You have to be able to see it. The power of creating a vision board!

Many years ago when I was sitting of the edges of self development, I come across this exercise of creating a vision board. I will be honest, I wasn’t sold on the idea. How can a big picture of all the things you want in your life really happen.

At that time I felt stuck in the merry go round of my job. I wasn’t happy. I was getting up at the crack of dawn, commuting a looooong commute, in the office till 7pm, commuting home, walking in the door, literally sliding down the door with shear exhaustion and then I did it all over again the next day.

I knew things had to change but I was stuck in fear because I didn’t know how I was going to make change happen.

I was fearful of coming across of not liking my job and therefore getting sacked.

I was fearful of having no money.

I was fearful of losing everything I’d worked hard and hustled for.

I was stuck in fear, living a life that sucked.

So doing the vision board seemed really crazy to me and really bloody scary.

What if all the things I put down on my vision board never came true. Surely I’d feel worse than I did.

But what if they all came true…

Now that was scary too. Things would change. Maybe I’d take more risks. I may have to leave people and things behind. How would I tell my employers I was moving on, that would be terrible.

I was truly stuck in fear and inert.

Late one night I reflected on the merry-go-round I’d got stuck on. I was dreading the next day. I was going to have to do all over again the very things that had driven me to near insanity and exhaustion the week before. Everybody else seemed to be doing exactly what they liked except me. I grabbed that moment by the scruff of the neck and TOOK ACTION.

It was time for action. It was time to take a leap of woo-woo faith, it was my time for the vision board.

I can clearly remember what happened, I actually got up out of bed and grabbed loads of magazines from my office and started quickly flicking through the pages. I tore things out at random, colours, places, shoes, houses, lifestyles, holidays. I just went for it. I created my vision board of what I wanted my ideal life to truly look like. Anything that caught my attention was chosen, it sparked inspiration inside me. It was lighting me up like I hadn’t done in years. Looking at the fizzing exciting cocktail of images just blew me up with excitement. I was alive. I was feeling great. It all felt very different. I was literally tingling with an energy I’d never experienced.

I sat back and stared at it the amazing vision of an incredible life. I was in awe of what I realised I truly wanted, it was bright, bold, illuminating, I was utterly lit up inside – It was a BIG life. Comparing it to what to I was currently living, it shocked me to my core. The penny dropped, the dreams were realised. There was no going back now, things absolutely had to change for me. I had to make changes. I had to make things happen for me.

Now here is the thing, vision boards are fantastic to help you tap into what you truly want in life. But you also have to take ACTION. Nothing happens without action.

You have to take big purposeful action.

Vision boards can guide you to challenging your actions and choices. It’s about questioning yourself, starting a dialogue with yourself. Asking questions of your choices – Is this choice or action going to take me further away from my vision board life or closer to it?

It’s about planning action every single day to drive home your desires.

And thats how I started to live me life and make my choices. Was staying in the a job that I actually loved, but hated the commute, taking me closer or further away from the life I truly wanted to live?

I started looking for a new job and landed one much closer to home. Not only that, it was taking me in a different direction in my career, opening up a whole new world of experience for me and that was exactly what I had on my vision board. I still did some commuting, I still spent time away from home, but I did it in blocks meaning I actually commuted less, leaving me more free time for me. Creating space for me to take action to take my personal life towards those other things I had on my vision board.

Reality was the vision board worked, really focusing me. Giving me the kick in the pants to bring my actions to life, going after everything I wanted and dreamed of for myself.

I didn’t take a direct route to all those things on that vision board. Things happened that I never in a million years would have thought would happen for me. Opportunities came along that just never showed up on my vision board. But everything was actually taking me closer to all the things that made my heart and soul sing. My hearts desires were being realised. I was making it happen, being open to the opportunities, life was and is great.

That very first vision board totally opened up me, my world and changed everything.

To this very day I still create a vision board. I only looked up yesterday and realised that I was about to achieve the first quarter of my current vision board. I had put it out there, clearly told the world, the Universe what I wanted, took action to make it happen and it’s HAPPENING.

Dare to dream – quick tips on vision boarding

• Get super crystal clear on what you want, use pictures to bring your hopes and dreams to life.
• Don’t be afraid to play with the picture that you create. I sometimes just go into a free fall mode of total giddiness and excitement then step back and curate my vision board to more purposeful dreams. I personally do like some structure, I bring the structure after I’ve let myself have a great explore through the endless dreams and opportunities. That’s what works for me. But you maybe different.
• Put your vision board where you can see it every single day, many, many times a day. Take a picture of it to load up as your screen saver on your phone – train your brain to be reminded this is what you really, really want and deserve in your life. This is what you are working towards.
• If an opportunity comes along that doesn’t initially match your vision board, take a step back to really delve into it. It maybe something that takes you to a path that gets you right on track to your big dreams. Sometimes our opportunities don’t show how we think they will or should. Get into the habit of taking time to saying yes or no to opportunities – get into the habit of asking questions and digging in to look deeper at what’s before you.
• Then take action. Every single day, take action to drive you towards your crystal clear picture of what you want and deserve. Somedays you make take tiny, weeny actions that may not feel worth it, go with it. It’s what’s right in that moment. And somedays you’ll take big bold actions, you’ll feel like you’re moving at the speed of light towards the life you want. What I’m saying is don’t discount the action or judge the pace. Take ACTION.

As with everything in life, there will be bumps in the road. You may doubt yourself. You’ll maybe think “who am I to want and deserve all this and more” and I will say to you “Who are you not to get all you want and more.”

“What if I fall….. Oh but my darling what if you fly….” – Erin Hanson

Imagine every single day waking up feeling inspired. Inspired to go after life in a way you may have not done before or for a while. Take a moment, close your eyes. Imagine what it would feel like every single day to feel like you are taking action to something truly great. Something that you really want. Feels good heh….

Take action my loves. Take big purposeful action and bring your dreams to life starting with a picture.

Do you use vision boards? Share your thoughts or your current vision below, I’d love to know what you are working towards.