Vision Boards
The house was quiet apart from the soft snip-snip of my scissors as I cut through flimsy, glossy magazine paper again and again. Our heater kicked on, and I paused to take another sip from a rather large cup of tea. A large white board lay on the floor in front of me with several cut out images and words already pasted on. What was I up to on this cold, December afternoon? I was creating a vision board for the year ahead.
You might ask. “What’s a vision board?” Well essentially it’s a collage, but it’s a collage that you create with specific goals in mind. The idea behind a vision board is that if you create strong visual representations of where you want to be in your life within a certain timeframe or what you want to do by a certain date, you’re more likely to do it. Similar to the psychological process of telling yourself, “I can do this,” a vision board is positive reinforcement in a specific direction.
Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and author of “The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, The Science of the Brain,” says that while using a vision board may seem a bit ridiculous at first (is anyone else flashing back to kindergarten with scissors and glue?), there are very real neuro-processes involved (Scipioni, 2019).
“The brain assigns a higher value to images than written words on a “to-do” list and the more you look at those images, the more those images move up in importance. Looking at images on a vision board primes the brain to grasp opportunities that may otherwise have gone unnoticed,” said Swart. She suggests placing it in a place where you’ll see it every single day, like your closet or next to your bed.
There is one catch though. Research shows that in order for vision boards to be effective you must depict and visualize the work it takes to get to where you want to be. Depicting the outcome you want isn’t enough (Scipioni, 2019). In other words, you can’t visualize winning the race without first visualizing running every day so you’ll be good enough to win the race. Swart also says that, “Normally, when you try something new, the body has a stress response, releasing cortisol and adrenaline. In other words, new things can be scary. However when you repeatedly look at images related to your goals, your brain no longer sees them as new.”
Vision boards aren’t magic (although they might feel like it once you’ve experienced the way they can influence the focus of your thoughts and actions)! They’re a tool and like any tool, it’s completely up to you whether you want to use it or not. That said, I can’t think of many tools that are as much fun to use as this one is. Magazines can be purchased cheaply at second hand bookstores and you could even host a vision board party and make them together with friends!
Reference: Scipioni, J. (2019). Top execs use this visualization trick to achieve success-here’s why it works, according to a neuroscientist. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/22/visualization-that-helps-executives-succeed-neuroscientist-tara-swart.html.
Challenges/Points:
A vision board is a tool that can help you focus on goals you want to accomplish.
To create your own vision board, gather a variety of magazines and cut out images or words that represent your goal or goals. Then paste them together on cardboard or in a notebook and place it somewhere where you will regularly see it.
Vision boards aren’t magic, they capitalize on the way our brains work to focus our attention on what we really want.
Questions:
What would be on your vision board?
What would you like your life to look like five years from now?
Is there a change you want to make that a vision board might help with?
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