When I was in my late 20s, I was living in Santa Barbara, California, and wondering about the course of my life. I had a job that was interesting enough, but it came with a terrible boss who actively sabotaged my work. I’d been in a few serious relationships, but none of them panned out. I’d enjoyed working at a university, but hoped to use my science background more and, perhaps, tap into my creativity. I wanted something different, possibly even a new town. But I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted or how to get there. That’s when I came across the book “Creative Visualization,” and, for some reason, it spoke to me. Though I thought the main premise of the book was bogus—that all you need to do is figure out what you want, and the universe will provide—I nonetheless found its goal-setting exercise extremely helpful. In it, …