Creating Your Life Vision: Beyond the Vision Board S.4 E. 47

 

Listen to this episode to learn how to create your life vision and then bring it to reality.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

Have you ever made a vision board? It’s fun to make a vision board and fun to dream about the things you want to have or to do. But does it work? Today, we’re talking about creating a vision for the life you want to have and how to use visualization to help you stay motivated and remind you to be the person you need to be to get the things you want to have.

In this episode:

The notes below are just a summary of the things we discussed on the podcast. To hear all of the examples and stories we share, be sure to listen to the podcast episode.

It’s the beginning of a new year and that means many of us our thinking about what we want out of the new year. You may have even created a vision board.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, a vision board is a visual depiction of the things you want to have or do or be in your life. Often it is a physical product, a poster board with pictures pulled out of magazines, or photos and words that describe or show your dreams in a visual way.

Modern day vision boards might also be Pinterest boards, or some other form of electronic collection of pictures.

Making a vision board is all well and good, but does it really help you? Is it worth the time and energy or is it just some big hoax?

Visualizing works, but needs to go beyond the vision board. We’ve got three steps to get you where you want to go.

Step One: Creating a vision for your life.

Do you have a vision for your life? Do you know what you want out of life? Do you know who you want to be?

How are you going to get to wherever you want to be if you don’t know where you’re going? And if you don’t know what you want, how will you know if you’ve gotten it?

If you don’t have a vision for your life, you will drift, reacting to what life gives you, but not choosing it with intention. You are being reactive rather than proactive in your life.

That doesn’t mean you have to have everything all planned out, or that there isn’t room to discover new things along the way. It also doesn’t mean that you won’t change your dreams or rearrange them.

Developing your vision means doing some soul searching. It means really looking within to discover what means the most to you personally. It is a task of clarifying your values.

Your vision is your higher purpose. It is your “why.” When the going gets tough, having a strong vision will keep you motivated. Tt gives you something to work towards and makes your life more meaningful.

The more vividly you can see and feel your vision, the more real it will seem and the harder you will fight for it. If it is compelling to you, you will work to make it come to reality.

You might need to ask yourself questions will help you uncover your vision.

• If I could describe my dream day, what would I be doing? Who would I be with? Where would I be?
• What kinds of feelings do I want to have in my life?
• What do I love to do?
• What are the things in my life that are worth fighting for?

Clarify your vision, then make the vision boards. You identify things you want to have or do, what you value and find words that help you feel the way you want to feel.

It’s much more than cutting out pictures of mansions and beach resorts and a million dollars and pasting them on a poster board.

This is designing the life you want to have, or as we often refer to it, living with intention or living an inspired life.

Step 2: Keep your vision in front of you.

This next part is important. You can’t just make a make a vision board and put it up on your wall and at the end of the year you are magically going to get everything you want.

You need to keep your goals in front of you. We are all busy and it is easy for forget our dreams and goals and plans. What is out of sight is often out of mind.

You need to be able to see your vision in detail. It helps to visualize yourself in the scene of wherever you want to be. It needs to feel real and extremely clear. You might recall the emotions, who is around you, and even what you are wearing. You almost need to be able to smell the ocean you want to visit. Seeing your vision regularly keeps your goals in the front of your mind, and the mind works on what you give it.

How do you keep your vision in front of you?

• Hang pictures or your vision board on the wall.
• Hang pictures, words, or quotes on your bathroom mirror and look at them every time you brush your teeth. You can also draw on your mirrors with dry erase markers.
• Turn passwords for computer programs and apps into mini-goal reminders.
• Make destiny maps which show a linear sequence, like a timeline of where you want to go.
• Turn your visions into affirmations that you say to yourself every day.
• Make a habit of daily journaling.

You can call this part manifesting, dreaming, meditating, praying, vision questing or whatever you want, but the point is to keep the focus on what you want. That focus, will help you achieve those things.

