Vision boards have been used in some way for many centuries. Great achievers have either had a natural or learned ability to envision their success before it happens. I would imagine even cave people used sketches of dreams to make them play-out in real life.
As vision boards have expanded from stone, to scroll, to black and white images, color photography, digital audio and video – grabbing the full emotion of a future goal we want to achieve has become easier. Combining many of these into one tool multiplies your chance for success.
Key Elements of Vision Boards:
1.) Powerful statements in the present-tense. I, personally, use “I Am” statements for this – such as, “I am driving my brand new Lexus.” These statements can be as bold as you wish. The only trick is to phrase them as if you are actually doing and living the phrase today. You may think this is lieing to yourself, but it’s not. It’s a type of dreaming where you actually FEEL and SEE everything around you happening exactly how you wish it to be. This is what puts the law of attraction into action.
2.) Emotionally-moving images. These images, when you see them, physically take you into the mindset of achieving something specific. It could be a picture of a physical thing (like a car or house) – or it could be something with a strong emotional connection for you – like your family on vacation conveying your desire for freedom.
3.) Being honest with yourself. In order to use vision boards effectively, you may have to back off of your “I have 10 million dollars in the bank” vision at first. Not that you can’t get there, but MOST people will have too difficult a time believing this statement in their gut. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s something to keep in mind when you’re developing your statements.
4.) Regular use of your completed board. All of your effort putting together a vision board will be pretty useless if you’re not looking at it daily – preferably many times per day. It helps to have a portable version of your vision board – if you’ve made a physical board with pictures and quotes, maybe take a picture and put it on your phone.
5.) Updating your vision board images and statements regularly. You’ll be surprised after even a few months of how quickly your life starts to change. You’ll find yourself reaching goals in your visions and wondering why you set your sights so low! This is a great feeling, and there is no where to go but up. Keep revising and adding to your vision list, removing ones you feel are no longer important (ones that don’t emotionally move you), or adding some words to your visions to make them more emotionally compelling.
The Future of Vision Boards
There is some average vision board software out there today. There are programs you probably already have on your computer that can be used to make your very own vision board (both Mac and PC have video edition software you can use to make photo slideshows with text-overlays). However, nothing out there solves the single problem I have always had with vision boards:
MAINTAINING A ROUTINE
Yes, I’m at a computer most days, yes I have a laptop and could take that to watch my vision board. Yes, I could carry around a poster board in my car or fold up a piece of notebook paper. Yes, I could write all my visions down on index cards and read them daily… But none of those things fit into my routine to look at something multiple times per day – WITHOUT FAIL.
My solution was to create something myself. Good Plum is in the process of developing vision board software for the Apple iPhone so you can create, edit, and view your vision list whenever and wherever you are.
But I need your help! The programming is just getting underway and I need suggestions on a few things so that the end product is exactly what you feel it should be.
Have you used vision boards in the past? What was the greatest and worst thing about using them? If you were to buy a vision board application for your phone, what would it HAVE to include?
We don’t need to deal with price right now, because the price will be very small in comparison to the value you’ll get from the software – also because I’m not doing this to get rich, but to share a tool that I, myself, am extremely excited to use and share with others.
Get in touch with me or leave a comment below if you have suggestions or opinions on the direction of our vision board program for the iPhone.
