Last updated on October 5th, 2021.
Manifestation is going mainstream and Vision Boards are all the rage.
If you haven’t heard of them, Vision Boards are collages that showcase the elements of a specific desire you want to manifest.
Now, I really love seeing people catch up with this powerful tool, however nothing makes me cringe more than the idea that if you just paste pretty pictures on a Vision Board all your dreams will come true miraculously.
If it were this simple, every teenage girl with posters of their celebrity crush on their walls (do kids still do that or am I showing my age?) would be dating stars.
I think this trend took off with the movie The Secret.
In this movie, which explains the basic principles of manifestation, there’s a scene in which one of the protagonists finds an old forgotten Vision Board in a moving crate. On this board features prominently a picture of the exact house he ended up moving in a few years after making this Vision Board.
He manifested living into his dream house!
From experience I know that Vision Boards can work this way: I have used them successfully and received perfect manifestations faithful to the tiniest detail. (Like this one or this one)
Still, I would like to warn you: Vision Boards are powerful, however lots needs to happen behind the scene to make them work for you…
This is why your vision board may not work. Click To Tweet
When your Vision Board doesn’t work.
Here’s an interesting story for you:
I once made a Vision Board to address certain changes I wanted to make in my life.
Part of the Vision Board dealt with an attractive business venture I had been introduced to which involved top Parisian luxury brands and locations, A-list celebrities and high-end luxury products.
Very prestigious and exciting (on paper)!
In practice, whenever I used the board I felt psyched about everything except this new project.
As soon as I got to focus on the part about the new glitzy business venture, things kind of flat-lined and I couldn’t get into it.
Maybe because I’m indifferent to celebrities.
Maybe because the deal involved my ex-husband (hmmm, go figure…).
In any case, something wasn’t clicking.
Ultimately, everything on the board manifested except this business deal: the whole thing fizzled and nothing ever came out of it.
Vision boards are much more than a collage.
Many people seem to be under the impression that pasting cute visuals on your Vision Board will make these things appear in your life by magic.
That’s not exactly how Vision Boards work.
Some aspects of the manifestation process do seems to work as if by magic: I have certainly had the experience where you place your ‘order’, you wait and it gets delivered without lifting a finger many times.
However, what happens behind the scene is a little more involved than simply clipping and pasting pretty pictures on a board…
Vision Boards help you focus.
You see, Vision Boards are not magic wands, they are a focusing tool.
Vision Boards work by helping you create an energetic alignment with an Ideal Outcome you would like to manifest.
Then through the power of certain powerful universal laws, this energetic alignment matches you up with your Ideal Outcome which get ‘delivered’ to you.
A matter of belief & emotions!
The manifestation process is powered by your belief system and your emotions.
It is therefore not only about looking at the pretty pictures on your Vision Board, it’s about creating a deep emotional alignment with your Ideal Outcome.
Doing this will send out a pure and stable vibration that will connect you with your Ideal Outcome and manifest it in your life.
To put this more plainly:
You can paste everything you want on your Vision Board and stare at it until you go blind, if you don’t feel anything when you look at it, you won’t get anything!
Most people who try their hand at making a Vision Board are not told about this aspect of the manifestation process: they don’t know how to create this energetic alignment.
That’s one of the main reasons why Vision Boards don’t work for them.
Blocks, blocks, blocks!
Any doubts, fears, negative associations or memories (conscious or subconscious) is the kiss of death to your manifestations. It will either cancel them (like my glitzy-business venture) or it will yield frustrating (but sometimes hilarious) results.
Some things that I have seen happen:
– You stick pictures of happy couples in love on your Vision Board, and your best friend is the one to find love while you remain single…
– You feature a check for a certain amount on your Vision Board and receive a check for this amount in the mail. Only it’s a promotional (fake) one!
Yes, the ‘universe’ has an interesting sense of humor.
This is why I always recommend lots of preparatory work (including mental and emotional clearing) before making your Vision Board. This ensures that you avoid running into snags.
Clearing house for success.
Clearing work before making a Vision Board is a topic onto itself and a topic most people skip.
I spend quite a bit of time on this topic in ENVISION, my Vision Board workshop, because this is critical factor that will make or break your success with a Vision Board.
Generally speaking, clearing work involves identifying your blocks and finding ways to work around them.
What clearing house looks like.
Say you’re toying with the idea of manifesting a vacation to the tropics but you have had trouble with too much sun before, you could feel divided about taking this trip.
