Vision boards are powerful tools for training your mind to keep its attention and energy on goals you want to achieve. Repeated visualization has been proven to “enhance motivation, increase confidence and self-efficacy, improve motor performance, prime your brain for success, and increase states of flow” (A.J. Adams, Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania). To shift your state of mind towards something new, physically showing your mind a visual representation of this future event can dramatically increase your chances of success.
See the blog post I wrote on the power of visualizing.
Creating an Effective Vision Board Is Highly Personal
The only things that matter about your vision board are that it’s clear, detailed, and very inspiring to YOU. There are lots of different types of vision boards so play around and find one that works. They’re not precious, so keep tweaking until this vision of yours feels very real and gets you super excited every time you see it. That’s where the magic lies.
Some Types of Vision Boards
SINGLE PICTURE
Sometimes you just need one image. Let’s say you want to build muscle, then perhaps a picture of an athlete or bodybuilder is all you need. Want to buy a dream home? Use a picture of your ideal house.
COLLECTION OF PICTURES
If your goal is more complex, like starting up a business or improving multiple areas of your life, then a collection of images representing each component of this goal makes more sense. There will be many steps you will need to take so seeing the full picture is very helpful.
SINGLE WORD
A single word can be used for a very specific goal like an ideal weight, cholesterol number, job title, savings amount, etc.
COLLECTION OF WORDS
Similar to a Collection of Pictures, a collection of words is wonderful to use for more complex goals, or if you aren’t sure what the visual representation of the components looks like and you want to keep your mind open.
CENTRAL IMAGE (OR WORD) WITH SUPPORTING IMAGES (OR WORDS)
This is like a mind map. Mind maps take a central idea or theme and then you capture all of the supporting elements so you can see what it takes to achieve the overall goal.
My Top Five Tips for Creating and Using Vision Boards
- Shoot for the moon! Imagine you have a magic genie and let your mind run wild. Vision boards can help get you out of your comfort zone and on the path to what you truly want. This is not the time to play small. Dream big!
- Be as specific as you can, but don’t overthink it. Once you begin your journey you’ll discover new paths and roadblocks you could not have foreseen, so get as close as you can but don’t let it stump you.
- Choose elements that sing to you and light you up. Play and have fun with this! The more excited you are when you look at this, the better you’ll be able to push through the difficult and mundane steps.
- Keep your vision board visible. You need to see this baby every day, and the more you see it the more it gets ingrained in your brain, which is a critical step in this process. Out of sight, out of mind will not help you.
- Let go of the outcome. The key part of the word “goal” is “go”. Vision boards are not a guaranteed road map. They are a guide toward the kind of life you want to create. But stay open to what the universe throws your way because you might find an unexpected, even better goal hidden beneath the original one.
One of My Vision Boards
Here’s the vision board I created when I was trying to figure out what this brand was all about. I asked myself if it was a physical place, what would it look like? This helped me shape the website layout and the type of content I wanted to share, including the monthly newsletter. I imagined a retreat center where someone could escape to and explore the life they wanted to create. Then once they had their vision, I imagined the kinds of activities and training that would support them today to create their tomorrow.
Also, note the Life Warrior Training logo. That was the previous name of this brand until a trademark search revealed that I would need to pivot. Just a reminder that you cannot control the outcome so always be open and nimble to keep moving forward!
Love to you all,
Barton
If you haven’t already, subscribe to the email list to stay up to date on new content and see what I’m personally working on each month. Plus! I’ll send you a great tool I developed to create momentum when I am feeling stuck.