I think of it more along these lines.

I had an intention of moving. I put all the ingredients into motion, and wait until it manifests. It is a little like not 'forcing' things, but going with the flow by using your thoughts.

So, when everything 'aligned' for myself and my family, it became the perfect scenario for moving. We were thinking about forcing the move. Let the house go into foreclosure and just move. Instead, we set everything in motion, and waited. Everything aligned perfectly. We ended up short selling our house instead of foreclosing at the last second. My wife landed a job in Tennessee where we were wanting to move. We ended up moving to the exact location we wanted to. It ended up being right after kids got out for summer vacation, etc.

It all lined up perfect, though it was stressful wondering if it would all manifest like we needed it to. We swore we would not force it, but put the intentions out there along with doing homework, and let the universe manifest it for us.

It worked perfectly.

That is just one small thing about manifesting thoughts. but, hopefully you get an idea.