You could work around the resistance by either coming up with a bullet-proof plan to protect your skin from the scorching tropical sun or choosing a less sunny destination.
Another example:
If you wanted to switch career but were concerned that your gender or your ethnicity could get in the way of you being hired and compensated fairly, you’d have to deal with things differently for instance by becoming comfortable with the idea that you can easily find a fair situation to your liking while staying true to yourself.
All about alignment!
What I want to drive home here is that for your Vision Board to work you must feel 100% congruent with the vision you want to bring to life. That’s the sine-qua-non condition for your desire to manifest smoothly.
Without this step, you will probably struggle massively to get any result from your Vision Board.
Beyond the vision board: action!
So far, I have shared issues that can come up as you plan and create your Vision Board, however there are other ways you can sabotage your success with a Vision Board.
An issue that’s often overlooked is that Vision Boards do require some form of action.
Not the hustle like a beheaded chicken type of action.
(This type of action is rooted in fear and desperation.)
No!
Vision Boards require a more subtle kind of action: Inspired Action as I call it; action taken from a place of confidence, inspiration and excitement.
Action makes the magic happen.
Here, another story comes to mind to illustrate this point:
Recently I was speaking with someone who finds themself stuck in a cushy but unfulfilling career and dreams of an independent lifestyle.
They have a clear vision of the life they want to lead, they have gathered pictures of the money shots of their dream life and put together a board.
The problem?
While they want a more fulfilling life, they are addicted to the comfort of the stable and secure career and resist taking action to make concrete changes.
In spite of all the pretty pictures on their Vision Board, their actions are not aligned with their dreams and obviously their Vision Board is not working as intended…
Vision Boards require confidence and boldness.
Now, I am not blaming them. Their resistance is perfectly understandable because manifestation can be challenging.
When you have a lot on the line, embarking on a manifestation journey often feels like hopping onto a row boat with no supplies, no map and the desire to cross an immense ocean.
It sounds crazy, it’s scary and it takes incredible boldness.
This is not for the faint of heart!
And, although changing career is not as dramatic as crossing an ocean on a row boat, it can certainly involve a level of discomfort and fear that you may not be ready for.
Fear leads to sabotage.
The most common way we tend to deal with this fear is by holding on to what we know or what feels secure.
Often this means reaching for solutions that are just within our current realm of existence even if these solutions don’t quite solve the issues at hand.
This could be looking for a job in another department at your current firm or at a competitor’s when the real issue is that you hate corporate life.
It could also mean doing what this participant in one of my workshops did. (Another huge trap!)
Or simply avoid taking action by procrastinating, like my frustrated employee who dreams of an independent lifestyle, but never seems to find the time to work on the projects that would allow them to fire their boss.
(Funny how schedules fill up quickly with stupid tasks as soon as we have to find the time to build our dreams…
Vision Boards sometimes work too well.
Truth be told, if you understand how to design and use your Vision Board properly, and you actually manage to build the courage and the discipline to work with your Vision Board and take inspired action, doors will begin to open for you.
However you will have to be willing to walk through these doors…
If you are not, I must warn you that using a Vision Board while resisting change is a recipe for disaster. And it will eventually ravage your life.
I have seen this happen countless times.
You see when you use a Vision Board, the ‘universe’ listens to your calls and it provides you with everything you need to upgrade your life according to your dreams.
It will seek any possible way to deliver those dreams to you even if it has to drag you there kicking and screaming!!!
If you can’t let go of the depressing job, the job may be taken from you.
If you can’t leave the frustrating man, the man may leave you.
If you can’t go of the unhealthy food, you’ll get sick.
Basically, things will get harder until you get the message, upgrade your attitude and allow positive changes to take root in your life.
Once you get on with the upgrades, things will generally turn around in the blink of an eye.
Resistance will sabotage you.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, change is scary to most people.
So, instead of embracing the changes, they get crispated, they stall, they resist, they procrastinate, they watch their life break down and then declare that their Vision Board doesn’t work.
More often than not however their Vision Board is working all too well.
It’s just that they are not doing their part to assist a smooth manifestation process and reap positive results.
You have to leave the shore.
Let me go back to my ‘using a row boat to cross the ocean’ analogy for minute.
A way to picture resisting manifestation would be to imagine that unbeknowst to you the universe had a large and comfortable ship waiting for you just outside of the bay to help you complete your passage across the ocean.
The thing is, you would have to leave shore and reach high sea to discover this ship.
And, you’d have to use a rope ladder to climb onto it.
