I used to get caught in this cycle where I’d get spurts of motivation and feel really connected to what I wanted, do a lot in a short amount of time, and then burn out.

The connection would be fleeting. It’s like I’d get into this flow where everything I wanted was clear, I’d set goals, I’d get energized by them and be super productive, and then the lights would suddenly go off. The image would blur and get further away until I could no longer feel it.

I’d go back to feeling lost. Unmotivated. Uninspired. For many years, I was caught in this miserable back and forth where I could never gain any real traction. I’d try to push through and stick to the goals I’d set, but I felt so disconnected from everything that I wasn’t able to tap into my creative energy to do any decent work. I thought something was wrong with me.

Can you relate to this?

If so, I’ve got some excellent news: you aren’t broken. Nothing is wrong with you and you aren’t abnormal. You just need to dig a little deeper.

A couple of years ago, I started hearing about people making vision boards and how much of an impact they had on their mindset, productivity, and goal-setting. It was about a year before I finally decided to take it seriously and make my own. I wish I hadn’t waited so long because it turned out to be one of the key turning points in my personal development journey.

If you haven’t tried making your own vision board yet, here are four benefits of doing so that you should consider.

The Game-Changing (and Life-Changing) Effects of a Vision Board

CLARITY ON WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

When you go through the process of visualization (an exercise where you visualize your dream life in great detail) and creating a vision board, it makes you stop and think about what really gets you excited. You probably have some ideas to start with but when you have to break it down into specifics and do a deep-dive into exactly what you want to experience, accomplish, and most importantly FEEL in your life, you’re likely to discover new aspects to your goals and desires that you hadn’t been aware of before.

What exactly would a perfect day look like to you? What does your dream home look like? What are some experiences you want to have with your significant other? How do you want to dress? What adventures do you want to go on? This kind of clarity is where the magic happens. When you get specific, your desires get more power behind them and you become more connected to them.

This process will also help you separate what other people have told you that you “should” want from what YOU truly want, as well as get in touch with who you truly are at your core when you aren’t influenced by external pressure and expectations. You may realize that some of the goals you thought you wanted to achieve aren’t actually lighting you up at all, they’re just the things society, family or your peers told you that you should aspire to. Maybe you only want them because it will make someone else happy or bring you the attention/acceptance/security/etc that you crave.

The real goal is always simple: to be happy. So, what are the things that are going to do that for you?

FOCUS AND DIRECTION

Another benefit of getting more clarity on what you want is that it will help you put a plan of action together and actually follow through with it. When you look at your board and are reminded of your goal to be on the bestseller’s list, you can ask yourself, “what can I do today to get me closer to that reality?” Your vision board will remind you where you need to be focusing your energy.

It’s so easy to get distracted by a million different things, especially the noise of what other people think you should be doing or what your fears want you to do so you stay inside your comfort zone. Your vision board brings you back to what YOU truly want. It’s your guide to your dreams. When things start to get noisy or you aren’t sure what to do, check in with your board to get realigned with your truth.

MOTIVATION WHENEVER YOU NEED IT

It’s easy to get separated from your desires. They can get buried beneath all the stress, fears, noise from other people, and daily grind of your current reality. A broad idea of what you want may stick around, but the deep, passionate?feeling?tied to your desires is easy to lose touch with.

When you fill a vision board with images and words that reflect your deepest desires, you can tap into those feelings whenever your inspiration is waning. Reconnect with what you have on your vision board. Climb into those experiences and feel, hear, and see everything you would as if you were living them right at that moment. You’ll instantly get a boost of motivation because of how good you feel.

A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

One of the most challenging parts of changing our lives and working toward big goals is believing that those goals are attainable and not becoming distracted by the presumed “limitations” of our current reality. It can feel like there is such an enormous gap between where we are and where we want to be. If you aren’t surrounded by people living the way you dream of living, your unconscious mind can sabotage your efforts by operating from that limited belief system.

It’s important to live from a place where you know you’re going to have all of it or something better. This can be tricky, though, if your brain hasn’t been exposed to that reality. The good news is that your brain doesn’t know the difference between something that has really happened and something that your mind has constructed (which is why the memories of dreams you’ve had while you were asleep feel as real as your memories from real-life events).

If you visualize your dream reality and look at your vision board often, your brain will get used to those experiences and accept them as real. They will become normal to you. As a result, you’ll start experiencing life from that place, where your dreams are already a part of your current reality, rather than a place of lack that is so far away from what you want. Pretty cool, right?

My free ebook walks you through all the steps and options (digital and physical vision boards) to make the process of creating a vision board that works for you super easy and a lot of fun. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments!