The Five Steps of Creating Your Vision Board

A vision board is typically a collage of images or words that you've assembled representing your deepest goals, dreams and desires. The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.

Bob Proctor from the movie 'The Secret' explains that "Everything that's coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it's attracted by virtue of the images you're holding in your mind. It's what you're thinking. Whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you."

The utilization of a Vision Board is so effective, because it guides the images you are holding in your mind! You see, your mind works like a magnet; that which you focus your mind on grows and manifests into your life in the form of events, people or circumstances that will assist you in reaching your goals.

More..."For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" - Proverbs 23:7.

The human brain receives thousands of pieces of information a second, flooding in from the senses. It is said that we have daily some 60,000 thoughts and many of those are the same we had yesterday. So by having a vision board we can begin to determine the thoughts we want to focus our lives on and manifest into our lives.

This process works by way of what is called the Reticular Activating System. The Reticular Activating System filters through all these pieces of input and decides which messages receive top priority and full attention.

When setting personal goals, especially after committing them to writing, the brain has a specific subject or task brought to the forefront.

So if you then repeatedly think about, and re-write the goals, the brain is focused and suddenly becomes aware of related matters and needed resources which are important in the realization of the goal.

Anthony Robbins in his book 'Awaken the Giant Within' explains that "This shift in mental posture aligns you more precisely with your goals. Once you decide that something is a priority, you give it tremendous emotional intensity, and by continually focusing on it, any resource that supports its attainment will eventually become clear."

Buddha taught about the Law of Attraction - "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become" Buddha 562-483 B.C.

Studies show that only 4% of the population set goals for themselves. So it's little wonder that most people never really get to where they want to because they don't have and clear picture of what it is they want.

The scary result of the consequences of not having a clear picture of where you want to go is illustrated by insurance industry statistics. Of 100 people who reach retirement age, only one will be wealthy. Four out of the hundred will be financially independent; fifteen will have some savings put aside. And the other 80 will be dependent on pensions, still working or broke - this after a lifetime of well-paid work in the most affluent society in human history.

"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." ~ Jim Rohn

If you want to not be one of the eighty who is average then here are some simple steps to Creating a Vision Board:

Step 1: Set aside some quiet time with a pen and a notebook so that you can write down all the goals, experiences, dreams, and things you want to own in your life. This will form the basis of your dream board. Once you have an idea of what you want in your dream board you need to go and find the pictures to represent them. Common places to look are magazine, advertising material and the internet. Have fun compiling the pictures and phrases that inspire you.

Step 2: Go through the images you've collected and sort them out according to the ones that most inspire and motivate you. Obviously you would also want the vision board to represent some of your most important goals or ones that you most want to accomplish in the short term, mixed in with longer term goals and dreams. You want to start to lay them out on the piece of card board and see how it looks. There is no right or wrong way to sort out your vision board. Some people like to have a picture of themselves in the middle and their pictures scattered all around them. Others like to go with themes such as spiritual, financial etc placed in each corners of the board others just like to scatter the pictures on the board without any real theme.

Step 3: Glue everything onto the board. You don't have to keep to only pictures, if you feel the need to add your own creativity to the board by writing on it, painting on it then go ahead. This is your vision board and you can do whatever you think is going to best motivate and inspire you.

Step 4: Now that you have completed your vision board you want to put it somewhere that you will see often. It will serve no real purpose if you need to go searching for it. Some useful places to put your vision board are your bedroom where you will see it morning and night, or the bathroom door. The most important thing to bear in mind is that it is somewhere you will see it often to remind you of your visions and goals for your life.