Truth about Vision Boards and Manifesting: 7 Steps To Fulfill Your Vision

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Henry Ford

This is my current favorite quote. Doing something just because you’ve always done it doesn’t mean that it can’t, or shouldn’t change. Maybe there is a new more effective way to do something.

It's quite simple to change your life. In order to do so you need to have a clearly defined vision. Without a vision of what your future life looks like and feels like you can't put together an action plan for change. How do you know what the change is without a vision?

In Life Coaching and in Business Coaching we learn how critical a vision is, part of the process for any type of coaching is to begin with creating a vision statement for your personal life, and/or the future of your business.
If you believe in manifestation then you may find the vision creation activity a simple one to do. You already know that you need a clearly defined picture of the end goal in order to manifest it.

I'm about to drop a truth bomb. While visions, vision boards, manifestations and the power of the mind are all wonderful, amazing and important they alone will not get you to where you want to be. Sitting around concentrating on making more money will certainly not put dollars into your bank account. Sticking pictures of Oprah and Louise Hay onto your vision board will not suddenly materialize into a feature spot on Super Soul Sunday.

In order to create change in your life you must make daily changes and take small daily action steps that propel you forward.

I like the saying "you get out what you put in". If you aren't ready to make daily changes and take action on a daily basis then you aren't really serious about making changes, this applies to whatever area of life that is your focus right now. If it is your health and you are not willing to change your eating habits, or if it is the job you hate but you are not willing to leave it or create your exit strategy, then how serious are you about making lifestyle and nutrition changes?

I know that may sting a little, or a lot. I know that question, and the realization that came from it, stung a lot for me. But it was a game changer.

I hear talk all the time that someone wants to make more money, find a better balance between work and home life, get more clients, and the list goes on.

These are just wants, aspirations, or sometimes just complaining for the sake of having something to talk about. How do you turn an aspiration into a daily behavior?

1. Focus on one thing at a time, until it is DONE. Set yourself up to succeed, not to fail.

2. Start small. If you want to write more blogs then start with writing for 10 - 15 minute per day. If you want to make more money then set aside 10 - 15 minutes per day to market your business. If you want to improve your health start by drinking one more glass of water today. Make the commitment so small that you know you can do it, and add a little more to it each time you have succeeded at hitting your goal for 2 consecutive weeks no matter what, on weekends, holidays, birthdays and sick days.

3. Keep a steady routine. Do the activity at the same time daily. If you are setting aside time to write then plan it when no one can distract you, at the same time daily. We all love and need routines. Get into the routine of writing first thing in the morning. Wake up earlier! Refer back to #2, you only need 15 minutes.

4. Be accountable. You need to be accountable, get an accountability buddy if you can, put it out there in some way, it is ok to be accountable to yourself as long as you adopt the mindset that it is still a promise and it cannot be broken, it is not ok to not meet your goals and then say “see, I can’t do this”, negative self-talk will not get you where you want to be! My clients report to me on a weekly basis.

5. Have consequences. State 3 tasks you need to complete over a 2-week period. Then state what you would give up for 2 weeks if you don't complete them. Mine is tea. The thought of having to give up my tea is a motivator for me...sad but true. Consequences work to keep you motivated and taking daily action.

6. Announce your commitment (expanding on #4) to the world or someone you trust and admire. No one wants to look or feel like a failure. This always works for me. I announce an upcoming program or a goal I have to my Business Coach. Now I have no choice but to follow through and get it done. I don't want to be "that person" who doesn't do what they said they were going to do.

7. Enjoy the process. Making changes is scary, but it needs to be fun too. If you don't look forward to the daily change you won't do it. It's that simple. Start small and pick something that you look forward to doing every single day, even on weekends. Enjoy the change process, if it is work, or a chore to do it you need to tweak the process a little. Enjoy watching yourself become the person you envisioned, and build the dream you have desired.

My other favorite quote, “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” William Arthur Ward

Use your dreams to create a plan and then...TAKE ACTION!