• Using a vision board to build the life you really want

Using a vision board to build the life you really want

I always feel January is a bit of a write-off – the kids are still on holiday and the weather is (fingers crossed) too good to focus on those well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions creating a kind of limbo where nothing much gets done.
 
But now that February has arrived and the kids are back at school we can all start recovering from the inertia of holiday mode and get down to the business of real life.
 
I have a pretty weighty to-do list for 2019 but as all my motivation melted in January’s heat I decided to create a vision board to keep me on track.
 
Vision boards are a manifestation tool made popular by the book, and film, The Secret and have received a massive endorsement from Oprah. 
 
But before you start, here are a couple of points to consider. Vision boards are strongly associated with the Law of Attraction and trusting the universe, concepts which can cause confusion in some and alienate others.
 
The Law of Attraction, put very simply, works on the principle of positive thinking – if you can visualise something you can attract it to you and make it happen. But day dreaming about completing a goal without expecting to work towards it is wishful thinking, not manifestation.
 
Likewise, with trusting the Universe – it’s not about waiting for all the goodies to drop in your lap, it’s about having well defined goals, putting a realistic plan in place and having faith in the process. Sometimes, even with positive thinking and hard work things don’t work out but often these ‘losses’ allow room for different ‘gains’ to enter your life.
 
I like what Oprah says about ‘meeting the vibration’ of what you want you want to accomplish – ‘in order to draw the thing you want to come to you, you can’t want it so much that you fear you won’t get it’. Fear is paralyzing. It destroys your confidence. No manifestation tool, including vision boards, work without self-belief.
 
But you don’t have to get caught up on this metaphysical stuff – even if you think ‘positive vibes’ is all airy fairy rubbish, vision boards can still help you achieve your goals. My intention is to use mine as a daily visual reminder to focus on what’s really important to me. The theory is I will stop chasing down very interesting, but ultimately unproductive, rabbit holes and work more effectively towards my goals – which is the total opposite of airy fairy! 
 
So, if you want to make 2019 productive, fulfilling and fun, vision boards are a great way to get the ball rolling. You can create a digital one, but I want to see mine often to stop my natural scatterbrained tendencies from taking over so I’ve done a school project type version. If you want to give it a go but not sure how to start here’s what you need to know.

What you need 

  • Pictures from magazines, online sources, photos, stickers, quotes, etc.
  • Something to put them on – corkboard, photo frame, cardboard – whatever material or size you like.
  • Basic stationary supplies.

The required materials.
 

Instructions

1. Take some time to fully define your goals and how to achieve them. This is usually the trickiest bit.  A good place to start is to make a list of all the areas of your life and choose the ones that you want to improve eg, career, health, family, relationships, personal development, travel, home, finance, hobbies etc – just remember not too stretch yourself too thin, a long list of major accomplishments will only leave you feeling exhausted and undermine your confidence. 
 
Writing about what you really want will solidify your ideas and methods of achieving them which is a very useful exercise even if you don’t make a vision board. Often, we don’t fully appreciate how we feel about something until we put it in writing – you may think your top priority is a new car but find yourself writing about spending more time with the kids or developing a hobby into a small business. Give yourself the time, space and attention your future deserves by honestly examining where you want to funnel your resources for maximum fulfilment.
 
It’s a good idea to mix up the intensity of the work required – a couple of things on your vision board may require 6 months of planning and saving and 6 months of execution, like my planned garden makeover. Others are small and quick like buying the larimar slab and garnet that I want to add to my crystal collection and some you can chip away at over the whole year such as my commitment to being ‘more present’ when I’m with my loved ones. I aim to make some progress, even if it’s small, towards at least two vision board goals each day which should be doable, just spending time studying for my degree and researching artists for my art wall will do the trick. Those little hits of dopamine you get from knowing you have taken positive steps towards achievements are a daily reward for keeping on task and will really ramp up once you start completing them.
 
This is also the ideal time to figure out how you will achieve your goals. Larger accomplishments need to be broken down into manageable steps to build momentum rather than feeling you have failed before Easter. Get specific and realistic – I want to improve my health and fitness but that’s too vague for a vision board, so I put more walking and weights and less sugar which is more effective. 
 


Draw up a category grid.
 


2. Once you’ve nailed down the number of categories you’ve picked to work on divide up your board into a named grid in pencil. You can include an optional extra one for the year and/or theme of your board. 
 
3. Choose the images to represent your aspirations for 2019, these only need to be meaningful to you – don’t be afraid to think outside the square. For instance, the crushed candy heart on my board doesn’t represent a broken heart but rather, it reminds me that creative writing requires making yourself vulnerable and you often have to ‘kill your darlings’ during editing (which kind of does break your heart but you just gotta suck it up). Arrange your images and/or quotes in the correct spaces, (I had to jiggle my categories around to fit), then glue them on. 

 
Put your vision board where you will see it often.
 

4. Place your vision board where it will remind you daily of your plans to build the life you want – keep referring to it and you may well surprise yourself with how much you can achieve with genuine intention and focus. And if The Law of Attraction and the Universe want to lend a hand just let them do their thing and don’t get in the way!