The Law of Attraction says your thoughts and feelings manifest your reality; they contain vibrations and frequencies that create tangible outcomes or visible results. It’s pseudoscience that makes vague references to neurology, metaphysics and quantum mechanics.

The Law of Attraction is a New Thought or New Age concept. The idea is that whatever you desire, the universe will provide.

New Thought is found in Prosperity Gospel or Word of Faith churches, which preach that if you have a big dream or goal, you name it and claim it, and it will be yours. They often misuse or misquote Bible verses to make their philosophy seem Christian, while denying key elements of historic Christianity.

New Age emerged in the late 1960s and early ‘70s as an alternative to organized religion in Western society. It draws from Eastern Thought and religions, like Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as Western occult practices.

New Thought and New Age practices are now part of the mainstream and are taught in the self-help industry, productivity and wellness groups, corporations, schools and even some churches.

These belief systems align with the law of attraction, which says there is a cosmic force or spiritual source that fulfills our innermost desires, and humans have supernatural power to influence this force or source.

Proponents claim it works under three core principles. Like attracts like. Nature abhors a vacuum. And the present is always perfect. They say you make space for positive thoughts and feelings, which vibrate at high frequencies and attract what you want. And you let go of negative thoughts, which do the opposite. According to LOA principles, what you think and feel determines your level of health, wealth, and success.

Hello and welcome to The Incrementalist. My name is Dyan Williams and I’m your productivity coach who will help you make big changes in small steps.

Whether it’s a New Thought or New Age practice, the law of attraction is more than just having a positive outlook. Thinking positively can help you improve your mental health, manage stress, overcome setbacks and trigger action to respond to challenges. Positive psychology is the study of what makes a fulfilling life. It encourages you to develop personal interests, talents and strengths, and build positive relationships to create a good life.

The law of attraction goes beyond positive thinking or positive psychology. It states that you can use your mind, human body or spirit guide to manifest positive experiences, circumstances and opportunities.

Manifestation includes 3 key techniques - visualization, affirmations, and setting clear intentions - to obtain desired outcomes.

Visualization involves picturing your goals, dreams, desires and wants as if you already have them. You train your brain to visualize how you would like things to be rather than how they are. You picture who you need to be to achieve them and who you will be when you do. An example is keeping a vision board with photos representing your ideal life.

Affirmations are positive, I AM or I HAVE statements to reinforce beliefs in getting what you want. You say them out loud and repeat them to yourself. The idea is this will reprogram negative thinking and affect your subconscious mind to overcome limiting beliefs. Even if the statement isn’t true, you act as if it is. It’s a form of prayer in the New Thought Movement.

Setting intentions is harnessing the power of the mind to create your destiny. It includes thinking and saying you will achieve something, even if you lack the plans, knowledge and skills to reach the goal.

From a psychological perspective, manifestation can create a positive mindset or attitude, which inspires action, shapes behavior, and affects the outcome. But when it relates to the law of attraction, manifestation is a metaphysical practice involving mind power only.

LOA teachers say high vibrational people have positive emotions (like love or happiness) and vibrate at a higher frequency. Meanwhile, low vibrational people have negative emotions (like fear or shame) and vibrate at a lower frequency. In other words, positive thoughts and feelings create more success while negative thoughts and feelings lead to more failure. This is the theory of vibration.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, LOA advocate Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith explains the theory. He says we need to lift our vibration to manifest good things. And when we operate at a low vibration or we’re not “vibrationally aligned,” we create bad things in life.

In her 2006 book and film, The Secret, author Rhonda Bryne brought the law of attraction into the mainstream and claimed it’s the greatest secret of the universe.

Her 3-step manifestation practice is: ask, believe, and receive. Ask for what you want. Believe your thoughts have power. And you will receive. This is a New Thought believer using Christian or biblical terms to promote her view.

Prosperity gospel leaders like Joel Olsteen preach that prayers can make you wealthy and healthy because God promises to deliver prosperity to believers. They make God into a cosmic genie who grants wishes in response to words of faith. These teachings are not rooted in historic Christianity, but in New Thought.

