Inevitably, when a discussion about the Law of Attraction comes up, it's mentioned that while a specific desire was held, what was desired did not manifest itself in the world of the person holding the desire.  I've had this happen too and there is a very clear reason for it but the trouble is that it can be a very subtle distinction from knowing and believing that what you want is coming or already here and just merely hoping.  Belief and faith is the key that unlocks the power and helps you to "help yourself".

Belief and faith in the ability to manifest in our lives all that we desire, in some cases, most cases, goes against what we have been taught.  Paradigms have been established (paradigms being an idea or group of ideas that have been passed along to the subconscious mind and make up our "conditioning") that may be in opposition to this idea or premise that we can attract things.  Consequently, we get an auto response to any idea that is not in line with this paradigm something to the tune of "ahh, snake oil!" or "if it were that easy, everyone would do it!".  While these examples are designed to be extreme, I think you get the picture.

Building belief and faith in the idea of the Law of Attraction, for me, wasn't easy even though I had been using it unconsciously all my life.  I would just think of something I wanted, see it coming and within a short time, it would present itself to me, perhaps not clothed as I thought it would come but none the less still there.  It always amazed me.  I began to study this idea in order that I could build belief and faith and therefore begin to use this power, which is available to everyone equally with no distinction, more deliberately.  (In the unconscious process, I was also creating things that weren't good for me in the short term.  It was later that I realized that everything that happens has a positive side and I am grateful for the good and otherwise)

This is what did it for me.  There is a patterned plan of growth in the universe that is always operating, always becoming more of what it was.  It never stays the same.  It's divine nature is always for expansion and fuller expression.  I am part of this patterned plan, not separate from it but part of it.  The following quote, which I memorized, helps:

"My mind is a center of divine operation.  The divine operation is always for expansion and fuller expression and this means the production of something beyond that which has gone before, something entirely new, not included in past experience but proceeding out of it by an orderly sequence of growth. Therefore, since the divine cannot change it's inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner in me, consequently, in my world of which I am the center, it will move forward producing new conditions and circumstances always in advance of any that have gone before." 

The evidence of this is everywhere.  Even those things in disintegration are for growth and expansion of other things.  It's really something. 

I realized, through study, that this is what we are meant for. We are not meant for suffering or strife.  We are meant for continuous, progressive and positive growth as it's the patterned plan of the Universal Mind or God.

Not being religious, as I mentioned, having faith in something wasn't easy.  Now I think its the cornerstone of all acheivement whatever the desired object or thought may be, material or otherwise.