Random story. Kern and I were home visiting my mother in Philadelphia, Pa over the weekend helping her apartment hunt. The one thing that struck me about the last apartment we snuck a peak at wasn’t the carpet or the floor plan, but the vision board I saw tapped to the wall.
Now this wasn’t anything fancy. It appeared to be a piece of over-sized drawing paper tacked to the wall with a few cross-offs and highlights. Whomever created it seemed proud of it because it was pasted front and center on the main living room wall and there was nothing hanging around it to distract from it.
My Vision Board
Being that I’m a visual person I felt like I instantly connected with this person we only met with a brief hello before going about our own business. Call me old-fashioned but I have an act for writing everything down. Yes I have a computer, which I spend way too much time on and a phone with a little handy dandy calendar and scheduler already programmed in. However, I still opt for my pen and paper. I keep one of those spiral notebooks in my bag. It covers the entire calendar year so by December several of the pages are tattered and I have a couple coffee spills here and there, but it’s still my prize pack. I love being able to refer back to any date in time and see what I had planned on that particular day and if I need to make changes to my to-do list or monthly game plan I can easily write over it. Plus, and here’s the huge advantage, I wouldn’t be totally lost without my phone. Ah-ha!
Vision boards work much in the same way. How many times in a day does your mind go astray thinking about something you’d like to do, become or have in your life, but than you long forget about it because you didn’t write it down? Our minds are bombarded all day long with sound, visual and touch cues so it’s impossible to recall every thought that enters your mind. Vision boards can be even more effective than a notepad if you hang it somewhere where you will see it everyday.
Provide Clarity
The purpose of having this board is not just to rewind back in time to track what was on your mind, but moreso to help you with the framework needed to get you to your goals. Our minds are like a cluttered web of ideas because the brain never stops working. To make sense of these ideas and to make them attainable we need to organize them. Nothing you really aspire to comes about without careful planning. This doesn’t mean you need to have a clear beginning, middle and end point because sometimes working haphazardly is more effective for some. There is not always a clear-cut route to our goals. I’m sure we’ve all been at a point in our lives where we were completed side-tracked or even back-tracked a few steps, which sometimes surprisingly brings us closer to where we want to end up. Also, keep in mind our goals change as do circumstances, which all reshapes our plan of action.
Daily Affirmation
Imagine yourself without worry, constraint, obstacles, and self-doubt. Vision boards are a necessary tool to help you see past that voice in your head that tells you “it’s already been done, it’s too hard, I’m not good enough…” Guess what you can, it isn’t too hard, and it’s never been done your way before. The only thing standing between you and your dreams is your conscience. A great way to maintain a positive outlook is to give yourself praise for your daily accomplishments and reaffirm to yourself what you ARE capable of and WILL do.
Stay Focused
Time is not always on our side. The most inopportune things have a tenancy to land in our lap at the most inopportune moments. The key is to embrace these challenges, see past them and stand steadfast on what you believe in and want to accomplish. Even when hope doesn’t appear on your side your will and integrity will see you through. Don’t loose sight of the goal and you will have your heyday.
Do you have a vision board and do you find it helpful?
Any tips you’d like to share?
Featured image source: breakfast-at-tiffanys28.tumblr.com via Kayla on Pinterest
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I do not have a vision board, but I do have a calendar (a real one… like a desk one with 12 months and everything) that helps me look at where I am in terms of milage and where I need to get. It keeps me focussed.
Great share. And your board needs a picture of me that says "run across the Golden Gate Bridge with Pavey."
ha! Too bad I’m a few steps ahead of you and already ran across the Golden Gate Bridge
If you have another destination in mind, fill me in.
I believe in the power of visuals and vision boards. I have one in my living room to the left of my desk. I am a designer by trade so I have lived creative boards for years, lol. This one is just for my life. Here is a little peek http://beautifulathlete.com/make-it-count-where-i-am-at-versus-my-vision-board-one-third-of-the-way-into-a-new-year/
Love yours Tina! I just pinned it to my fit inspiration board! Yours is a lot more colorful and creative than mine haha. I need to start including pictures. Saw the post you shared about vision boards and I too love that Make It Count video – I shared it in an earlier post!