Law of assumption
Law of assumption vs law of attraction
They are often used as if they meant the same thing. They share a family tree, but they ask you to do different things, and that difference matters more than the labels.
Last updated: October 11, 2026
Where each one comes from
Both belong to New Thought, a nineteenth-century American movement that grew out of the teachings of Phineas Quimby and held that the mind shapes health and circumstances (history)).
The law of attraction is the older and broader phrase: "like attracts like", so positive or negative thoughts are said to bring matching experiences. It was popularised again by the 2006 film and book The Secret.
The law of assumption is Neville Goddard's formulation from the mid-twentieth century. He taught that imagination is the creative power, and that you should "assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled" (teachings).
The differences that matter in practice
Who does the work
Attraction: a universe or energy responds to your thoughts and sends things to you. Assumption: nothing outside you is asked; you change your own assumed state.
What you focus on
Attraction: the thing you want, your thoughts and your "vibration". Assumption: who you are once it is true, and the feeling of that.
The typical exercise
Attraction: ask, believe, receive; vision boards and gratitude lists. Assumption: a short imagined scene that implies the wish is fulfilled, repeated in a drowsy state.
The attitude to waiting
Attraction: stay positive and watch for signs. Assumption: stop looking for evidence and live from the end.
How doubt is treated
Attraction: negative thoughts are said to attract negative events, which can make ordinary worry feel dangerous. Assumption: return to the assumed state; passing doubts are not given power.
What can go wrong
Both can turn into daydreaming instead of doing, and both can lead people to blame themselves when life does not cooperate.
What neither can honestly promise
Neither idea is supported as a description of how the world works. There is no empirical evidence for the law of attraction, and it is widely regarded as pseudoscience (overview of the criticism)); the same is true of the claim that an assumption hardens into external fact.
What research does support is narrower and more useful:
- Believing you can do something makes you more likely to try and to persist (Bandura, 1977).
- Positive expectations go with more effort; positive fantasies go with less (Oettingen & Mayer, 2002).
- Imagining the steps works better than imagining the prize (Pham & Taylor, 1999).
- Deciding in advance when and where you will act makes you far more likely to do it (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006).
If you take one thing from the comparison, take this: the law of assumption's focus on identity is the more practical of the two, because an identity can be acted on today. "I am a person who writes every morning" gives you something to do at seven o'clock. "I attract a book deal" does not.
Which should you use?
Use whichever language helps you act. A simple test for any practice from either camp:
- 1
Does it tell you what to do today?
If a technique ends in a feeling but no action, add one.
- 2
Does it stay inside your control?
Other people's choices, market prices and medical outcomes are not yours to assume.
- 3
Does it survive a bad day?
A practice that makes you afraid of your own doubts is working against you.
- 4
Is anyone selling certainty?
Courses that guarantee a person, a sum or a date are selling something neither idea can deliver.
Sources
- Law of attraction (New Thought) (encyclopedia entry: history and criticism)
- Neville Goddard (encyclopedia entry: biography, works, teachings)
- Bandura (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.
- Oettingen & Mayer (2002). The motivating function of thinking about the future: expectations versus fantasies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1198–1212.
- Pham & Taylor (1999). From thought to action: effects of process- versus outcome-based mental simulations on performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(2), 250–260.
- Gollwitzer & Sheeran (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.
Frequently asked questions
Is the law of assumption the same as the law of attraction?
No. They come from the same New Thought tradition, but the law of attraction says your thoughts draw matching events to you, while the law of assumption says you change your own assumed identity and act from it.
Which is more powerful, assumption or attraction?
Neither has been shown to change events directly. The law of assumption's focus on who you are and what you do is easier to turn into daily action, which is where real change comes from.
Can I use both together?
Yes. Many people combine a vision board or gratitude list with identity statements and imagined scenes. What matters is that each practice ends in something you actually do.
Who created the law of assumption?
It is associated with Neville Goddard (1905–1972), a Barbados-born writer and lecturer in the New Thought movement.
Go deeper
Make it something you do daily
Write the identity you are practising and leave one small proof each day in Manifestive.
