How to Manifest Your Goals, According to an Expert

Manifestation is one of those things that many think is magic or voodoo bullshit. But ask people who’ve manifested their goals, dream careers, and relationships, and they’ll tell you it’s anything but.

While many people are under the impression that manifestation means just thinking about something and it becomes true (such as imagining you have a million dollars and it suddenly ends up in your bank account), that’s not what it actually is. 

According to Kathleen Cameron, a success, life, and manifestation coach — as well as an eight-figure entrepreneur — manifestation is becoming aware of something that was already there.

“What that means is that in order to create a different life for yourself, you need to become a different version of yourself,” says Cameron. “And it’s a version that already exists. You’re just becoming aware of that version. More confidence, more discipline, more worthiness. So you take different action. It’s a real cause and effect type of situation.” 

I recently spoke with Cameron as well as Hallie Avolio, another top manifestation coach and expert, to learn their best tips, tricks, and practices to manifest your goals, manifest more money, and manifest your dream job.

woman journaling to manifest goals

The secret is that it’s already within you 

Manifestation became a thing around 2006 when the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne came out. The Secret was about how to use the law of attraction to manifest goals and dreams.

But what exactly is the law of attraction? Cameron tells me it starts with the understanding that we’re all made up of energy. “The way in which our body moves our energy is the way in which we attract,” she explains. “We use the word emotion to describe the vibration that we’re in or the way our energy is moving.”

In other words, if you’re sad, focused on what you lack, or feeling frustrated, your vibration lowers and you’ll attract more of the same.

“When your energy is literally oscillating, lower and slower, it doesn’t feel very good,” says Cameron. “You attract based on that place, so you will attract more things to be sad about. And things won’t go the way that you want because you’re a vibrational match to it.”

The “trick” to the law of attraction is to already feel good about your life as it is in the present.

“You have to realize that whether it’s the job, the boyfriend, the purse, etc., those things are not going to bring you joy and happiness if you don’t already have that within yourself,” says Avolio. “There are no conditions. You have to find that joy and show up in your life for yourself without the condition of the boyfriend, the purse, the money, the job, the vacation.”

Negative thinking can only lead to negative results. “If someone is spending a good chunk of their days thinking about how they can’t attract the right person — ‘I go through all these dates, and the guys are just losers and what’s wrong with me’ — we get into that spiral,” explains Avolio. 

Part of this is also choosing yourself instead of falling into the victim mentality that has practically become a social contagion in recent years. Avolio recommends shifting your energy and focusing on what you can control to put yourself into a higher energy state.

“We can say ‘I am living my best life’ every single day,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if I have a date, it doesn’t matter if I have a boyfriend. I’m waking up this morning, and I’m choosing myself. I’m going to choose to do a meditation, I’m going to choose to journal. I’m going to choose to work out, I’m going to choose that this day is going to be epic. I am worthy. I am enough. Now you’ve shifted your energetic state.”  

Actionable steps to take

While instantly shifting your state of mind isn’t always easy, you can make a plan of action to get things going. Cameron recommends trying visualizations.

“Visualizations [create an] actual molecular change in your body,” she says. Think about a lemon, for example.


“Visualize yourself going into your kitchen and grabbing a nice juicy lemon,” says Cameron. “Roll it on the counter, cut that lemon in half, and then suck on it. When you visualize yourself sucking on the lemon, your mouth waters. You use your imagination to physically change the way your body was functioning. You started to produce more saliva almost instantly.”

How does that relate to manifesting your goals or your dream career? “If you want a new house, a new job, [or] more success in your business, you’re better off visualizing it over and over again, in your mind,” says Cameron. “Feel the feeling of the wish fulfilled.”

Don’t ask “how” but “who”

Cameron tells me she’s often asked “how” to manifest something, but she believes it’s the who and not the how that makes things happen.

Ask yourself: Who do I need to be in order to have this job promotion? To have this new house? To double the income I’m bringing into my business? Who do I need to be? “Answering that question is where the answer lies in the manifestation,” says Cameron.

She adds: “I look at, for example, myself and how I’m currently behaving today, how I feel every day, and the actions that I do or do not take. If I want to accomplish more and have the bigger house and have more money, likely I’m going to need to make a change in the way that I see myself, which in turn affects the way that I behave today.”

What if manifestation isn’t working for you?

If manifestation isn’t working, you might have some subconscious blocks. If that’s the case, Avolio recommends dropping into your body through meditation. You could also have had trauma you haven’t worked through. If that’s the case, you may want to consider therapy or other work to unblock yourself.

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About Amanda Lauren

Originally from New York City, Amanda Lauren currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two dogs Milo and Lulu. Rarely seen in an actual gym, she is a group fitness enthusiast who enjoys Pilates (both East Coast and West Coast styles), spin, barre, power plates, yoga and her newest obsession, versa climbing. She will try any group fitness class at least once. When Amanda isn’t working out or trying to find the perfect pair of pink sneakers, she blogs about her adventures in fitness as well as fashion, lifestyle and beauty on ItsAmandaLauren.com.