January 19, 2026 • 28 mins
Have you ever wondered if vision boards are just a fun craft project, or if they actually help you achieve your dreams?
In this episode, we move beyond the "woo-woo" and get into the practical reasons why a vision board is one of the most powerful tools for your career and life. If you have ever bought a specific car and suddenly started seeing it everywhere on the road, you already know how this works. It is about training your brain to notice the opportunities that matter.
I break down the critical difference between a "Goal Poster" (your checklist) and a "Vision Board" (your emotional anchor) and walk you through the exact steps to create one that pulls you toward your future.
In this episode, you will learn:
- The Science of Focus: How the Reticular Activating System works (and the "Red Mustang" example) to filter reality in your favor.
- Vision Board vs. Goal Poster: Why you need both in your office but why they serve two very different purposes.
- The 5 Essentials: The specific items to include on your board, from emotional images to symbols and affirmations.
- The Guardrails: 5 rules to follow to ensure your board is for you, not for Instagram.
- The Vision Statement: How to write a present-tense story for your life that helps you internalize your success before it happens.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Discovering Your Calling (Book)
- The concept of "Fearful Fred" vs. "Ready to Go Ruth"
Action Step: Once you listen, gather your supplies (magazines, stickers, photos) and block out time this week to build your board. If you feel brave, snap a photo and DM it to me. I would love to cheer you on as you set the direction for 2026.
✨ Not sure what’s next in your career or life?
Take Sheri’s free Career Clarity Quiz to discover your current season and the smartest next step for you.
👉 www.sherimiterco.com/careerquiz
✨ Not sure what’s next in your career or life?
Take Sheri’s free Career Clarity Quiz to discover your current season and the smartest next step for you.
👉 www.sherimiterco.com/careerquiz
📘 Book:
Get your copy of Discovering Your Calling Book
🔗 Connect with Sheri
Website: www.sherimiterco.com
Facebook & LinkedIn: @SheriMiter
Additional Resources:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sheri Miter (00:00):
In this episode, you're going to discover how to
create a vision board and avision statement.
I'll teach you what to do andwhat to avoid doing so that a
vision board and a visionstatement can help you achieve
any goal you set for yourcareer, for your work, and for
your life.
(00:21):
Welcome to the Discovering YourCalling podcast.
I'm your host, Jerry Mitter.
I'm here to help you unleashyour strengths and get clarity
on your calling.
I believe when you find yourpurpose in life, fulfillment,
joy, and success will follow.
If you're ready, pop in thoseearbuds, hit that follow button,
and join me on this journeytoward discovering your calling.
(00:46):
Let's jump in today's episodeand one of my favorite topics to
talk about.
So if you listen to how to turnyear-in reflection into a clear
plan for the year ahead, where Ishared the three simple steps
for goal setting, andor thelatest guest episode with my
friend John, where we touched alittle bit on vision casting our
(01:07):
goals.
Today I'm gonna give you thehow-to behind creating a vision
board and a vision statement.
And it's a training, you know, avision board is about training
your focus.
Darlin, start that part over.
A vision board is about trainingyour focus and giving direction
to your energy because thevision is what keeps goals from
(01:28):
becoming scattered or forgotten.
So if we take the time to do thethree steps that I shared in the
previous episode and you arevery clear on your goal, we want
to keep that goal in front of usso that we are way more likely,
and I don't have stats for youtoday, sorry, but you're
definitely more likely toachieve the goals that you want
(01:51):
for your work and for your life.
Now, before we jump into thehow-tos, I do want to clarify
because I get asked this a lot.
What is the difference between avision board and a goal poster?
And in my mind, a goal postershould have the checklists, the
timelines, the outcomes, theactual maybe how-to on it, the
things where you can mark it offand you can track things.
(02:14):
Whereas a vision board is yourvisual reminder, it's about
direction.
It's about really that emotionalresonance that you feel when you
look at it.
It's more that feeling of itmore than the how-to.
It lets you sit with the goalsand really be able to envision
in your mind what it's gonnafeel like when you achieve them.
(02:35):
Now, both are important, butthey both work a different way.
And they both, you should haveboth in your in your workspace,
in my opinion, so that you havethe goal poster for the
checklist and the vision boardfor that emotional attachment to
the goal.
Today we are definitely justtalking about the vision board.
