Visualize your dreams with a vision board
It’s the end of 2013 and many of you are probably thinking about 2014 and what it will bring. In business, as well as personal life, I’m a big believer in visualizing dreams and goals to make them come true. Inside my bathroom cabinet, I have a vision board where I paste pictures of things I want in my life. I put up pictures of things I want for our family, for our business and my own well-being. I’ve also created a digital vision board that I have as my computer lock screen. Every time I log on to my computer I see my vision board and I’m re-energized to get on with my work. In this week’s blog post I thought I’d share how you can create a vision board to keep focused on your life dreams.
What is a vision board?
A vision board, or a “dream board”, is a collage of pictures, text and other objects that represent your dreams and goals. The dreams can be long term and short term, difficult or easy to reach. Unlike goal setting, where you should follow certain guidelines to make them effective, there are no “rules” for a vision board. Let your imagination go wild and unleash your creativity to make a vision board that really triggers your emotions.
The vision board should be located in a place where you see it often – ideally every day, or multiple times a day. If you see your dreams clearly and often you will consciously (and unconsciously) work towards reaching them. In the book, “The Secret” you can read more about the power of vision boards and the “law of attraction” (which means that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, one can bring about positive or negative results). The vision board is only for you. If you don’t feel comfortable showing it to other people, put it in a place where only you can see it.
Vision categories
A vision board represents your life, and as such, it can contain dreams within a number of different categories. Examples of vision categories include:
- Family and Friends
- Career
- Wealth
- Health
- Reputation
- Travel
- Mind & Soul
Different types of vision boards
You can create your vision board in a number of different ways. You can take a piece of paper or a pin board and paste or pin pictures from magazines, photographs and other items you’ve collected that represent your dreams. There are millions of images online that you can print out on a color printer, you can also draw and write things on the paper that illustrate your dreams and goals.
In addition to a physical vision board, you can use your computer to create a digital one. There are a number of services available online where you can create vision boards. In addition to just creating vision boards, many of these services also allow you to share your vision board with others. As before, remember that the vision board is for you if you don’t feel comfortable sharing it, make sure you keep it private so that it’s not visible to other people online.
Many people use the picture pinning, social platform Pinterest to create vision boards. Here you can create a “board” (private or public) where you can add pictures that you find online or that you upload from your computer.
Another new site that is specifically designed for vision boards is Dreamitalive. Here you get help creating your vision board. You can add dreams within a set of pre-defined categories and you can rate how satisfied you currently are with a dream. You can share your dreams with others and connect with a like-minded community. With this site, you can also get your dreams funded by promoting them to your friends and family.
If you aren’t interested in sharing your vision board and you just want to create a digital collage that you can add as a screen saver or background image on your computer, you can create a vision board using PowerPoint.
With PowerPoint, you can easily add and edit images and text, re-arrange and resize images. You can save the PowerPoint slide as an image that you can then use as your desktop background picture or your lock screen. This way you’ll be sure to see the vision board often, every time you log on to your computer.
Invest time to find pictures that make you smile
Whether you are creating a traditional vision board with pictures you’ve cut out from a magazine or an online vision board with digital images from the Internet, make sure to invest time in finding the right images. Find images that stand out, that make your heart jump. Each image should evoke a positive emotion, every time you see your vision board you should feel happy and become re-charged with new energy.
Update your vision board
As life goes by your dreams change. Make sure to update your vision board with your new dreams. When a dream has come true you can put a photograph or other item that symbolizes that reality on your vision board on top of the initial image representing that dream. This way you can clearly see the goals you have reached and the dreams that have come true. By seeing dreams on your vision board come true, it will become even more powerful.
Don’t complicate it – just do it!
Recently I spoke to a close friend and asked her if she had a vision board. She said, “yes, in my head, I don’t have it on a piece of paper but I’ve bought a number of books on the topic that I plan to read”. My advice to her was, don’t wait until you’ve read about the theory behind it, just do it! It only takes a few hours, and it’s a great exercise to get you thinking about what you really want in your life. So if you don’t already have a New Year’s resolution for 2014, I warmly recommend that you make “creating a vision board” your resolution for 2014!
(If you have difficulties reading this article, you can access the full article in pdf here).