How to Manifest for Beginners – The Ultimate Manifestation Guide

Want to learn how to manifest something specific or even reprogram your subconscious mind to attract more abundance and your dream life? You are in the right place. This manifestation guide is perfect for beginners, guiding you step-by-step through the manifestation process.

In this Manifestation Guide, You’ll Learn

  • The science of manifestation, including the universal law of attraction.
  • The steps to manifesting your desires, even the really big ones.
  • The best manifestation methods to use to unlock the true manifestation power.
  • How you overcome abundance blocks and reprogram your subconscious mind.
  • How to master manifestation with that ONE key ingredient.

Plus, you’ll get many more manifestation secrets, tips, and wisdom…

The Basics: What Is Manifestation, the Law of Attraction, and the Secret?

Before you can manifest your dreams, you should understand the principles of manifestation.

There’s so much content on the topic (from famous books like The Secret to thought leaders like Oprah, everyone talks about it) – and still, not many are teaching the true science of manifestation (and rather sell it as some woo-woo concept).

As a bestselling manifestation book author, I know that too well.

I had so many readers reach out to me, telling me that my book was such an eye-opener, even after reading many other books on manifestation or investing in expensive courses and coaching sessions.

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

Click here to get your copy of my practical manifestation book “Become the CEO of Your Dream Life”



So, what does manifesting mean? Manifestation comes from the Latin word “manifestare” which mainly means to make something real.

And most 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 later on in this manifestation guide.)

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 wish for something and then believe in it, and you’ll get it.

BUT manifestation is not magic.

Manifestation means that you set your goals, get vibrational aligned with them, and finally manifest them into existence by taking inspired action.

But don’t worry; in this manifestation blog, I will show you step-by-step how to do that.

mockup of free manifestation email course by selfmadeladies mia fox

Where Does Manifestation Come From? From the Book The Secret?

Who invented manifestation? What’s the history of the law of attraction?

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) Jack Canfield, definitely helped to make it more mainstream.

But did you know that the Law of Attraction dates back over 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 crucial that you understand that the law of attraction is not some magic trick that turns you into an abundance magnet. 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.

Mia Fox

That One Big Question: Does Manifestation Really Work?

It might not happen overnight, but…

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.

I’ll tell you more about it in this manifestation blog, but to get all the ins and outs of my action-based manifestation technique > join my free manifestation email course.

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

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

Since manifestation became so popular, many are talking about it on platforms such as TikTok or YouTube, and there are more and more misconceptions coming up.

One confusion is about different manifestation methods and which technique is the best. Many people are mixing up manifestation tools with the actual manifestation process.

But let’s have a quick look at them for a better understanding…

Powerful Manifestation Methods

While the manifestation process always follows the same steps, manifestation methods are like a toolbox you can use to unleash the full manifestation potential.

They can help you on every step of the manifestation:

  • To find out what you truly want.
  • To identify and overcome abundance blocks.
  • To reprogram your subconscious and become vibrationally aligned.
  • To take more inspired actions.

To learn more about manifestation methods and to find out what tool is the best for your unique situation, read my guide on the best manifestation methods & techniques.

Here is a quick overview of my favorite methods I use in my daily manifestation practice:

  • Vision Board – is a powerful manifestation technique because your subconscious loves mental images. To learn more, get my vision board toolkit, including my best-selling vision board workshop, or read my vision board guide.

  • Manifestation Journaling – to manifest by writing it down. I write in my manifestation journal every morning; that’s why I created my journaling toolkit, where I share my favorite manifestation journal prompts, and in my guide on how to start a manifestation journal, I tell you why you should start journaling today.

  • Manifestation Affirmations are positive statements formulated in the present tense that state what you want to manifest. It’s a great way to reprogram your subconscious; to learn more about it, read my guide on creating affirmations for manifestation or download my free guided affirmation session.

  • Gratitude – because it opens up your abundance gates. The more you concentrate on the good things you already have, the more of them you’ll attract.

  • Manifestation Meditations – 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 how to manifest while you sleep by reprogramming your subconscious mind in my manifestation meditation guide.
banner for free guided manifestation meditation download

The above manifestation methods are really my favorite to support the manifestation journey. I use them daily, so I created a toolkit for every single one of them (you can find them in my manifestation shop.)

There are other manifestation methods that gained some popularity, mainly from influencers on social media platforms, such as TikTok. Here a few examples:

  • 55×5
  • 369
  • 3X33
  • 777

Here, I share why I don’t recommend these random numbers manifestation methods.

Because… they all miss out on a very important fact about manifestation…

Subconscious Manifestation Vs. Asking The Universe

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

But manifestation is 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.

