7 Best Ways To Manifest Anything You Want

Have you been disappointed with manifestation before? Aren’t sure it works or how it’s even possible? Well, I’m here to demystify the manifestation process!

The first thing you need to understand is how manifestation works and why you may have had mixed results in the past. This foundational understanding is crucial for consciously manifesting what you want in your life. The truth is that we’re all manifesting whether we realize it or not. 

You’re currently creating your own reality. But if you don’t understand the process, then you’ll attract all sorts of random things to you that may or may not match your desires. And you won’t ever be satisfied with what’s showing up for you. 

With conscious manifestation, you truly can have, be, and experience all that you desire. You co-create with the universe. 

There are universal laws that are working on your behalf all the time. Manifestation is a lot simpler than you think. If you can reconnect to the essence of who you truly are, magic unfolds. And it all starts with your imagination and opening up to possibility.

In this article, you’ll learn about how to manifest anything you desire in life based on science of manifestation.

1. Imagine

All manifestations come from imagination.

Consider this for a minute: Your dreams chose you for a reason. They want to emerge through you. 

What if everything you’ve always thought was only your imagination—mere fantasy—is actually you intuiting what’s to come? What if you were actually meant to have and experience everything you’ve ever dreamed up for yourself? How differently would you act? How would you walk through the world? With confidence, ease, and grace? 

I think the reason that I’m such a good manifestor is that I’m an artist. I view my life as my canvas. When I was little, I would carry around a sketchbook all the time. I saw the world in my mind and drew it. First I would get the idea for what I wanted to create, and then I would actually create it. My artwork has since been published in the New York Times and reviewed in major publications. I dreamt it all up first. 

That’s what I want for you. You see, the secret to manifestation is that your dreams truly want to emerge through you. They’re in your head for a reason. But it’s up to you to decide if you want to follow through with your inspiration. You can! You wouldn’t have that idea if it weren’t possible to actually manifest it. It’s your choice to manifest it.

Most people don’t dream big enough. And that’s the first way they limit themselves. If you don’t believe you’ll be able to do something, you won’t. It’s that simple. But if you can expand your capacity for what you believe is possible for yourself, then you open up the possibility for even greater success and abundance.  

How to Apply It 

Close your eyes and begin to allow yourself to imagine that you could be, have, or do anything you want. If you had unlimited resources and you knew that the universe was on your side, what would you be doing with your life? Where would you be living? Who would be in your life? What would be fun for you to create and experience? 

In this part of the process, anything goes. Nothing is too outrageous for you. You’re simply using your imagination to get an understanding of your desires. What is it that you want right now? It may look different than what you thought you wanted before. That’s okay, too. Just allow yourself to imagine your dream life.

2. Use the Law of Attraction

To really learn how to manifest your dreams, you need to understand a little bit about the law of attraction. The law of attraction means: ask and it is given. You attract things to you that match what you’re putting out. Like a radio, you transmit an energetic signal and receive matching signals from the universe in response. Simply put, the law of attraction says that your thoughts create your reality. What you think about, comes about. It’s a universal law. 

Now, if that sounds pretty far out there, let’s take a look at another scientific law of the universe that is widely accepted as true: Newton’s law of gravity. Newton’s law states that any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. 

In other words, if you let go of a book, it will fall to the ground. You can’t see the gravitational force, but you can feel its effects. The law of attraction is the same. It’s a universal law just as real as gravity. You might not be able to see it, but it’s there, and it’s always in effect. 

Even if you’re skeptical about how this works, allow yourself to play with the thought. For just a moment, open yourself to the possibility that your thoughts are creating your reality. You’re probably saying, “If my thoughts are creating my reality, then why aren’t I experiencing what I want?” Well, if it were as simple as saying, “I’m a millionaire,” and then becoming one, everyone would be rich. 

What you say is just part of the equation. There are layers of beliefs beneath the surface. As is the case for many of us, those hidden layers are the ones stop- ping you from getting what you truly want. Your thoughts aren’t in alignment with what you desire.

Pam Grout, the New York Times bestselling author of E-Squared, actually leads readers through experiments that they test on themselves to prove that our thoughts create our reality. There is one in the book where readers are instructed to plant green bean seeds in an empty egg carton. 

