Vision boards are visual depictions or collages of the things you want. They create visual reminders of what you are spending your time and energy creating in your life.

As you think about your future, you may not get a clear vision of what you want.

You want the new car but what colour is it?

You see, unless you can keep all the details sorted out, it gets hard to develop a clear picture of what you want.

You can imagine how hard it is for a house, cottage, or item with many details.

Using a vision board gives you a visual reminder about all the details without you having to recall the colour of the walls or the type of wall oven you want.

You can create a vision board for just about anything

• for the family you desire
• the house you want
• the car you want
• the job you want
• the hobbies you hope to have soon
• trips you want to take
• awards you want to win
• vacation home
• certificates
• Anything else you can imagine

The vision board can consist of images, words, and symbols representing a particular goal.

Now I know what you are thinking, "this is a bunch of Woo Woo new age crap." I would remind you that people have been using pictures to represent things they care about and give them reasons for their work.

Jack Canfield used a picture of a $100,000 bill taped to his bedroom ceiling when he first started out. It was the first thing he saw every morning when he woke up. That year he made $97,000 from his books. This was before Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

Why do people have pictures of their families on their desks and walls? Maybe it is to remember why they put in all the effort and long hours working.

You can create a physical vision board or, thanks to technology, a digital one. Here is a link to some reviews of vision Board Software.

You can also create a vision book using a binder.

You can make a vision board using craft materials to create something physical, or you can use software like Canva.com, MindMovies.com, or MS PowerPoint and keep it digital.

Advantages of a vision board

You can invest in vision board software or use the software you already have. It's up to you.

This post aims to encourage you to use vision boards to inspire you to achieve a particular goal.

By creating a tangible representation of the future as you wish, you give yourself a visual reminder of what you want. This visual reminder is a great way to motivate yourself and help you set up steps to achieve the vision.

The best vision board considers all eight areas of life that we talked about before in lifestyle design.

Eight Areas of Life to Design:

You can start with one section at a time, finding images, words, and items that help define and depict what it will look like if you have the most success in life.

Use words like "joyful," "abundant," "powerful," "fearless," "loved," "strong," "healthy," "loving," or "financially free."

These are supposed to be your big dream or your goal in life.

You'll want to think long-term, ten years or more, into the future as you design and create your vision board.

To get started using each of the eight areas, develop a list of goals you'd like to achieve in the next year, five years, or ten years into the future.

Using that list of goals, you can find images, words, and even tactical items if you're doing it with actual materials to help build the vision board.

Once you find pictures and visuals representing how you see the future and what best represents your goals met, you can start making each section of your vision board.

General elements of an effective and motivating vision

Here are the  general elements of an effective and motivating vision board. There are:

1. Visual

Your subconscious tends to work in terms of images and pictures, and so your vision board should be as visual as you can possibly make it. Supplement the images with phrases and words as needed.

2. Emotional

Every image on your goal map should evoke some type of positive emotional response out of you. Seeing it should fuel your motivation to achieve your dreams.

3. Strategic

Place your vision board strategically in a location where you receive maximum exposure to it. Seeing your vision board as often as possible will help you stay focused on your goals and dreams.

4. Personal

Your vision board needs to emit positive energy. If you think that you'll be criticized or forced to justify yourself for your vision board, then keep it in a private location so nobody else can bother it or you.

It's important to note whether the business you choose can lead to reaching the goals you set for other areas of your life. The practice of creating the board can help you figure out whether what you want is even possible or not.

For example, if you are to realize your goal of having and flying your own airplane, you will understand that the costs of this goal require a certain amount of money and resources.

Does your business have the ability to provide the income to achieve your dreams?

If not, you may find you want to adjust some of your assumptions or goals to match your resources, principles, morals, and values.

What happens when you achieve the item on your vision board?
Create a success board so you can see the successes you have had, which will give you confidence in the future to keep going.

I hope you have enjoyed the blog post, and if you know of anyone else that could use this information please send them the link

It's the align with your core beliefs and goals that I would like to talk about because it happens more than we would like to admit.

Not every business is a good business for you. It has to align with your personal values, goals and skill sets.

So before you start working on your business plan, you need to sort out your personal goals. They need to be in sync. You don't want to be a different person when working in your business and around your family and friends.