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

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

Manifestation Expert Tip: Manifestation is ultimately a goal-setting and goal-achiveing proccess, but one that is backed by the subconscious mind (your manifestation super power). So every step in the proccess needs to adress your subconscious programming.

Mia Fox

How to Manifest: Step-by-step Manifestation Process

There are three main steps 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’s oversimplifying 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, even if it might not be as popular. 

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is SelfMadeLadies-Manifestation-Blog-17.jpg

In my book “Become the CEO of Your Dream Life” (which I later turned into 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.

Manifestation Step 1: Set Your 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, or 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 manifestation step is to become crystal clear on what you want, set manifestation goals, and then communicate them to your subconscious mind.

Manifestation Expert Tip: To find out what you truly desire you need to find your intension behind your goals. A great way is by asking yourself WHY you want something. A specific goal-setting process helps you tap into your subconscious mind’s power by triggering positive emotions and by activating the universal laws.

Mia Fox

Manifestation Step 2: Remove Abundance Blocks

The second step on how to manifest is the “believe” part. An important step, but I often see that people think it’s enough to just “believe enough” – you then hear bad manifestation advice like:

“you just have to trust the universe”
“the how is not your job”
“the universe will just deliver.”


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, “believing” is just one (small) part of this step. The second manifestation step is where you vibrationally align your goals with your subconscious.

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


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 manifestation 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.

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

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. I personally “retired” as a manifestation coach because I found something that works so much better to mastering manifestation: Self-Coaching. And that’s one of the many things I teach my readers and students.

Manifestation Expert Tip: In my advanced manifestation program, I flip step 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, like deep rooted limiting beliefs, this will hold you back from dreaming big.

Mia Fox

Manifestation Step 3: Take Inspired Action

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 understand 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

Manifestation is about starting to tell your subconscious a new story; your subconscious then starts to believe it, 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 happen. It’s you, that takes the needed inspired action to achieve your goals.

Related Content About Inspired Action

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.

Still, every area of your life has its own abundance blocks or needs a different kind of inspired action. Also, the manifestation methods can vary.

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 check out my manifestation guides:

Manifest Love

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

Manifest Money

Financial abundance is the top desire most of us have, and you’ll be surprised how easy it can be to manifest money. Learn in this money manifestation guide how to manifest money (even if you are broke right now.)

Manifest Health

Manifesting health is another topic I helped many readers and students with. It’s also something I studied a lot for myself since I have several chronic health issues to deal with.

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 healing, and how to manifest health.

Manifest Weight Loss

Part of my personal healing journey was also weight loss (I have PCOS and need to control my insulin constantly), 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 Business Success

So maybe you have had enough of your 9-5 job, and you plan to start your own business, or you are already an entrepreneur – then this post is for you: how to manifest business success.

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, which is why questions about how to manifest pop up regularly.

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about how manifestation works:

Can you manifest anything You Want?

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 into more detail on this question.

Can you manifest multiple things at once?

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

Why Is My Manifestation Not Working?

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

Here are eight reasons to check on why your manifestation is 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.

What happens when two people want to manifest the same thing?

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.

Can you manifest for someone else?

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?

How long does it take to manifest?

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 right now. It’s really all about the abundance blocks you need to overcome and the action steps needed to manifest what you want.

How to Manifest Faster? And Can you manifest something overnight?

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.

Is manifesting dangerous?

Is manifesting dangerous, and can it go wrong? The short answer is: 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. I doubt anyone would invest these efforts into manifesting negative stuff by concentrating a lot on negative thoughts.

Abundance mindset vs. scarcity mindset – why is a positive mindset important?

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

How Can I Let Go When Manifesting?

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.

How do I know my manifestations are coming?

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 Manifestation Changed My Life (And Why I’m Teaching You This)

I started this manifestation blog because I wanted to share with others how manifestation finally worked for me (after many trials and errors.) It was life-changing. SelfMadeLadies started as a community to give other women hope and inspiration.

This soon turned into the top manifestation blog (with over a million readers), my bestselling manifestation book Become the CEO of Your Dream Life, and the 7-week transformational program, with thousands of students from all over the world.

My own manifestation success story started more than 15 years ago when I was at a very low point in my life, and a friend and NLP coach helped me to get out there. That’s when I started to become interested in the subconscious mind…

I try to keep this short here, but here you can read more about my personal manifestation success story.

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.

While I hope this beginner’s guide on how to manifest answers your most burning questions, I would like to invite you into our community, where I send you daily manifestation tips via email (many of which I have never shared before.)

The best way to sign up is by joining my free 5-day manifestation course.

signature saying xo mia fox

PS. Just click here to join over 100K amazing action-takers in our manifestation community. It’s all free, and when you sign up today, you unlock the first lesson of my manifestation course.

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