Vision Boarding Like A Boss

By Tricia Scott

If you’re on our email list you’ll probably have read about my experiences with vision boards. Far from the leading expert on the subject, my experiences are all based on trial, error and loads of really cool stuff happening!

Recently I talked about a car that I purchased, it wasn’t the car that was particularly interesting (although I do absolutely love it) but more that after I put down my deposit and got home I found that exact car on an old vision board I had created four years earlier and what's more there were so many experiences I wanted back then that had now come about. Paris, Rome, an iMac, Overseas connections… they were all on there and they had all become reality. I was a little bit freaked out I have to be honest. If you haven’t had any experiences with vision boarding allow me to introduce you to one of the most powerful tools in manifesting everything you want to be, do or have in your life.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

A vision board is a visual representation of all of the things you want to bring into your life and the way you want to show up. In its simplest form, it is a collection of images, together somewhere you can see it that makes you feel positive about the future. In short, a vision board reminds you of where you want to be and the experiences you wish to create along the way. Not to oversimplify though, make no mistake this is powerful stuff. That board represents your dream life it should excite you in a tummy butterfly at a rave sort of way.

Your energy changes when you surround yourself continuously with the pictures of who you want to be, your business aspirations, the lifestyle you crave, the places that you’d like to see and travel to, the material possessions you want to have, etc. You have greater focus and will begin to see doors opening up creating a way forward toward everything you have been wishing for.

SO, HOW DO YOU CREATE A VISION BOARD?

This one is really up to you. I’ve read plenty of articles on the how-to’s of this process and most of them we’re great but it really depends on what resonates with you. This is your dream life remember? It has to feel amazing when you create it and look at it. If you force yourself to create something that feels awkward or stressful or reminds you of how you hot glued your sock to the new carpet during the creation it’s probably not going to work all that well. So to begin with just ask yourself this question:

What do I really want?

Don’t be fooled. This sounds simple but its very very powerful and a few things might happen.

1. You can’t think of one single thing you want

2. You have a flood of things you want

3. You have a flood of things you want but then immediately start to question the validity of your choices

This is perfectly normal (all of it) especially if you haven’t done this exercise before. Be gentle with yourself, you don’t need to do this at breakneck speed. Let the ideas come and come they will. Jot them down as you think of them, take notes and try not to judge yourself based on what you want. This often happens, who am I to want all of these things? Well, actually who aren’t you to want the things you want? You are the only person who gets to decide what’s right for your life.

Remember that and keep making notes.

SO YOU’VE GOT SOME IDEAS, WHAT’S NEXT?

Next, it’s time to put the pictures to the ideas. You can do this in any way you see fit. Remember when I mentioned earlier about not creating something that feels awkward or stressful? Yeah, that.

The traditional and most popular way to create a vision board is to literally collect pictures of the things you want to bring into your reality. Cut out of magazines, brochures, fabric samples, quotes, words, images whatever speaks to you. Another great benefit of this kind of vision board is that you can add actual items (flowers, jewellery, keys etc) Again, don’t over analyse it, just go with what feels good. A great board for this way is a push pin corkboard. You can arrange all of your wants and desires on there and re-arrange them to your heart's content. You can then display it in a prominent location in your home or office where you can see it often.

I tried this when I first started to create my boards and it didn’t feel right for me (I also hot glue gunned my sock to the new carpet, yes, that happened). Displaying them on the walls of my home felt weird, I was the one thinking ‘it all looks so shallow! How materialistic?’ and in all honesty, I just thought, this probably won’t work for me.

Thankfully just as I packed away my meagre supply of craft materials an article caught my eye in one of the many decimated magazines strewn across the floor about Pinterest.

Lightbulb moment!

What if I could create a secret Pinterest board and pin all of the amazing things I wanted to bring into my life on there? That way I could look at it whenever I wanted to and not have to have it adorning my walls. This appealed to me, creating it was exciting and it felt limitless, winner! I did this and loved the experience but then I had to remember to check-in and look at it to remind myself of the feeling behind what I wanted. So I decided to use my Pinterest board to create a collage and turn it into my MacBook and mobile phone wallpaper. For me this was a game-changer, we use our devices so many times a day and without even realising it I was re-affirming my wants every time I picked up my phone! Even now, you’ll often catch my screensavers full of powerful quotes or imagery of the things I want to see show up in my life.

FINAL WORDS

Of course, creating and displaying vision boards are just one aspect of planning and creating experiences and things you want for your business and your life but energetically they are really very powerful. How could you create yours? In my She-Mail about vision boards, I also shared an idea from Carrie Green of FEA where she has a box labelled ‘Whatever is in the box, is’ and she fills it with cuttings etc of all of the things she expects to manifest for her. Perhaps this could work for you? Try not to get bogged down n detail with it, it's supposed to be fun! Remember, the idea is to feel good.

As time goes on our vision will change and therefore so will our desires (plus you’ll likely have manifested a lot of it anyway!) so remember to update your boards, you can do this periodically (New Year or a Birthday for example) or just whenever you decide you want something more or different! The more you get into it the more inspiration will catch your eye and you’ll be excited to add it to your collection.

The more feeling and emotion you can invoke with your choice of board the more powerful it will be so choose carefully and enjoy the process.

Who knows what you can create with the right mindset and tools!

Tricia Scott is the Founder and Editor of The Female CEO - Create Evolve Overcome, a platform and digital magazine holding the space to showcase female entrepreneurs from all over the world. She works and collaborates with various organisations to bring the most inspirational journeys, stories and training to help entrepreneurs on their own personal success mission. The Female CEO is growing, expanding and gaining global recognition daily and Tricia is able to bring her own level of expertise as a coach, mentor and multi-company director to her very exclusive table along with her team of brilliant Guest Editors and Bloggers. You'll usually find her with her Macbook in one hand and a coffee or a glass of something fizzy in the other and she always have sunglasses in her hair. Reach out anytime!