True, it’s a bit shaky. However, once you’re onboard, your safe and comfortable passage to the other continent is secured.
Unfortunately, here’s what most people do is instead of leaving the bay and climbing onto the big ship:
They board their tiny row boat and paddle frantically back and forth between the shore and the edge of the bay, unable to fully let go of the shore and too fearful to really leave the bay.
And they continue this little fearful dance until they starve and die out of exhaustion and starvation without ever catching sight of the comfortable ship that was waiting for them all the time just outside of their comfort zone…
In other words, because they lack the courage to enter the co-creation of their manifestation, they sabotage themselves and come to the conclusion that their Vision Board doesn’t work.
The fear is an illusion.
Manifestation is a co-creation, it’s a game of trust and boldness. You have to be willing to believe before you see the path and jump before the net appears.
While it sounds scary, after working with manifestation for more than 25 years, I can assure you that it sounds way scarier than it actually is.
Often, the net is just around the corner and after a little scare you end up laughing at your hesitations when you realize how things miraculously rearrange themselves in your favor.
But, in order to see your happy ending, you have to be willing to jump before seeing the net and keep paddling in the direction of your dreams even if it seems crazy.
There should be no back and forth: no worrying about whether your dreams is manifesting or not as this will destroy all your efforts.
You must remain bold and steadfast!
Vision boards don't work if you don't work with them! Click To TweetManifestation is a system.
As you can see, there are many ways you can sabotage your results with a Vision Board, so to finish I’d like to clarify something that will help dispel all mistakes once and for all.
The fundamental thing to understand about using a Vision Board is that it’s a manifestation tool. And manifestation is not really about specific tools, manifestation is a system.
There are many tools that can be used to help manifest your desires and a Vision Board is only one of them.
It’s a great tool, it’s a fun tool, it’s a powerful tool, but it’s just a tool.
And if you don’t understand the purpose of this tool within the manifestation system, this tool, your Vision Board, is useless.
Ultimately, the main reason people struggle with Vision Boards can be summarized in not understanding what they are trying ot accomplish and not having a system to accomplish it.
Since they do not understand what a Vision Board does and how it does it, they are unable to anticipate and avoid the challenges that will present themselves when using a Vision Board.
Most vision boards fail due to lack of knowledge.
Most people learn to make Vision Boards by following what I call the flip-clip-paste method: flip through magazines, clip what inspires you and paste it on a board.
It’s a fun way to pass time but it’s not the way to get serious results in your life because ironically, Vision Boards made this way, actually lacks any sense of vision and direction.
The flip-clip-paste method leaves a lot to chance: to the glossy magazines you have at hand, to the images that have been created by the artistic directors and the advertisers.
With this procedure very little time is spend actually connecting with your own personal needs and your internal vision.
How can you expect to get life-changing and authentic results with a Vision Board made in such a random fashion?
A better way!
To avoid wasting your time, it’s critical that you always keep at the forefront of mind the main objective you’re striving for with your Vision Board (or any other manifestation process).
This implies that before making a Vision Board you must clearly define this Ideal Outcome in a way that actually fuels your soul so you can stand behind it 100%.
Making your Vision Board work.
The solution to your Vision Board woes is simple: to make a Vision Board that works for you, you need a system that addresses all the issues mentioned in this article.
Here’s the Vision Board framework I recommend:
1. Make sure to set the right end goal for your Vision Board. It’s about connecting with something that stirs your soul, not just your ego.
2. Eliminate any doubts about your goals and your capacity to reach them so your Vision Board stirs strong positive emotions in you.
3. Create a deep emotional alignment with your dreams by selecting the visuals featured on your Vision Board methodically.
4. Use your Vision Board regularly to activate a strong emotional connection to your Ideal Outcome
5. Take Inspired Action to help close the gap between where you are now and the manifestation of your Ideal Outcome showcased on your Vision Board.
Looking for the shortcut?
If this feels a bit much, I’ve got you covered!
As mentioned earlier I have created an entire Vision Board workshop based on the framework described in this post.
This workshop, designed with professional women in mind, guides you through the process of creating an effective Vision Board according to this framework to address any challenge you may be experiencing in life.
You will find follow-along detailed case studies on upgrading your career, improving your fitness or your love life. Additionally, this workshop comes with very tons of soul-searching and Vision Board making prompts to help you design a powerful Vision Board that finally delivers the results you are after.
Ready to make a Vision Board that actually works for you? Click here to get started.
Vision boards only work if you do your inner work! Click To TweetPin it for later!