The law of attraction gained more popularity through spiritual influencers like Neal Donald Walsh, Wayne Dwyer, Richard Rohr, Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra. A common thing they teach is that you can ignite your own divine spark to manifest your deepest desires.

Here are 7 reasons why the Law of Attraction is unproductive and even harmful:

#1 The law of attraction requires you to control your thoughts and feelings, which leads to self-blame. For it to work, you must think positively and feel good. Although thoughts are not objective truth and feelings are not objective facts, the law treats them as such. Self-help gurus say that if the law’s not working for you, you’re doing it wrong.

When you’re truly depressed, anxious or fearful, you can’t rely on yourself to get rid of negative emotions. And it’s not wise to ignore them when they protect you from real harm. It’s self-destructive to believe you’re suffering because you didn’t apply the law of attraction correctly. Loss, illness, accidents, and tragedies are all part of being human. You can learn to manage your thoughts and feelings to respond to challenges. But you can’t use your thoughts and feelings to avoid challenges you don’t control.

#2 The law tells you to manifest your wants and desires, which makes you more self-centric. What you want and desire is about your personal enjoyment and satisfaction. But your wants and desires can have negative effects on others. While it’s healthy to consider your own needs, the law can lead to unhealthy self-worship or the worship of unhealthy things. More good things don’t lead to lasting joy if they are not tied to a higher purpose. Without limits, they can lead to meaninglessness and despair.

The law of attraction is in line with the teachings of New Thought advocates like Neal Donald Walsh. In his book, Conversations with God, Walsh equates his streams-of-consciousness writing with revelations from God. He claims that God sees no right or wrong, good or bad, better or worse. In short, according to him, there’s no objective truth. He says you should just trust your feelings and highest thoughts that serve you - because they reflect what God wants. But being at peace with a choice or a decision doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right one.

#3 The law encourages you keep attracting more and better, which makes you less grateful. You can have gratitude for the good things you have and still have dreams and goals. But too much focus on manifestation gives you a scarcity mindset, instead of an abundance mindset.
I AM and I HAVE affirmations are positive when they are true. But the law of attraction is about manifesting beliefs and desires that are missing. This makes you less content with what you have. You could have all the food, clothing and shelter that you need, but you still yearn for more and better. Wants and desires are limitless and are never satisfied by just making them easier to fulfill.

#4 The law discourages you from facing your limitations and weaknesses, which creates self-delusion. It encourages you live and act as if you already have what you want. But it’s not based on reality. This is different from believing you can do something because you have the knowledge, ability and skills to do so.

When you’re more interested in having good vibes, it’s harder to face difficulties, confront obstacles and accept challenges. Manifesting techniques do not provide opportunities to build character, persistence and perseverance.

If you’re too focused on positive thoughts, you’re more likely to reject truth or feedback that feels bad, but would help you to learn and grow.

The law of attraction does not allow manifesting to be counter-balanced with self-evaluation and trials and tribulations, as these would be negative. It fuels pride, impatience, and a sense of entitlement that stall progress. When you face obstacles and challenges, you get the opportunity to grow in humility, which is having a humble attitude toward yourself and is a remedy for self-blame and shame.

#5 The law reduces critical thinking, which impairs your discernment and decision-making. It tells you to look for the positives, such as synchronicities, which are purposeful "coincidences" that seem like a miracle. Synchronicity means two events are related in meaning or in purpose, but do not have a common cause.

An example is you keep seeing the Nike slogan, Just do it!, when you’re trying to decide whether to start a project. Synchronicities are not reliable signs that you’re on the right track with a goal. It’s better to apply critical thinking before acting on certain goals at specific times.

The law of attraction fuels confirmation bias, where you actively seek information that aligns with preexisting beliefs and opinions. It tells you to avoid negativity that does not affirm positive thoughts and feelings. But sometimes constructive feedback is vital data. Although you don’t want to wallow in misery or feel sorry for yourself, you do need to be able to experience sadness, grief or anger. Processing negative emotions are part of taking care of yourself and moving forward. And too much positive thinking can get in the way of logical decision making and learning what you need to know.

