Ever wonder who the first person is who came up with the idea of the vision board.
And WHY do we use this?
Vision Board
Sport psychology research has evidence that visualization is a technique that greatly improves performance for competitive athletics. Apart from that, more motivation and confidence can be generated, and maintained longer.
Proven and tested in the positive psychology realm, this personal development tool is excellent and worth your efforts for visualizing your life in 2021.
A yearly vision board caters more to your mid-term desires and goals. Rather than traditionally writing down resolutions, a vision board is more 3D and adds more life to it.
(Image Courtesy of a Client)
Personally, I have used it and found it extremely useful towards continuously working on lifelong goals. I have not done a yearly one, and while writing this, I am in the process of creating my own vision board 2021.
So WHAT is a vision board?
A vision board serves as a communication bridge between your inner and external being.
It is a visual representation of what sort of lifestyle, aims, and intentions you hope to achieve for yourself. Areas like fitness, healing, career, relationships, finance, hobbies, diets and lifestyle can be the categories you can think about.
It consists of images and pictorial details that you want and select from magazines, newspapers, google images, photographs and perhaps even your own art drawings (if you are artistically inclined and can create your own images).
Putting together all the images into a board, could be done neatly, haphazardly or artistically according to one’s personal preference. Cutting and feeling the materials by hand is useful as you might feel more invested in the process.
Well, HOW do I know what I want?
The process of making your vision board can begin by first doing a simple mindfulness and reflection on all the various areas in your life.
What do you envision yourself to be? What sort of improvements have you been desiring and that you want to see changes in?
These considerations are useful as you ponder over what to include in your vision board:
- Progression not perfection
It is not about the end; it is the process. This is a mid-term Vision Board, it is about actionable changes that you feel can be achievable if effort, diligence and time is put into it.
- Authenticity versus Ego
Would having this sort of life, and achieving these mid-term goals, be truly authentic to your being? Do you want it only to prove to others? Being authentic will eliminate a lot of unnecessary time wasted on chasing flashy showoffs such as driving the most expensive car next year, upgrading to an overly expensive plushier abode beyond your normal means. Do you truly want to scatter your energy just to fit into the status quo?
Instead of posessing a new expensive house within a year, what could be more authentic could be – renovated rooms such as kitchen space or sprucing up your living room. So the image you select could be a renovated kitchen space as an example.
There is also nothing wrong in wanting more income streams, making more money than before, wanting a better and higher quality of life. Afterall, “I live well, within my means”, is a great affirmation.
Being authentic also allows you to focus on what will leave you feeling better in the long run.
Lastly, it is important to have fun. I wish you a fruitful year ahead.
(Please feel free to share with me if you find this useful and what your personal experience with the vision board has been. To anchor your vision, click here to find out more. )