The Power of Vision Boards
Every successful person seems to agree on this one important factor: you need to visualize your future achievements not just in your mind, but on paper.
So, the night before the first day of my senior year of college I sat in the middle of my room, with a stack of old magazines, scissors, and tape beside me, and began cutting out images, words, and quotes that spoke to me.
From images of Queen Latifah and Jennifer Lawrence, to the headlines “Best Happy Hour” and “Life is Beautiful,” I began cutting bits and pieces of the images I saw that I felt I could use as personal affirmations for the new (academic) year ahead of me.
After spending hours flipping and cutting through pages, I strategically placed the pieces of the puzzle together, tapping the images onto my wall. Before I knew it, an entire wall of my room was covered in vivid images of powerful women, photos of exotic places, and quotes full affirmations that I would use throughout the year to rejuvenate my drive in both my personal and academic life.
What I created was a giant vision board- which is essentially a collection of vivid imagery that serves as a visual representation of your subconscious goals. It helps you to envision what a fulfilling life may look like for you.
Vision boards are one of the most powerful visualization tools to help you organize and embrace your goals. The activity itself requires you to actively seek out images and stimuli that can encourage you on a daily basis.
The board gives you a chance to clearly lay out those general desires, and you can then turn those intangible emotions into real life goals and achievements. The positive images and words are things you can internalize, and you’ll begin to live out those positive statements and want to recreate those positive images in your daily life.
“Whether you look at it from a spiritual or scientific aspect, this world is a huge vision board. Everything that’s here is because it started as an image someone had in their mind,” Lucinda Cross, motivational speaker and vision board expert told the New York Post.
A photo posted by Lucinda “Chief Activator” (@lucindacross) on Apr 7, 2015 at 2:55pm PDT
“You want to call it a blueprint, or a business plan? Fine. But first, they had to think about it and draft it. So a vision board? It’s like selling our own ideas to ourselves.”
The next step is to find the right place for your board. By placing your board in a place where you’ll see it everyday, you’ll see the Law of Attraction come into play as your dreams begin to manifest and become reality.
When you have images of people you admire on your vision board it can motivate you to do the work necessary in order to make that dream a reality.
“It’s not just putting up a picture of a beautiful car,” Cross said in the interview. “It’s: What are the steps you’re going to take to get that beautiful car? Do you have a license, and car insurance? Do you owe any parking tickets? How’s your credit? It’s about preparing you for . . . owning this car when the opportunity comes.”
It’s important to strategically and carefully choose what you put on your vision board. Make sure the images you chose are ones that speak to your emotionally, and you instantly get inspired when you see them. Try not to become involved in how the aesthetics of the pieces you chose- make certain you’re choosing them for inspiration and not because you think it’ll make your board look “cool”.
You want to avoid letting your board become cluttered in minutiae; focus on putting images on your board that are in direct relation to your goals and aspirations. The images you chose should each be an affirmation and helpful visualization of the kinds of people and energy you want to attract into your life.