#6 The law invokes a particular belief system, which creates inner conflict and confusion if it does not align with your own.

While the law of attraction is marketed as universal, it promotes specific ideas about divinity and humanity.

New Thought and New Age and are not the same. But they have some overlap and tend to support the law of attraction.

New Thought advocates say Jesus was a way-shower to how humans can access their own Christ spirit and awaken their Christ Consciousness.

New Thought and New Age Gnostics believe mystical knowledge, not faith in God, leads to spiritual growth and salvation.

The concept of law of attraction was introduced in an 1877 book by Helena Blavatsky, an occultist who connected her esoteric beliefs to manifestation. She taught that through mystical experience, we could transcend normal human consciousness and use our thoughts to shape reality.

In the 1800s, folk healer Phineas Quimby promoted the idea that illness is a matter of the mind and there would be no disease or illness if we had no wrong thinking. He believed he had rediscovered the healing methods of Jesus. His teachings influenced Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science in 1879 to declare that humans only need to raise their spiritual consciousness to get rid of disease and to have eternal life.

By the 1890s, the New Thought movement changed its focus from curing illness to creating material wealth through mind power. In 1906, New Thought devotee William Walker Atkinson co-wrote the book, Thought Vibration, Or, The Law of Attraction in the Thought World. In 1937, Napolean Hill released Think and Grow Rich, in which he claimed that visualization and affirmations develop the faith needed to manifest desires. In his 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale argued for fleeing negative thoughts to achieve material success.

More recently, Deepak Chopra described a Gnostic, New Age Jesus as the one we cannot ignore. In his book, The Third Jesus, he claims the real Jesus was a non-dualist, spiritual guru who tapped into his Christ consciousness and taught us to do the same. To show there is no difference between Eastern thought and the real Jesus, as defined by him, Deepak promotes heretical, Gnostic teachings in early Christianity.

In response to a question asking, is God real or is the law of attraction real, Deepak responds that God is not a “he” or a person of any kind. Relying on his own beliefs about God, he writes:

"If you continue to think of God as a person, the actual reality of God is reduced to human scale, which is both narrow-minded and arrogant. In the Vedic tradition, God’s infinity is perceived differently in different states of consciousness.”

In a video on his Chopra Well podcast, Deepak explains the law of attraction doesn’t work when the split energy of the mind interferes with the power of the Hindu god, Shiva, and the Hindu goddess, Shakti.

If New Thought, New Age, occultist or esoteric teachings contradict your belief system, it’s best to avoid the law of attraction.

#7 The law downplays the importance of action, which reduces true productivity. When you have positive fantasies about already achieving a goal, you’re less inclined to make plans and take steps toward meeting the goal.

While early New Thought authors like Napolean Hill and Norman Vincent Peal recognized the importance of planning and execution, these steps are inconsistent with the law of attraction. In fact, Rhonda Byrne suggests that making plans raises doubt and gets in the way of co-creating with the universe. This is why her 3 steps of manifestation are to ask, belief and receive. There is no action step.

When you’re in the realm of possibility, action typically beats inaction. You could break down the challenge to make the action steps easier, struggle less, and apply the effort that you can reasonably manage. The incrementalist approach is more doable than trying to harness your mind power to manifest desired outcomes.

To learn more, check out my book The Incrementalist. You can find it on amazon and leanpub. The links are in the show notes.

I’m also making an online course currently titled The Busyness Trap: How to Escape Overload and Focus on What Matters. For updates on the course, subscribe to my enewsletter at dyanwilliams.com or The Incrementalist YouTube channel or podcast.

To dive deeper on the incrementalist approach to productive living, you may reach out to me for coaching or speaking events.

If you have feedback or topic ideas, drop them in the comments section of the YouTube channel, post a podcast review, or send me an email at dyan@dyanwilliams.com.

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