Creating a Vision
Creating a Vision for Your Success in 2013
A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.
-Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Last weekend I spent most of a day with friends working on my vision board for 2013. Vision boarding is a powerful way to begin the year and a great opportunity to reinforce visually what you would like to see more of in your life. I wrote this blog for the June 2012 posting but wanted to reintroduce the concept so that you could use the practice to begin your year.
There is truly a science behind the creation and use of vision boards. Jack Canfield in “The Success Principles” states that “visualization may be the most underutilized success tool you possess.” He believes that visioning can accelerate the achievement of success in three powerful ways:
Activation of the creative powers of your subconscious mind;
Focusing your brain by programming your reticular activating system (RAS) to notice
available resources that were already there but had gone unrecognized, and;
Magnetizing and attracting people, resources, and opportunities to achieve your goal.
Canfield culminates the discussion on visualization with the suggestion that one hour of visualization could be equal to seven hours of physical effort. While it might be a stretch and yet to be scientifically proven, it certainly might be worth the try!
For many of us, life moves so fast that we don’t take the time to visualize what we want more of in our lives. We tend to “think” about what we want, maybe even affirm what we want yet we miss a vital scientifically proven step-visualization. In order to create a vision board, people must actively seek out representations of what they are trying to achieve. During this process, one has to narrow down specifics of what achievement and success would look like through the use of images. Making a vision board is one way used by many successful people to bring clarity to a general desire and turn it into an achievable goal.
For those not familiar with vision boarding, it is a tool that focuses our attention on where we would like to go. It requires the use of images-typically taken from magazines-to help us visualize into our futures. The purpose of the vision board is to help us zero in on what matters most to us while at the same time suppressing daily distractions that constantly invade our thoughts and routines. People have used vision boards to: Provide clarity on goals-both short-term and long-term; Reinforce what they want to achieve; Maintain focus on what matters most, and; Create and reinforce daily affirmations.
To begin a vision board, you might want to think about the following questions:
What makes you feel most alive?
What do you want more of in your life?
What would make your life more perfect?
How do I want to be seen, rewarded, acknowledged?
What legacy do I want to live into?
What past and present do I still want in my life?
What are symbols of success for me?
What is my perfect career?
What is my contribution to the world?
Where do I want to explore?
This is a limited list to get your juices flowing towards creating a vision of your life that is more exciting, abundant and enriching. To begin your vision boarding process, set aside two-three hours of time that will be uninterrupted. Think thorough the questions that have been provided as well as any that might help you reflect upon what matters most to you as you begin 2013. Once you have these ideas in mind, go through magazines to find pictures that represent your heart’s greatest desires and ideas for achieving success; then glue these pictures to construction board. You may be surprised by the pictures you are attracted to as they may or may not answer these initial questions. You can also include words that you find in magazines as these words can become powerful affirmations for you. The key here is staying open to what attracts your attention. One of the ways that I find vision boarding most enjoyable is to make the boards with friends. We have great conversations, lots of laughter and sometimes they even remind me of desires I had expressed in the past but had forgotten about.
The final step for your vision board is to place it where you will be able to see it often. If you have a home office, that’s the perfect place. If not, on the inside of a closet door is another option. The goal is to ensure that you continue to use the images, pictures and words to visualize and reinforce what you want more of in your life!
To Your Success!
Dr. Peggy