When setting goals, it is essential to remember that there needs to be some balance in the major areas of your life. Without this balance, you will spend all your time and energy focusing on work and not spend any time on family or your health, as an example.

People never think about how each decision affects how their lives will look and be in practice when designing their lives.

When you talk about goals with friends and family, are most of the conversations about work and financials? Why is that?

Why are you limiting your goals to work? Is focusing on your career and business goals the only thing that matters? NO, but like us all, you get sucked in by the commercials on TV and magazine advertisements for insurance brokers and banks to focus on making money and managing money to have all you want in the future. What about now? You need some balance.

So let's break a long-held myth in the self-improvement industry. Goals are not just about work.

Let’s start strong and talk about the areas of life you need to design to ensure your success.

If you want a particular lifestyle, you must think about how each choice impacts your desires.

There are eight areas of life that you need to design purposefully for success:

Career Goals

Education- Life Long Learning

Don’t forget your local library. They have access to a wide variety of materials, and depending on their services, online learning could be available.

Finally, check out your local college or university to see if individual courses will help you become an expert in your field.

Family Goals

Community Goals

Do you want to be involved in your church, or do you want to feed the poor or take care of stray animals in your area?

What do you want to have the time and funds to do in your community?
It might be as simple as helping the elderly couple down the street with the groceries.

Spiritual Goals

Spiritual goals sometimes focus on changing you into a newer, better person.

Maybe control your temper or give a certain amount to a charity you care about and want to support.

Health and Fitness Goals

Your health and fitness level are essential because it doesn’t matter what level of success you achieve if you're unhealthy.
Being ill or not working at peak performance physically, it’ll be hard to keep up the momentum to achieve your plans.

Finances Goals

Hobbies 

More Goal Lessons

Your goals should be yours, not your spouse’s, your companies, parents or close friends. Take control of your future by making your goals for yourself. If you’re chasing someone else's goals, your life will not be balanced, and you will feel artificial.

As you look to creating your own business you can now put some boundaries around what you will do and what you won't do.

It would be best if you had goals in all the areas and did not limit your goals to work. Don't think you can separate your business life from your personal life. It wont work.

Go through each area and write a summary about how you envision your life in each of these areas.

Then be very specific about what it will cost you in terms of time and resources to achieve the ideal life you’re designing for yourself. Do not make assumptions.

Look up how much something costs, ask people who have done it how long it takes, and get real information so that you’re not just guessing.

The idea is to design a life that you really want to live, but that is realistic for you to achieve.

If you found this helpful, you might want to check out these articles

Why Is It Important To Have a Goal In Life?

Why It's Never Too Late to Go After Your Dreams

Change Your Habits to Change Your Life

Whether you want to become the next Steve Jobs, launch a successful project, or climb up the career ladder, you need to start with baby steps. Swap any habits that hold you back for habits that move you forward.

Let's say you always find excuses to skip your workout by doing that; you'll never manage to lose those extra pounds and get in shape.

Commit yourself to hit the gym at least three times a week. Take it seriously, just like you do with your job or family time. Then, a month later, schedule four workouts a week.

In the meantime, make small changes to your diet. Do one thing at a time. For instance, you could ditch the sugar during week one, cut back on junk food the second week, cook your meals from fresh ingredients the third week, and so on.

Think small to go big, and the results will follow!

If you like this you might want to check out 5 Ways to Set and Achieve Your Goals 

Expand Your Current Knowledge to Position Yourself as a Leader

Daily under 20 Minutes Tasks to Prove Your a Leader

Transform yourself into the kind of leader other employees will want to follow. Your knowledge and skills are valuable resources that can help you to develop your talents and inspire others.

Great leaders share these qualities:

How many of these ten characteristics do you possess? Are you willing to develop those qualities that you lack? Great leaders have several qualities in common that you can learn and apply to enhance your leadership skills. Review these qualities and look for ways to develop your leadership abilities further.

Regardless of the leadership strategy followed in your company, these attributes will serve you well. Great leaders share many of the same qualities. Learning to demonstrate these attributes will enhance your leadership abilities and increase your power and influence at work.

Leadership skills can’t be learned and developed in a day. Bringing an idea into the marketplace requires a leader. Make yourself the obvious candidate.