You may have heard a famous example of keeping the vision in front of you from actor Jim Carrey. In an interview with Oprah, he shared that when he was a struggling actor, he wrote himself a 10-million-dollar check, “for acting services rendered.”  He dated it for ten years in the future. He put that check in his wallet and looked at it every day. Ten years later, he was paid 10 million dollars for the movie Dumb and Dumber.

Step 3 Keep your vision in your head but move with your feet.

You’ve got the vision, and you keep it in front of you. That won’t be enough to get you to where you want to be. What’s next?

You need to take the kinds of actions that will get you to where you want to be.

Jim Carrey did not become a star by looking at a fake check every day. That was just a daily reminder of his dream. He followed with action. He went on casting calls and took small parts in anything he could get. He learned, he practiced, and he kept going after it.

We dreamed of writing a book, and visualized it and talked about it constantly. We talked about what it would look like, and how we would get teachers involved and capture their ideas. Our book didn’t just appear, we had to put in the work to make it happen. Today, our book is a guided journal for teachers, that will help teachers stay mindful and intentional. The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self is available on Amazon here.

You have to do the work.

Sometimes that means that you have to become someone who is different. You have to become a person who runs regularly in order to run a marathon.

Most elite athletes are highly trained in visualizing. But they also have to become an athlete who can achieve at the highest levels. That means practice, and repetition on a daily basis, being conscious of what they eat, changing their mindsets, and many other things. Before they can achieve their Olympic medals, they have to become a person who has the skills that will allow them to win those medals.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps created mental images videos in his mind. He visualized himself winning the medal in great detail and replayed it every day. Emily Cook, an American free style skier created audio visualizations that she listened to every day. She harnessed the same power of listening to her visions every day. Both of these athletes created detailed visions for what they wanted in life, but they also took the steps needed in order to be able to have the skills they needed to make their vision come true. They designed their vision and then moved their feet.

Visualization Research

There is plenty of scientific research to show that visualization works.

According to Neuroscientist Dr. Amy Palmer, mentally rehearsing and imagining movements shares the same brain mechanism as actually doing the same movements. The brain has the same activity when it visualizes doing an action as it does when it is physically performing the action. 

Our brain’s Reticular Activation System, or RAS, is a bundle of neurons that have several functions. One of those functions is as a gate keeper, helping us filter out unnecessary stimuli and letting in important information that we need to survive and thrive. There is so much stimulus in the world that we can’t possibly attend to it, it would completely overwhelm us. Our brain protects us by filtering out the less useful things and focusing on the important things. Visualization helps your RAS know what is important, and to let that information stay in the forefront of your conscious awareness.

Visualization helps you to become the person you need to be in order to get the things you want to have.

Who do you need to become in order to get the things you want to have?

This is where it is easy to quit. The task might seem too large or too impossible.

But you won’t know until you move your feet. Take one small action and then another one. Make it a habit. Then add another habit. When that gets easy, up your game.

This is where your goals come in. People often start with making goals, but you should first create the vision. We talked about this in our last episode, What’s Stopping You From Reaching Your Goals?  You need clear specific goals, that are challenging, but not too challenging. You break them down into bite sized pieces and schedule them into your day. You find support and then you keep going.

We leave you with today’s quote from futurist Joel Arthur Barker:

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time.”

Recap:

Visualizing is a great tool to help you achieve your dreams and goals, but making a vision board is not enough. You have to first create a deep, compelling vision of what you really want. Then you need to keep that vision in front of you on a regular basis. And lastly, your need to take action. You need to become the type of person you need to become in order to achieve your dreams. With focus and consistency, you can create and achieve many smaller goals that will lead you to your big dreams.

Quote:

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time.”

Joel Arthur Barker

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Neuroscience of Visualization

The Inspired Teacher’s Journal: A Weekly Guide to Your Best Self

Note: if you buy the book through our link, we will recieve a small percentage of the price at no additional cost to you.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Inspired together Teachers Podcast Episiode 46, What’s Stopping Your From Reaching Your Goals? 

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