Vision Boards for Anxious People with Perfectionist Tendencies
For the first time in my life, I made a vision board and I surprised myself by actually enjoying the process. I'm pretty woo, into goal setting and I'm artsy so I'm not sure what my resistance to this project was, exactly. I think it was sort of a distaste for the mix of cheesy, dorm room bonding activity and white lady 'manifestation' spirituality.
But, surprise! My avoidance was actually about something else: my own insecurities. What if I make a goal and don't achieve it? If you don't set any goals, then you don't have to deal with the feelings of not reaching them. Later you can say, 'well, I didn't even want to do that anyway.' It's a convenient workaround to being honest with yourself. Sure, I make lists, I get things done, but it took me until my 30's to actually set a real goal, a goal that I could possibly fail at.
It's vulnerable to tell the universe exactly what you want. It feels even more vulnerable to want something bad enough to cut and paste it to poster board.
It's also impossible to set a goal if you aren't allowed to fail. Part of the reason I didn't make goals in the past was the inevitable tidal wave of shame and harsh self judgment if I failed. Over the last year, I've been working on overhauling my self talk into a much kinder voice (one of my 2020 goals!) When I fail at something without the mean voice in my brain going nuts, then I'm making progress.
I've failed at a lot of things and I haven't died yet, so at least this time I can say I really tried. There's something awesomely powerful about unselfconsciously declaring your intentions and saying exactly what you want. I invite you to try it!
How to Make Your Vision Board for 2021
1. Ditch the magazines - I don't have anything cool to cut and paste so I worked digitally, using images from my Pinterest board, Instagram and photos of Iron Oxide. You can use free editing programs like Canva to stitch it all together with decorative design elements.
2. Pick a color theme - This is just for you so if you don't care about how it looks thats fine, but if you care about aesthetics, pick 3 or 4 main colors to stick to. This helps it to look cohesive. Mine represents my jewelry brand goals, so beauty and sparkle were a must.
3. Use images that are meaningful to you - If fitness is one of your goal, you don't have to paste an image of a thin woman laughing while eating a salad. Paste a picture of someone with your body type looking hot, valkyries flying into battle, women in art. Make it unique something that has emotional value for you.
4. Make you goals specific, or not - Start by writing down all the words that describe what you'd like your life (or business) to look like. In addition to this vision board I wrote down some specific sales, donation and progress goals for my business this year. A couple of them are represented on the board symbolically, but if you want to write out your goals explicitly on your board that's great too. Whatever works to motivate you.
5. Put it somewhere you'll see it - This was another one of my hangups, I didn't know want to hang a poster board laden with words like "creativity!" and "success!" in my house, so I set mine as my desktop background. If you make a physical one you could take a picture of it and do the same. The idea is to keep it somewhere where you will be sure to see it and give yourself a few minutes to think about the goals each day.
This isn't about magical manifesting or law of attraction. It's simply reminding yourself everyday what you are working towards, and thinking about specifically what you can do to make those things happen (and then doing it!)
Editors note: This is the decoy version of my vision board, the real one is a bit more personal and I am not brazen enough to share the it online and jinx it!