Whenever, I’m looking to make a change whether it’s something minor or something that will completely revamp my life, one of the tools that I use to accomplish that change is the creation of a vision board.
Whenever, we’ve looking to transform any area of our lives isn’t always easy. Although you might start out highly motivated, it’s easy to lose some enthusiasm along the way. And when that happens, it’s important to be able to take a tool out of your toolbox that will help you get that motivation back. Vision boards can help you keep sight of your goals (which are hopefully SMART to begin with), increasing your chances of achieving them. And there's no better way of engaging in self-care and managing your stress levels than by reaching your goals and making positive changes that stick.
In this post, first I’ll talk about what vision boards are, then I’ll look at 5 ways that vision boards can help you to transform into you 2.0.
What’s A Vision Board?
A typical vision board is best described as a collage of pictures and words that are used to represent goals, desires, or something a person wants to have, be, or do. They are visual representations of one’s goals and desires. Most people create their vision board on a poster board or bulletin board, and you can also use a journal, vision board app or even something that I consider an online vision board or digital vision board like Pinterest. When it comes to vision boards, you’re not limited in the number of boards that you create.
Research has consistently shown that people who write down their goals are more successful in reaching them. A vision board can intensify the effect of writing down your goals because it provides a visual connection to your vision and goals which moves you forward in the process of transforming your dreams and desires into the life you are living.
How Can A Vision Board Transform Your Life?
Some of you may be asking, do vision boards work? How can that be possible? Well, a vision board can bring your goals to life by creating a visual representation of those goals. Every time I look at my vision board, I’m reminded of the things that I want, where I want to be and the work that I’m doing to get there. Read on for five ways that a vision board can transform your life.
1. Vision Boards Help You To Stay Focused
Anytime you’re trying to achieve a goal, you need to be able to stay focused. The more focused you are when achieving a goal, the more likely it is that you’ll reach it. Vision boards can really help you to stay focused on the goals you’ve set.
Many people don’t realize the true potential they have inside themselves, because often distractions get in the way. When you get rid of the distractions that are causing you to lose focus and instead, adjust your focus onto achieving your goal, especially if you use any of the five steps I spoke about in my previous post you’ll be surprised how quickly you can achieve it.
Having your vision board front & center in a location where you can see it everyday is the first step to using it to help you focus as you’re reminded of your goal each time you look at the vision board.
Consider focusing on just one goal at a time. This allows you to use your powers of concentration on achieving that one thing. If you’re focusing on one goal at a time, your vision board would just reflect that one specific goal.
2. Vision Boards Keep You Motivated
Motivation is the stuff of life. This is what keeps us going on and striving to reach our goals when things get tough.
Your vision board will help boost your motivation because it’ll remind you why you are making changes every time that you look at it. It’s important to remind yourself of the why behind any goal or desire because that ties it directly into your value system which automatically makes the goal more important and amps up the motivation.
3. Vision Boards Help You To Believe Your Dreams Are Possible
Often, one of the main things which holds us back in life is self-doubt. For example, a person may want to lose weight, but has been unsuccessful. So, then they start to believe subconsciously that this goal can't be achieved. The more difficulties the person has, the larger this negative viewpoint of the goal becomes.
When you create a vision board, it helps you to develop an emotional connection to your dreams. You’ll start to believe the changes you want to make are possible. This makes a huge difference to your likelihood of success. When I first wanted to become a trainer/facilitator, I put images of myself conducting trainings on my vision board. I coupled looking at my vision board with visualizations directly related to making a career switch and that reinforced my belief in my ability to make it happen and eventually, it did!
4. You Can Use Vision Boards To Transform All Areas Of Your Life
The most common vision boards are those which focus on major life goals. However, did you know you can use them to transform all areas of your life?
Perhaps you’re looking to quit smoking, or you simply want to get healthier. Whatever personal transformation goals you have, a vision board can help you to achieve them. The goals don’t have to be huge. Whatever you need help to change, a vision board will give you the focus, motivation and commitment to succeed.
You can either have one vision board that covers all the areas that you wish to transform, or you can make a vision board that’s specific to each area.
5. Easily Monitor Your Progress
In order to make true and lasting change in your life, you must monitor your progress. Seeing continuous progress helps keep you motivated to continue striving to reach your goals. If you don’t monitor your progress, you risk being demotivated and potentially may give up on your goals because you can’t see how far you’ve come.
In addition to looking at your vision board every day, consider keeping a journal to keep track of your progress. Commit to writing down the steps you’ve taken to achieve your goal and the progress you’ve made. You should make time to write in your journal at least once a week. You can also write about what it will be like when you reach your goal. Also, as you make progress towards your goal, don’t forget to update your vision board as applicable to reflect your progress.
These are just some of the ways vision boards can help you to transform your life. Whether you’re looking to quit smoking, lose weight, gain more financial freedom or simply get healthier, a vision board can increase your chances of success. I know that it did for me.
What goal are you working on that you think a vision board will help with? Let me know in the comments section.
Dream Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
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