They’re asked to talk positively to the left half of the seeds, and negatively to the seeds on the right, while watering them equally every two days with the positive expectation that the seeds on the left will grow faster. And guess what? It’s been found over and over again that the ones that were talked to positively and expected to grow faster, did grow faster. What do you tell yourself on a daily basis? 

Imagine that you’re at a restaurant and you’re about to place an order for something to eat. You decide you want pizza. So you tell the waiter that you’d like to order the pizza. But when the waiter leaves, you can’t stop thinking about how great that Kale Caesar Salad sounded. And you start to question your decision to order the pizza. Plus pizza isn’t that healthy for you anyway, right? And you begin to feel guilty for ordering it. You think to yourself that it’s going to make you fat. 

You always indulge. You really should go on a diet. It’s not going to be that good anyway. You flag down the waiter and tell her you want to cancel your order. But they’ve already started to make the pizza. If you flag down the waiter and keep changing your order, the kitchen (or in this case, the universe) doesn’t know what to bring you. 

By having all of these thoughts, whether you’re aware of them or not, you’re sending mixed messages to the universe. No matter what you choose to order, you must decide what you want, and feel good about your decision. You say you want something. You recite affirmations, positive statements affirming you already have what you’re longing for. But on the inside, you don’t truly believe it’s possible. You doubt it’s going to happen anyway. Or you think you don’t really deserve it. So you convince yourself that you aren’t sure if it’s what you really want. We all have these thoughts at moments. I’m going to help you get out of that cycle so that you can stay in a high vibration while you’re manifesting. 

The law of attraction states that you attract things that match the vibration you put out into the world. So you want your vibration to be positive in order to attract more positive experiences into your life.

How to Apply It 

When I was traveling in Los Angeles, I discovered these neat little Universe Order Pads at a gift store. They look like the order pads waiters carry with them in a restaurant, but they’re meant to be filled out for fun. 

So I want you to put your order into the universe now. In your manifestation journal, create a list titled “My Order to the Universe” and then write down five things you’re asking for without putting “I want” in front of them. Simply write your order. For example, your list could look like the following:  

My Order to the Universe: 

1. A new car 
2. An amazing relationship 
3. A successful career 
4. A child 
5. To be financially free

The simpler, the better for this exercise. What are five things you want to manifest right now?

3. Cultivate Possibility

When you come from a place of cultivating possibility, your ideas come from a place of trust. You know that you’ve been given the idea because it’s already happening. When you trust your visions, you can step into them. And once you do, it’sa lot easier to take action on your dreams. 

Every time you have a new idea, you’re in fact shaping your new reality, but it also means that if you’re currently in a “bad” mood, you have the ability to change it. You don’t need to blame anyone. You can simply choose to believe the situation will change, and in doing so, you’ve already affected the situation. If you think the situation will get better, you’re helping it get better. 

There’s a famous study of electrons from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science which proved that “the greater the amount of ‘watching,’ the greater the observer’s influence on what actually takes place.” We know that an object doesn’t exist independently of the observer. Your actual attention and intention affect the object itself. In other words, the more aware you are of your thoughts, the more you will affect the outcome of your thoughts. 

Not only do the possibilities for your dreams live inside of you, but the fact that you’re imagining them in the first place means that they already exist. In other words, you already have what you’re imagining. When you cultivate possibility, you trust that simply having the idea means it’s happening. 

So manifesting is more about allowing what’s already there for you to come in, versus pushing to try to manifest it. It’s an exercise in trust and receiving.

How to Apply It 

The next time an idea pops into your head, pay attention to how you respond. If you notice any “I could never do that” thoughts coming up, acknowledge them, and then make the conscious choice to respond differently. 

For now, simply change your “I could never” or “I can’t” to “How can I?” This way, instead of closing off all possibilities for your dreams, you open up space for them to emerge. Opening up to possibility is simply telling yourself, “Hmm, that’s an interesting idea. I wonder how that could happen?” instead of saying, “Hmm, that’s an interesting idea, and it could never happen.” 

Your dream can come true if you cultivate the possibility for it. You’re probably familiar with the expression, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Well, the way always exists. At this stage, don’t be concerned with the how for your dreams. It will appear. Focus on the what, knowing that whatever you dream up is possible to manifest.

4. Set Your Intention

You’re an active participant in what is showing up in your life. You’re constantly creating your reality through your beliefs. Now it’s time for you to choose to believe that your dreams are already real. They are in the process of coming true right now. Your life is your canvas. It’s the greatest expression of your desires.

