Stop Manifesting. Start Adapting.

Stop Manifesting. Start Adapting.

Let me guess. You’ve got a vision board. It’s plastered with pictures of fancy cars, sprawling mansions, and perfectly chiseled bodies. You spend ten minutes every morning chanting affirmations, trying to will your desires into existence. You’ve been told to “think positive” and “manifest your reality.”

I’m here to tell you that’s all bullshit.

Your vision board is a monument to a lie. The universe doesn’t give a damn about your intentions, your wishes, or your carefully curated collage of magazine cutouts. It operates on a set of principles far more powerful and unforgiving than the law of attraction. It operates on the laws of physics.

Reflecting on my past, I realize how often I resisted change and clung to illusions that no longer served me. Like many, I made choices driven by ego and a desire for control, only to find myself stuck rather than moving forward. It was a gradual awakening—one that challenged my previous beliefs and prepared me to embrace a more grounded understanding of how the world truly operates.

It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the work of a stoned-out hippie with a Ph.D. named Dr. Bob Melamede that I began to understand the truth. The world doesn’t work the way the self-help gurus tell you it does. And if you want to stop spinning your wheels and actually start making progress, you need to trade your vision board for a textbook.

The Problem with Pretty Pictures

The fundamental flaw in the manifestation mindset is that it’s based on a backward-looking view of the universe. It assumes a world of equilibrium, a static state where you can simply pluck your desires from the ether and insert them into your life. It’s a philosophy for Backward-Looking People (BLPs), those who are constantly trying to impose old models on a new world, who resist change and cling to the illusion of control.

But that’s not the world we live in. We live in a universe that is far-from-equilibrium. It’s a chaotic, dynamic, and constantly evolving system. Life exists at the edge of chaos, not in a state of placid balance. As Dr. Bob would say, “If you’re in equilibrium, you’re dead.”

The arrow of time only moves in one direction. The past is gone. It doesn’t exist. Trying to manifest a future based on a static image of what you think you want is like trying to navigate a raging river by staring at a photograph of a calm lake. You’re going to get crushed against the rocks.

“The art of life is to be in tune with the process of change.” - Dr. Bob Melamede

This is why your affirmations feel hollow and your vision board gathers dust. You’re shouting into a void that isn’t listening. You’re trying to impose order on a system that thrives on disorder. You’re playing the wrong game entirely.

From Manifesting to Adapting: A Personal Detour

It makes me laugh to reflect upon some of the choices I've made in my former life. Man was I a fucking idiot! I used to resist change; I used to hold on to things that were not; I made horrendous decisions every day, all in the effort to preserve my ego and resist change.

And for a while, it kind of worked. But eventually, the market started to change. New competitors emerged. Regulations shifted. The ground was moving under my feet, and my rigid vision was starting to crack. I was burning out, frustrated that the world wasn’t conforming to my plan. I was that guy staring at the picture of the calm lake while my raft was heading for a waterfall.

So, I stopped trying to control everything. I started listening more. I paid attention to the feedback from our users, our employees, and the market. We started experimenting, running small tests, and seeing what worked. We became a more agile, responsive organization. We became a Forward-Looking People (FLP) company. We stopped trying to be the map and started trying to be the compass.

It was terrifying. It meant letting go of the illusion of control that had been my security blanket for so long. But it was also liberating. We were no longer fighting the river; we were riding the current. And that’s when the real, sustainable growth began.

The Takeaway: How to Be an FLP

So, how do you make this shift? How do you stop being a backward-looking manifester and start being a forward-looking adapter? It’s not about a magical switch; it’s about a daily practice. Here’s where to start:

1. Burn Your Vision Board (Seriously): The first step is to let go of the outcome. Stop fixating on a static, perfect future. The future is unknowable. Your attachment to a specific outcome is the source of your suffering. Instead, focus on the process. What’s the next right move you can make, right now?
2. Tune Into Your ECS: Your body is an incredibly intelligent system. It’s constantly giving you feedback. Are you feeling tired, stressed, anxious? That’s not a sign of weakness; it’s data. Your ECS is telling you that you’re out of alignment with your environment. Listen to it. Rest. Eat well. Move your body. Meditate. Do what you need to do to bring your system back into a state of adaptive flow.
3. Run Small Experiments: Instead of making massive, life-altering plans, run small experiments. Treat your life like a laboratory. Have a hypothesis? Test it. Want to change careers? Don’t just quit your job. Take a night class. Do a small freelance project. Get real-world feedback. See how the system responds. Let the feedback guide your next move.
4. Embrace Entropy: Things will fall apart. You will fail. Projects will collapse. Relationships will end. This is not a personal failing. This is the second law of thermodynamics in action. It’s a feature, not a bug. The key is not to resist it, but to use the energy released from the breakdown to reorganize into a new, more complex, and more adaptive state. Every ending is a new beginning. That’s not a platitude; it’s physics.

Stop trying to be the master of the universe. You’re not. You’re a participant. A dancer. A surfer. Your power doesn’t come from control; it comes from your ability to adapt. It comes from your willingness to let go of what you thought you wanted and embrace the beautiful, chaotic, and unpredictable process of what is actually emerging.

Closing

Forget the law of attraction. It’s a comforting lie for a world that doesn’t exist. The real world is messy, chaotic, and relentlessly moving forward. You can either fight it and get crushed, or you can learn its rules and play the game. The choice is yours.