When people talk about self-fulfilling prophecies, it often sounds to me like something mystical by nature. It is described as if, simply believing something hard enough will somehow make it happen. I’d argue it’s much more practical, and much more empowering, than simple manifestation through thought only.
It’s not that things magically happen to us by focusing on them alone. It’s that we slowly, consistently design our own outcomes day by day, week by week, month over month, and year over year. What looks like a “self-fulfilling prophecy” from the outside is often just the result of many small, repeated changes and choices aligned with a defined vision held over a long period of time.
My Personal Story
After finishing university, I didn’t have a perfectly defined vision for my career or even desired career path. I had been working in the retail consumer electronics industry, and while it gave me valuable experience, all I knew I wanted to transition into something more aligned with business and the corporate world. I plainly didn’t completely know what that path looked like at the time.
I started to define and design my future when I took a role as a software applications instructor at New Horizons Computer Learning Center in San Diego. At the time, it felt like a practical step forward while searching for a job, but in hindsight, it was a pivotal moment sparking me to begin shaping everything that followed.
Early on as an instructor, I was assigned to teach a Project Management Fundamentals course. Interestingly, at the time I had no formal project management experience or training, which made it feel odd to me when taking on the course. Yet, something about the subject clicked almost instantly for me. I felt like I belonged in that realm and the content came naturally for me… it was almost like I had been thinking this way for a long time without even realizing it.
Soon after, I began teaching two more new classes for me. Those were Microsoft Project Professional Level 1 and Microsoft Project Professional Level 2. Again, despite having no formal background, the concepts made complete sense to me.
- The planning
- Ther organizing
- The sequencing work
- The managing of timelines
- The tracking of progress
- The discovery
- The documentation
- The reporting
- The organizing of assignments
Those were not just course topics for me; they were what I was going to do with my future. They felt like extensions of how I had already naturally approached problems. Then one Friday, when I didn’t have a class scheduled. I suddenly had few moments to take pause and reflect on what I wanted and where my life was going professionally. Then I took action on my future, right then, deciding to build my resume to formally become a Project Manager.
The very next morning, on Saturday, I sat down and applied to five Project Manager roles on Craigslist in San Diego. It wasn’t a long, drawn-out process of applying, just a simple decision followed by immediate action. What followed the resume submissions even surprised me. I received interview requests from two of the companies that I applied at. After interviewing with both, I was ultimately offered both positions. I decided to accept a role at Santex-net, which would later become SantexGroup.
Looking back, that moment didn’t happen by chance or happenstance to me. It was the result of all the small and seemingly unrelated steps below that I took that led to the achievement.
- Saying yes to teaching a subject I had no formal background in
- Taking on two more courses related to project management without ever opening the application prior
- Repeating and reinforcing project management concepts through instruction
- Building confidence through practice and application of skills
- Taking action on finding the new job when the opportunity and time presented itself to me
From there, I continued to build, learn, and grow as a project manager. Nearly 20 years later, now with my PMP and other certifications, I can clearly see that what once felt uncertain was actually a path I was steadily designing for myself all along.
A Story from My Buddy Matt
A close friend of mine from university, Matt, shared a story that perfectly captures this concept for me and perhaps you too. When he was a child, he went to the San Diego Zoo with his family and absolutely loved the bus tour that took visitors around the zoo grounds.
Unlike most other kids his age, he wasn’t there solely to check out the animals as he was also fascinated with the bus driving experience. Every chance he got, he’d sit up front near the driver, watching closely, imagining himself in that driver’s seat he prized. He thought how joyous it would be to be responsible for the vehicle, guiding people through an experience, being “in charge” of something meaningful and large.
As a child, he told himself: “One day I’ll be driving something like this while traveling, navigating, leading, organizing, touring, and helping people along the way.”
- He wasn’t setting a formal goal as a child
- He wasn’t mapping out a career plan as a kid
- He was simply forming an identity that he bought into
During college he pursued a job at a Ford dealership as a Service Manager where he was ultimately hired. Then later he moved to a large regional motor home retailer as the Service Manager which later solidified the path he wanted to choose.
Today, Matt owns and operates his own company: My RV Butler
His business supports RV owners who love their vehicles but don’t always have the time to transport or maintain them. He bridges that gap with a trusted service model, vendor/manufacturer coordination, and a lifelong passion with firsthand expertise.
In his words: “Most of my clients will never give up their RVs, but they just get too busy to keep them maintained… that’s where my service offers a solution that is both qualified and experienced with many different RV-related vendors.”
When you step back, the connection and “designed future” becomes obvious:
- He imagined himself driving that bus and in charge
- He pictured himself guiding and helping people
- He saw himself creating a better experience for others that was centered around large motor vehicles
He believed he could handle and manage large vehicles from the start. Now, he’s doing exactly that, just on a bigger, more entrepreneurial scale.
The Habit Behind the Outcome
What Matt and for the most part I likely didn’t realize at the beginning is that these early thoughts on our paths weren’t predictions. They were rehearsals, planning, scheduling, coordinating, designing, orchestrating, determining, deciding, and over time, those mental images influence:
- What catches your attention
- What opportunities you say “yes” to
- What openings you say “no” to
- What skills you naturally build
- What risks feel worth taking
- What classes and courses you take
- What vehicles or tools you buy
You don’t suddenly “arrive” at a destination as you gradually become the kind of person who belongs there by achieving your orchestrations throughout life.
Designing Your Own Future
If there’s one takeaway from this, it’s this that I have come up with: You don’t need an initially perfect plan to get a perfect final result. That is because as a child or during university you cannot predict everything if your future. What you are doing is pointing yourself in the direction you want to go without documenting the exact path… You simply need that initial defined destination, even if it starts as something simple, almost playful, like a kid imagining themselves at the front of a bus.
The habits you build today are shaped by the identity you believe in.
- The conversations you lean into
- The things you choose to learn
- The risks you tolerate
- The standards you accept
- The money you spend
Over time, those quiet outcomes compound into something that looks like fate to everyone else.
Final Thought
Maybe self-fulfilling prophecies aren’t really prophecies at all. Maybe they’re just the visible result of invisible habits, repeated long enough to become reality.
So, the real question is not: “What do you want to happen to you?”
The real question is: “What kind of future are you quietly designing for yourself right now?”