Your dreams are alive through you. 

You are your greatest work of art. 

And like all great artists, the creative process of manifesting starts with deciding on what it is you want to create next. The first step is to get clear on what exactly it is that you’re calling into your life. You do this by setting your intention. 

Setting your intention is simply the process of clarifying what you desire right now. This desire may be different from what you always thought you wanted or it may be a dream you’ve had for a while, but whatever it is that you desire, it should always feel lighter in your stomach, more exciting than heavy. That’s what a clear yes feels like. 

Even if your dream is scary because it’s so big, it should still feel exciting. When I work with my clients, I often find they’re the ones who are stopping themselves from getting what they want simply because they haven’t allowed themselves to imagine that it’s possible. They simply haven’t allowed themselves to believe that they can do it, so they never set their intention. But you now know that your dreams are possible simply because you have them. So the next step is to set your intention.

How to Apply It 

Let’s start applying this technique by writing down your intentions. Even if you’ve written intentions before, it’s always a good idea to write them again, because you’re constantly manifesting. And what you wanted before, you may no longer want. Plus, writing intentions over and over again amplifies your faith in them. So, in your manifestation journal, write down your answers to these questions: 

• What do you expect to show up in your life? 
• What would you love to show up in your life? 

Notice if your answers match up. It’s okay if they don’t yet. You’ll get there. Set an intention—something small that you will feel good about, whatever it is, that will happen. 

Now allow yourself to dream bigger than what you are allowing yourself to believe is possible for you right now. You have to open up to your vision in order for it to come into being. If you haven’t even imagined it, then you’re closing off the doors of possibility for it to ever happen. 

So write down your two most outrageous intentions for your life. For example, “I am a successful painter exhibiting at the Whitney Museum of American Art. I am married to the love of my life and we travel the world together making art and giving back to communities in need through our charitable organization.” Feel good about whatever you write down as your intentions and open up to a new possibility for yourself.

If you’re nervous about actually claiming your dream, it’s okay. You can never choose the wrong dream. You always have the power of choice. If one thing doesn’t work out, you can always choose again. You’re never truly stuck in any situation. Remember, the universe is always in motion. 

5. Expect It

So you know that manifesting starts with your desire and belief in your vision. But the key element that’s missing from many discussions about the manifestation process is expectation. Expectation is so important when it comes to making manifestation easy. You see, Manifestation = Desire + Belief + Expectation. In other words, manifestation is the sum total of your intention, your persistent thoughts, and what you expect will actually show up for you.

When I think about my life, expectation has been a key factor in how I’ve co created the amazing situations and circumstances.

I have an inner knowing that everything is always going to work out. I actually feel like I’m guided by the universe. I truly believe that I’m blessed, and I always trust without a doubt that everything is working out in my highest good. And because I’m expecting my dreams to unfold, they do.

In his book The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton explains that biology is based on belief. If you believe you’re fat and unhealthy, that’s what you become. 

And the opposite is true. If you truly believe you’re strong and healthy, you’ll be strong and healthy. Dr. Lipton explains that genes and DNA do not in fact control our biology, but you are in control of your life. Recent studies have found that your DNA is actually affected by the energy of your thoughts. Our body is made up of trillions of cells. And each cell has receptors that pick up frequencies shaped by your thoughts and perceptions. 

In addition, you’re probably familiar with the placebo effect. For example, two different groups of people are given the same pill to heal themselves. But one group’s pill doesn’t actually have the medicine in it, and the other does. The interesting thing is that after many studies, groups with the fake pill actually heal just as fast. It’s because they believe their pills are real. They expect to heal. You see, you can expect good things to happen. You can expect your dreams to manifest.

How to Apply It 

In order to expect that good things are happening for you, you need to focus on the good. So take out your manifestation journal and write down the answer to this question: “What’s new and good and in my life?” For example, you may write down things like: 

• The new client I just got 
• The amazing dinner my husband cooked for me last night
• The birthday present that came early 
• The trip we just booked abroad 

Try to list at least fifteen things, and then keep going. Usually what happens is that when you start writing, you remember other things that might have seemed insignificant before. You start to remember that there are a lot of good things to celebrate. And therefore, you begin to expect more good things to come. I like to do this exercise on a regular basis. You can do it once a week, once a month, or as often as you like. Knowing you’re going to do it again brings forth positive expectation of more good things to come.

