Dream boards are one of the most powerful and fun success tools you'll ever find. I can't recommend them highly enough to put you in the right frame of mind, to inspire and motivate you to achieve your goals and to activate the Law of Attraction to draw your desires into your life.

I use them for all aspects of my personal development and they are really fun to make, especially if you are a creative or visual person. Just the process of making one can bring you closer to your goal because you become really clear on what you want.

A dream board is really simple. It’s a visual representation of your goals. A picture in your head is great and so is writing your goals but actually creating it in real life is even better because you are giving clear and detailed instructions to the universe. It’s also a great motivational tool on a day to day basis to remind you what you are working towards.

I heard a story at a personal development seminar that perfectly summed up how powerful dream boards can be. The speaker told us how she had wanted an expensive new car but in reality was driving an old clunker. She knew how powerful goal setting can be, so she did her affirmations every day and she posted a picture of the car she wanted on her fridge.

She couldn’t find a picture of the car in the exact shade of burgundy that she wanted, but she found a cherry red one that was close enough. Every day for almost a year she thought about that car, did her affirmations and stared at the picture on her fridge. The desire made her work really hard on her business, because she knew that the car was expensive and she had to do something different to stretch herself to buy it.

When she finally hit her goals, she ordered the burgundy car she had wanted for so long, and she was so thrilled and happy that her vision was coming true. When she went to pick up the car, the salesman was apologetic.

“There’s been a mix up” he said “they sent the wrong colour”.

When she saw the cherry red car, she realised what had happened. The “wrong car” that was delivered was identical to the picture on her fridge. She had been staring at that cherry red car for so long, that the universe delivered exactly on her vision! It’s a great reminder to be really clear on what you want.

You can create multiple dream boards; one for money and career, one for finding the perfect relationship, etc or one overall vision. They don’t have to be perfect so put your perfectionist tendencies to one side and just do it. You can always improve on the original later and create new ones when you have achieved your goals.

Here is a step by step guide to creating a dream board that will help you immensely to achieve any goal for your life:

Know what you want

Look at all areas of your life such as prosperity, love life, career, fun, friends and family, making a difference, personal growth and health.

Write down everything that's important to you in that area of your life - particular goals you want to achieve and what would be your ideal life.

If you get stuck at this point, then book a personal life coaching session with me and I can help you identify what's really important to you.

Remember the Law of Attraction likes it to be really specific. You wouldn't call up a takeaway store and say "Just send me something for dinner you think I'd like". You ask for exactly what you want!

Find images that represent your goal

The pictures can come from fashion, fitness, bridal, alternative, business or health magazines, old photos, drawings or catalogues.

Spend sometime going through the magazines and tearing out any pictures or colours that inspire you. You may even find words that sum up your vision for your new self such as “happy”, “sexy”, or headlines that catch your attention.

For example:

A picture of your dream house, dream holiday destination, dream dog, future wedding (even if you're single) or ideal partner
Toys like cars, flat screens, shoes, clothes or gadgets
Inspiring images like pictures of money, sunny beaches or happy families
Names and pictures of people or charities you want to help
Healthy pictures of people in swimming costumes to inspire your healthy lifestyle
Abstract pictures that represent an emotion like love, peace of mind or excitement. I love finding scenes that capture a mood, like a hammock that represents “relaxation” or scenes of really happy couples to represent “love”

Arrange all of the pictures on a large piece of cardboard, stiff paper or in an art book. Try out different configerations before you stick the pictures down with glue.

Once it's all down, get some coloured pens or sparkly glitter ones and write your goals or inspiring words that describe your new life all over it. You’ll be looking at this every day so it has to be a pleasure to look at.

Now if that seems like too much hard work or you're too exhausted to be creative or head to a craft shop, then there are two very quick ways to create it on your computer using Microsoft PowerPoint or in Picasa, Google's free image software. In fact, this is my preferred way to create a dream board because it's so much quicker and I don't have to fiddle around with scissors and glue.

Find images through the Google image search function or from free image libraries like Microsoft Images. Just type in key words that represent your goal and save them to your computer.

Start a new PowerPoint slide and insert your pictures one by one. Arrange them how you like it and then print it out.

Picasa even has a function that will arrange all of your pictures automatically for you and even put a nice border in between. Download the free software here.

Display your dream board

Hang your completed dream board where you can see it all the time. If you've created it digitally, make sure you print it out, or make it your computer screen saver and desktop, so you see it every time you switch on your computer!

Stick your completed dream board on your fridge, next to your bed, on your desk at work, inside cabinets and anywhere else you'll see it all day.

Look at it EVERYDAY and get really fired up about making it a reality! Everytime you look at it, smile and know that your dreams are on their way to you.

Once you've manifesting the things on your dream board (and I bet some come out of nowhere), you can tick them off or start a new one.

Have you done a dream board? Got an inspiring story? Getting stuck?

Author's Bio: 

Denise Duffield-Thomas is a life coach and author of The Inspired Life Formula. She helps women develop the mindset to create the personal and profession life of their dreams.

Download a free copy of her guide "The 7 Fabulous Ways to Manifest Your Wildest Dreams" at www.deniseduffieldthomas.com