Matt Webb is pretty sure about manifesting, the idea that you can manifest the goals you imagine into your physical reality, even though he doesn’t have evidence for it. He writes, “I don’t know what the mechanism is. I don’t need to know.” 

I’ve found this to be a driving force in my life, and I did need to know, so I spent a lot of time researching and discussing it. Here are three mechanisms that I have noticed:

The prediction mechanism: Your expectations, and your predictions based on them, will change how you behave. Several academics have called the brain a prediction machine (here, here, and here), based on the idea that your brain is constantly trying to foresee what is going to happen. I believe that as time goes on, if we pay attention to our life experiences, we make more accurate guesses about feasible things—and thus we act based on that.

This is best embodied in the saying attributed to Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” Of course, people use this phrase to invoke the magical thinking element—which I think causes more pain than benefit. You can’t just make a new prediction, and have it cause anything to come true. It’s usually the opposite—the prediction you made forecasts what happens.

The energy mechanism: Sometimes, when a prediction does make something come true—and it does happen!—it’s usually because the prediction increases some sort of energy. 

That could be personal energy—like a prediction energizing you and giving you more motivation, which causes you to work harder. It could also be market-making energy, like a credible prediction causing people to temporarily drive stock prices up, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Conversely, if a prediction drains energy, that also creates a negative effect. 

Sometimes these energies sustain long enough to make a lasting positive or negative change in your attitude. Robert Greene writes, “Do not be afraid to exaggerate the role of willpower. It is an exaggeration with a purpose. It leads to a positive self-fulfilling dynamic, and that is all you care about. See this shaping of your attitude as your most important creation in life, and never leave it to chance.”

The appraisal mechanism: Your brain takes in evidence all day every day, and appraises it. If you don’t deal with your insecurity, your brain will be locked in by self-limiting beliefs and they will drive your predictions (see above), and your behavior, and produce the outcomes that make them come true.

For example, if you choose to bias your experiences in the belief that the world is working in your favor, or that you are lucky, you start seeing things differently. Your worldview opens, you are more friendly with people, and your relaxed attitude draws other people in; they want to be around you. That change starts because you choose to appraise things differently and give people the benefit of the doubt. Hanlon’s Razor is a good example of this, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

There are other mechanisms that come to mind. I’ll need to save the confidence mechanism, the evidence mechanism, and the promotion mechanism for a sequel to this post.