I Created A Vision Board And Nothing Happened

Ahh, the dream fulfilling, key to success -  vision board. The epitome of dreaming big and visualizing it on paper. When you Google "vision board" most of what comes up is, "What is a vision board and how does it work?," "How to make a vision board," and "law of attraction." The concept behind a vision board is that you are attracting the things you want in your life by creating this board that portrays your dreams and goals you wish to achieve. Maybe I didn't do enough research but I feel like my life hasn't changed drastically. I will say some things have been set in motion, but I don't really think it's because I made some magical board that made my dreams come true.

Don't get me wrong, I think the concept of vision boards are great! I mean, come on, I made one - and it is hanging on my wall! But, there is obviously more behind making a vision board and thinking that creating one will automatically change things in your life. You still have to put in work, duh. Since I've created a vision board, I started to think, there has to be a supplement to the board; a plan put in place to achieve what is on your board, something that doesn't involve cutting and gluing pieces of what you wish your life to be on canvas. Making something that looks pretty isn't enough, you have to cut and paste things into your life to get there. Here are some things to help your vision board, become your life envisioned:

1. GET A PLANNER. Fulfilling your dreams comes from maintaining your daily life and staying organized. Staying organized in turn helps you stay focused on what's important. I've been using Passion Planner since 2016 started, and I love it! It helps you to break down your goals in life - from 3 months, to 5 years, to a lifetime. Breaking those goals down then helps you to implement a plan for each week to reach to that goal. Using this planner has really helped me to keep track of my writing, fitness and long term goals. It also helps me to reflect. I definitely recommend that you get a planner, whichever one suits you, to integrate the goals on your vision board. I picked this one specifically because I had never seen anything like it and it really spoke to what I needed.
    
2. DE-CLUTTER. I have to admit, I haven't fully done this part. It's been spaced out and I've gotten around to some things, but I haven't done a complete sweep. De-cluttering is getting rid of what you don't need, the things that take up space physically and mentally in your life. I find that having too many material things (i.e. a mess) around my house cloud my already cluttered mind. I need a clear space to feel less anxious. I also find that writing out a to-do list helps me to get the mundane things out of my head so I can let the creative juices flow. De-cluttering can mean something different for everyone, but ultimately it's about clearing a pathway for yourself. Whether it's mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually, it's important to get rid of the junk so you can focus on what you truly desire.
    
3. CREATE GOOD HABITS. Creating habits towards your goals is very important, I can't even reiterate this enough - even if I'm still learning to accept this myself. You actually have to commit to making the change by doing something different than you have been doing in the past. Planning to start running more? C25K is a great app, I hated running and started using it, now I actually want to run. This app helped me increase my time for running each week and something as simple as that helped me achieve a goal I never thought possible. Starting a habit, no matter how minimal at first, helps you to stick to it and eventually increase your likelihood of completing it. HabitBull is also a great app that caters to any specific habit you want to create. Just add a habit, mark the amount of times you want to do it in a specified amount of time, and you can visually keep track of how well you are sticking to your goals. According to HabitBull, it takes 66 days to create a habit! You can even connect with other people who trying to work on the same habits as you - because sometimes we need that extra push!
    
4. TAKE ACTION. This is definitely an obvious one, but I feel like it's the one that might happen the least after creating a vision board. We envision and expect the universe to just lead the way, but we also have to choose. Steps 1-3 are definitely the foundation to taking action. Using those steps, you can create the stepping stones towards achieving the dreams on your vision board. Want to travel abroad? Start writing a list of what you need to do: research prices, best times to fly cheap, places to visit, total costs, etc. Use HabitBull to track your saving each day to pay for the trip. When you break it down to simpler steps, it becomes so much easier to take action and reach your goals.

Once we take action, more of what we truly desire WILL fall into place because we aren't just envisioning it, we are working towards it. Vision boards are fun to make and cool to look at, but ultimately seeing your dreams come to life by the work you have put in will look 100 times better. Your vision board will just be a skeleton of what you even thought possible. And, it is possible.