manifest more clients, or attract money for your business.

Manifest a House Or Apartment

I guess after moving over 30 times; I know a thing or two about the topic. Learn in this real-estate manifestation guide how to manifest your dream home.

FAQ – Your Manifestation Questions Answered

The Selfmadeladies Manifestation Community has more than a hundred thousand members, spread over different platforms, that’s why questions pop up regularly. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about how manifestation works.

Click on the question to read the answer:

Yes, you can really manifest anything you want, as long as it’s not hurting others or goes against someone else’s will.

In this post on what can you not manifest, I go a bit more into detail on this question.

Yes, you can manifest more than one thing at once; you can manifest as many things you like.

That said, manifestation is a process and not really a linear one. Also, when you work on too many goals at once, you might not give the single ones enough meaning. This could really confuse your subconscious mind. It’s important that you are very clear on what you want.

When your manifestation is not working, it can have many reasons. Most likely, you still have an abundance block you need to work on. Manifestation is all about getting vibrational aligned with the goals you want to reach.

Here are eight reasons to check on: why is my manifestation not working. Also, check this post on how to stop thinking about manifestations (worry less to manifest more!)

You can also read when giving up on manifesting is actually a good idea.

When two people manifest the same, it’s not about who will win – that’s not how the law of attraction works. It’s about the right alignment of goals to the subconscious mind, and that’s very individual.

Yes, you can manifest for others, for example, a job for your husband (I actually did that), but this other person needs to be aligned with the wish.

In this post, I give you the longer version of that question: Can you manifest for someone else?

No one can give you a time frame for it. You can’t force it and manifest just overnight. Sure there are tricks you can use to manifest faster, but in the end, it’s all about how big the gap between you (your subconscious mind) and your dreams and goals is.

That’s the gap you need to close. So don’t listen to headlines like “how to manifest in 24 hours” – they just want clicks. You do you.

Read my post on how you can speed up things and manifest faster.

How long it takes to manifest depends on different factors and is different from the size of your goal you want to manifest and where you are (like the blocks you need to overcome and the actions steps needed to manifest what you want).

Here you can find my longer answer on how long it takes to manifest something.

Yes, it can. As much as you can attract positive things into your life, you can also attract bad stuff. That said, fortunately, it’s a common misconception that you just “think” something into your existence.

So it takes a lot of transformational work and working on deep thought patterns to attract your dreams, and I doubt that anyone would invest these efforts into manifesting negative stuff by concentrating a lot on negative thoughts.

This really brings me to the next question…

When you want to manifest big dreams, you are still far away. This means that you need to transform on a subconscious level to get there. You need to become aligned with your dream, and therefore getting more positive and training your abundance mindset is helpful.

That said, positive thinking is NOT the holy grail of manifestation, as some personal growth gurus want you to believe. Manifestation will not work just because you become more high-vibe and take on a. positive mindset.

The same goes for negative feelings. This will still work, even when you are not happy 24/7. 

And that’s a good thing; we can’t be positive all the time. That’s not how life works. But having the right mindset and a strategy on how you can get yourself into a more abundant mindset, even when things don’t work the way you like, is definitely good to have.

Here is some related content:

How to create an abundance mindset
How to create your own happiness
Signs of a scarcity mindset

To answer the question of how to let go when manifesting, I want to bring up an important point: manifestation is happening when you take action. So letting go does not mean this is a set-and-forget thing. Letting go means that you overcome the manifestation blocks that are in your way and that you get vibrational aligned with your goals.

What helps manifestation to come true easier is not that you try with all means to let go of your goals, but to let go of old limiting beliefs, habits, and self-image. This is a personal growth journey that takes time.

To understand that your manifestation is about to happen, you need to listen to your subconscious mind. The universe (your subconscious) will send you different signs when your manifestation is close. One of them is synchronicities.

Learn more here: synchronicity and manifestation. And to learn how to understand the signs you get, read this post here:  Signs Manifesting Works.

How to Manifest Faster

We are all looking for ways to speed up things, and I guess you love to know how to manifest something quickly; I get it.

But as I already answered in the FAQs on “can you manifest overnight” – the manifestation process is not always as straightforward as we love it to be. And that’s for a good reason.

To manifest big dreams in life, you need to be ready. You need to be vibrational aligned. You need to (sometimes) work on some major blocks.

I don’t like to sugar-coat things and make false promises; that’s why I say it as it is: the universe loves speed, but it can only deliver your manifestations when you are ready.

So if the things you want to manifest don’t show up quickly, please don’t give up.

Manifestation is a process, it’s a personal growth transformation, and it takes time. The time you DESERVE to get ready to live your best life. And trust in this process. Even better, embrace it with a lot of gratitude.

Until then, I’m here for you, and I love you to join our community today so that I can show up in your inbox with more tips on how to manifest the life you love (and even send you some secret tips that help to speed up the process.

signature saying xo mia fox

PS. Just click here to join over 50K women in our manifestation community. It’s all free, and when you sign up today, you also unlock my favorite guided meditation. I will send it to you within a few minutes.