Is Manifestation Just Woo-Woo?

That’s what I thought until I tried it. But looking back at 2025, I think it might be working.

As the year comes to a close, I’ve been thinking about the unexpected lessons that shaped my work—and my company—over the past 12 months. Near the top of the list is something I never imagined I’d say publicly, let alone write a column about: manifestation.

For years, I listened to my friends speak about manifestation. If I visualize what I want, they’d say, the universe will deliver it. I’d smile politely, but the sarcastic part of me couldn’t help thinking: Sure. If you manifest that your cancer will disappear, it will. To me, manifestation always felt like peak woo-woo—an excuse to wish for outcomes instead of doing the work required to achieve them. I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve built a business. I believe in numbers, decisions, effort, and execution. If I want something to happen, I don’t manifest it. I get to work.

I also believed manifestation, at least as it’s commonly framed, gave too much credit to wishful thinking and not enough to the grinding, often painful work that actually produces results. Entrepreneurs don’t manifest payroll. We don’t manifest product-market fit. We don’t manifest cash flow. We earn it—usually the hard way. But at some point this year, something shifted for me.

What changed wasn’t a sudden belief that the universe was going to rearrange itself on my behalf. What changed was my understanding of the underlying principle behind manifestation: intention, focus, the story you choose to believe about your business and how that story quietly influences the actions you take or don’t take.

Several months ago, I tested this shift on myself and on MultiFunding. I made a simple mental commitment: We are a high-growth company. Not “maybe.” Not “let’s see how the market behaves.” Not “if everything works out.” A definitive, unapologetic statement about what we are becoming. Then I started aligning my time, attention, and energy with that belief.

Here’s what that looked like in practice—my big chess moves of the year: I stopped taking speaking engagements that might yield only marginal results. They weren’t bad opportunities. They just weren’t going to move the needle in a meaningful way. And at this stage, meaningful has to be the bar.

I became unafraid to make the right hires—the ones that can genuinely help us grow. Instead of asking, Can we afford this person? I started asking, Can we afford not to bring in the talent a high-growth company needs? I focused only on partnerships or marketing programs that could realistically grow the company by at least 10 percent. If something couldn’t create real momentum, I didn’t want to spend time on it.

And I stopped putting energy into things that waste time, even if they felt productive or familiar. Busywork is a silent thief. I stopped letting it steal from our goals.

None of these decisions was mystical. None was magical. They were the result of a mindset shift that forced me to think bigger and act bolder.

And here’s the part that surprised me: it’s working. We’ll grow our top line by roughly 50 percent this year—dramatically higher than in previous years—and our budget calls for doing it again next year.

So what actually changed? Some of the growth is undoubtedly driven by economic shifts. Some of it reflects the steady improvement in our brand, marketing efforts, and reputation. All of those practical realities matter.

But I also believe—strongly—that the mindset shift played a role. Not because the universe rewarded my optimism, but because I rearranged myself: my priorities, my focus, and my willingness to say no to the wrong things so I could say yes to the right ones.

As I reflect on the year, that’s the lesson I’m carrying into the next one. Manifestation, at least the practical version, isn’t about believing something into existence. It’s about choosing a story big enough to change your behavior.

There’s still plenty about manifestation that I’ll happily call nonsense. It does not cure cancer. It does not eliminate the need for hard work. It does not replace strategy, discipline, or execution.

But here’s what it gets right: The story you tell yourself shapes what you pay attention to. What you pay attention to shapes what you work on. What you work on shapes your outcomes. If you tell yourself a bigger story about your business, you instinctively make bigger decisions. If you tell yourself a smaller story, you make smaller ones. That part, at least, is real.

So as I look ahead to next year, I’m not resolving to manifest anything mystical. But I am committing to the mindset that shifted everything for us this year: Act like a high-growth company. Focus on big moves. And only put energy into the things that help us get there.

If that counts as a little woo-woo, well—Happy New Year to us.