What's The Verdict on Vision Boards? Do They Work?

Quite a few years ago, when the book The Secret was so popular, I created a vision board.

Where it is today I am not sure. It kicked around my basement for many years and I think it did finally go out with the trash. There are 2 posts that were on the board that I remember well: a check I made out to myself for a million dollars and a photo of a Disney cruise ship.

There is lots of commentary and opinion when it comes to vision boards and for me while I believe that what you focus on expands I am not sure if a vision board works. The check for a mil has not arrived and I never did go on that Disney cruise.

I've done some more reading beyond The Secret on vision boards and in that process I came across an article that resonated with me. The author talked about a vision board that does not focus on material things but on feelings. In essence put on your board photos and items that bring about the feelings you wish to have. Check out the article here: www.huffingtonpost.com/visionboard

That line of thinking is the one I am going to employ as I create a new vision board. That same line of thinking is the reason I selected the photo I've used in this post. It's summer, sunflowers are beautiful and my sunflower photo emits that summer vibe.

This is the sign that hangs above my desk in my home office is one that I believe in and love as a concept when it comes to work. Does having it hang above my desk influence my thinking and have an effect on my work output? I'd have to say yes.

So ... do vision boards work? I am going to try one again and see if I can find out. Follow along here at My Middleton Chronicles.

Vision Board - Miracle Morning

Great Things Are Done By A Series Of Small Things Brought Together

A piece of The Miracle Morning is visualization. For me that brings to mind a vision board.  It must be from my experience with The Secret. Remember that book and video? I do believe in that stuff. One of the sayings that stuck with me goes something like this - 'what the mind can conceive one can achieve'. The thing that many people found lacking with 'The Secret' was the part about actually having to do something about getting what you want. That there is work and effort that has to go in to it to. You can't just visualize being thinner. You have to actually eat right and exercise. Money does not just fall off of trees if you visualize it. You have to work and earn a wage, create something you can sell and then sell it or find a product you believe in and sell that or some combination of all of the above.

The saying you see in the photo on this post hangs in my home office. At least it's supposed to be my home office. If you could see the desk you'd see that there are books my daughter purged out of her room next to it, pencils and markers that I dug out before going school supply shopping so we would not duplicate what we already have, an abandoned laptop of my husbands ... but I digress.

One of my mistakes of the past was to look for the quick fix. The nice thing about having some life experience behind me is that I now no there are very few overnight successes. There's always a story of hard work and perseverance behind it.

So after doing a prep day for The Miracle Morning and 3 actual days practicing it I made it to the weekend and am going to do some more prep work which brings me back to the vision board. I spent some time reading Boston Magazine this morning and the great thing about Boston Magazine is it illustrates lifestyles. We are lucky in Massachusetts that we have the great city of Boston and all it has to offer, there are mountains to our north and west and all that they offer and there are beautiful shores all up and down our coastline. The September issue ranks the top schools and takes on the debate of charter schools vs. public schools in one of the articles. Being a mom I am grateful that compared to other areas of the country you pretty much can't go wrong when choosing a school for your children. The public education here is excellent and there's no shortage of other choices when it comes to education.

So what I need to figure out for my vision board is what should go on it. What am I striving for in those small things that I will so that will come together to form something great?
One of them is for sure good health. Another is good personal relationships. The third would be professional success. One of the tasks from the start of The Miracle Morning was to rank from 1-10 where you are currently in these areas:

Spirituality
Finances
Career/Business
Romance/Significant other
Fun/Recreation
Contribution/Giving
Health/Fitness
Environment home/office
Family and Friends

I wrote a bit about it in this previous post http://mymiddletonchronicles.blogspot.com/miracle-morning/level-10-habits

How do I get to level 10 in these areas and which ones are most important to me?

Stay tuned for more of My Middleton Chronicles and if you have any comments or advice  on figuring this stuff out I'd love to hear them.