6. Practice Gratitude

Simply put, the more grateful you are and the more you take the time to appreciate your life, the more life will give you to be grateful for. You’ve probably heard of this concept before, but have you actually put it into practice? 

The positive energy that you put forth when you’re grateful helps bring more things into your life to be grateful for. In fact, a recent 3-year study by the University of California found that people who practiced gratitude on a regular basis had stronger immune systems; lower blood pressure; were more positive, happy, and optimistic; and felt connected to a greater universe. 

While you can’t always control your outer circumstances, you can control your reaction. You get to choose what you focus on in your life. By practicing gratitude, you begin to filter out the negativity in your life and shine a light on all the good things that are occurring. And when you consciously count your blessings, you begin to notice all the good things throughout your life. That’s how gratitude expands. It’s almost as if your mind has a focus lens that searches out the good and zooms in on it. 

If you’re in a tough spot right now and you find it hard to name even one thing you’re grateful for, remember that even the little things count. Be grateful for: 

• The person who held the door for you 
• The checkout person who rang up your groceries 
• The roof over your head (wherever it may be) 
• Having the beautiful opportunity to exist in this lifetime 
• Your parents or whoever raised you 
• The meal you ate 
• The farmers who helped harvest your food 
• The breath you just took 
• …and more 

When you are able to see how much you’re supported right now—even if you don’t already have everything you want—you renew your faith in the universe that you’re always supported no matter what. And you enhance your ability to manifest your dreams.

How to Apply It 

Every night before you go to bed, take out your manifestation journal and write down three things that you’re grateful for. This alone will make a huge difference in your life. You might find that you’ll want to write down even more things. And that’s great! Keep going. Soon you’ll have a lot to write about! I tend to write pages of gratitude. Watch your gratitude expand.

7. Pay Attention to Your Language

The words you speak affect your reality. Use words with intention. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the negative without even realizing it. But all you have to do to transform your negative mind chatter is to alter your language so that you can consciously create what you want. Be more intentional with the language that you use in relation to your desires. 

Pay attention to when your thoughts feel negative. For instance, you have to go to a day job you don’t like while you’re building your side business. You might be caught saying, “I have to go to work.” And that makes you feel dread. Instead of using the words, “I have to,” see if you can shift it to “I get to.” There’s always something good hidden in what you’re loathing. You just haven’t looked for it. For example, you could say:

• “I get to work with people I love.” 
• “I get to have an hour-long train ride to work where I get to read a book and listen to my favorite music.” 
• “I get to decorate my desk with photos of people I love.”

So focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Soon you’ll start to notice that better opportunities are showing up for you. 

Now, there are some situations where switching up your language may feel a little more tricky, but you can find ways to make sure you’re still creating joy in your life. For example, a lot of people say things like:

• “I can’t afford that.” 
• “Not now.” 
• “When we have more time we can do it.” 
• “When we have more money we can afford it.”

Since we live in a yes universe, if you say those things—even just to yourself— you’re claiming that you don’t have the time or can’t afford something. Therefore amazing opportunities will show up, like a fabulous trip, and you won’t have enough time or money to go. But that’s what you asked for! Things will show up that you literally can’t afford. Similarly, if you say “When I have time” or “When we have money,” you’re putting your dreams on hold for the future. And they will always stay in the future. 

It can feel weird to flip the statement and say, “I can afford it,” if you really can’t. So instead, I recommend saying, “How can I?” That way, you are opening up to possibility instead of closing it off completely. It’s like saying, “I’m open to help. 

Show me the way. I’m willing to see how this can happen.” 

Words are powerful. You might find you continually say certain phrases over and over. One of mine used to be, “I don’t have enough time.” So can you guess what I kept attracting? More things on my to-do list. If you’re constantly telling yourself, “I’m so busy. I don’t have enough time,” that’s exactly what you will be: busy. You won’t have time to do the things you love.

How to Apply It 

Notice if you have any phrases you continually say that you’d like to flip to the positive and write them down in your manifestation journal. Then cross them out, and write a new phrase that opens up to the possibility of having what you desire. 

Use the following table as an example to get started.

Remember, you are in control of how you feel. And your language is one of the most direct ways to effect a change. Don’t feel bad every time you notice a negative phrase coming through your language. This exercise is simply about being conscious of the language you’re using so that you can choose better feeling words and thoughts.