For those of us who are visually inclined, a must-have powerful tool to help us live to our full potential is a vision board. Literally speaking, a vision board is any sort of board where you display images representing what you want to attract into your life. They also help bring clarity to our dreams and promote a targeted focus.
Let’s face it, it’s easier then ever to get side tracked or stressed. Vision boards help reshape our thoughts, embrace our authenticity, and spark self-motivation.
Before you dive into Pinterest searching through hundreds of images, there are 5 key elements to consider when making a effective vision board. Did I mention this could also makes for a fun craft night?
1 . Create & design
The great things about designing your vision board is there are NO RULES! Go nuts with whatever your heart desires. Make a custom frame or add nice background pattern to post photos to. Add hooks to hang materials, pins, and fabrics on for a physical representation. Go wild with creativity! If you are a minimalist at heart, a simple layout is just fine. Remember, this board is to represent you. Only you have the formula!
2. Shop inspiration
Now its time to collect visual inspiration. I like to think of this process as catalog shopping. You are about to create a visual catalog for your life, so don’t just put anything on your board, post images that make you get THE FEELS. Your inspiration has to move you emotionally. Pinterest is a great way to start for an array of photos. It’s also great for finding inspirational quotes that resonate with you. I have a friend that even took personal photos and printed them for their board. When in doubt, magazine clippings will do just fine.
3. Strategic display
You finally parted ways with the glue gun and now its time to find the perfect home to display your board. When selecting “the spot” keep this in mind: It should be placed so you’ll see it first thing in the morning and right before bed. Often our sleep patterns determine how we’ll feel the next day and how you feel in the morning will determine how the rest of your day will be and so on. This helps put your goals in the forefront of your mind.
Thoughts do become a reality, think wisely.
4. Make feeling a habit
Your board is complete! It’s filled with images of carefully selected inspiration and you found the perfect home to display it, now what?
Well now comes the most important part that many of us have trouble with. It’s time to feel. When you look at your vision board its important to feel like you already have everything you wish to manifest.
Why is this important? Well the universe responds to our energy and our thoughts, like a magnet. When my mother was a single parent and it was just us against the world, she would she put pictures of things she wanted on our refrigerator.
Her vision board was extremely simple. One of the photos was of this massive king size sleigh bed. At the time our apartment was so small that this bed wouldn’t even make it up the stairs and to put it simply, she couldn’t afford it.
Fast forward to this past mothers day, myself, my mother and two younger sisters were all sharing a few laughs on that very bed in her new home.
Forget about how you are going to get what you want. Focus on feeling, and the world will do the rest.
5. Welcome opportunity
You are now fully in tune with your goals. The dream trip to Europe is becoming so real that you accidentally found your once thought-to-be-missing passport. Now keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to experience this.
Last year in April, I was going on airline websites and searching flights to London. I could not afford this trip by any means, but I always wanted to go. I would get excited just looking up fares. I later started a new job the following May in New York that happened to have a sister office in Central London and as part of my welcome to the company, they arranged for me to work in the London office for 2 weeks.
Not only was that amazing, but the dates they had me in London were the same dates I was looking at when I casually browsing flights the month prior. This new opportunity manifested a goal of mine.
Recognize these moments and celebrate them.