Now, again, this is one of thosethings that I don't understand
(02:56):
exactly how it works.
It goes back to that reticularactivating system that I've
talked about before.
And I know it works.
I just don't really understandall the science behind it.
But I've said this before.
I also don't know how the lightswitch turns on a light.
I don't understand how my cellphone works.
I don't understand how a podcastworks.
I just know it does.
And I trust that it does.
(03:17):
I trust when I pick up my phoneto call somebody and they pick
up the other phone, it's workingin their line.
It works.
And I hope you can just do thesame thing.
We don't need to alwaysunderstand every the how-to
behind everything.
Sometimes we just have to trustthat it works.
This is what I do know is thatthe brain notices what it's
trained to notice.
(03:38):
You may have heard me hear theexample of car shopping.
Sometimes we go car shopping andwe've been looking at cars and
dreaming about cars, and wefinally settle on this, you
know, one particular model of acar in a unique color.
Maybe it's a cherry red Mustangthat you've always wanted.
(04:00):
And you finally go by that car,and you feel like, you know, I
never see anybody with thischerry red color Mustang.
And all of a sudden you'redriving home, and what do you
notice on the roads?
You notice a couple of othercherry red Mustangs.
Now, did everybody else just runout and buy the same car the
same day?
(04:20):
No.
The thing is, your mind wasn'tfiltered to notice them yet.
But once you bought the car, nowyour mind says, Oh, we need to
filter to see other cars likethis.
So all of a sudden your brainworks and it starts noticing
those particular cars.
And again, it's part of yourreticular activating system that
(04:42):
just filters things out becausewe're not designed to notice
everything that's happeningaround us.
We would go insane.
And sometimes we may feel thatway already.
So it's about shifting yourawareness.
And that's what a vision boardhelps you do.
Now, in real life terms, yourvision board, when you look at
(05:03):
it, it helps helps you fromsecond guessing.
So you have less secondguessing.
It becomes a clear reminder,like, oh, wait, this is what
we're focused on.
So stop going in this otherdirection.
You also will experience fewer,should I be doing this moments?
Because again, when you look atyour vision board in front of
(05:24):
you or read your visionstatement, it reminds you what
is aligned with the goal youset, what is aligned with what's
on your board.
And if it doesn't align with it,then you need to train your
brain to say, no, that's not thedirection we're going to go.
That will not help us achievethis.
It also just gives you thateasier, more confident yeses and
(05:44):
no's.
Because again, does it alignwith what's on the board?
Will it help you achieve what'son your board?
Then the answer should be nomost of the time.
If it will help you achieve it,then it's a yes.
So it helps you in a practicalmanner of just kind of eliminate
some of the decisions we have tomake throughout our day and our
work week.
It eliminates some of thatdecision fatigue because it's
(06:04):
very clear the direction we'reheaded.
Now, I want to share one morestory, one more thing to get you
on board in case you're stilldoubting is it worth taking the
time to create a vision board?
So this happened years ago.
It was one of the first times Ireally created a solid vision
board that really resonated withwhat was super important to me.
(06:26):
I had created some before, butthere are some usually more what
I felt like I should be puttingon my board.
And I remember having a verysmall vision board set up, and
it was actually a picture of a31-foot sailboat.
And it I sat it in our kitchenwindow.
And there were a couple otherthings around the board.
I couldn't even tell you whatelse was on there.
It was like the sailboat was themain picture, front and center.
(06:48):
And it was a little bit biggerthan a normal paper size.
It was like on a small posterboard, and it sat in that catch
kitchen window.
So I would look at it everysingle day, multiple times a
day.
And here's what happened.
Within a year, and again, thisgoes back like 10, 15 years ago.
(07:10):
So I don't remember the exacttimeline, but it was within the
year of making that vision boardwith the sailboat.
We ended up buying the exactsame model of boat.
I had no idea.
I had just cut out a picture ofa sailboat when I put it on
there because that was what we'downed a 26-foot sailboat at the
time.
(07:30):
We knew we wanted a bigger boat.
It happened to be the exact samemodel we ended up buying.
We didn't set off to actuallylook for that model.
It's just what happened.
And that's what happens when wereally resonate with what we put
on our vision board.
And we see it daily.
And I'm going to talk more aboutthat in a minute.
Things do become real over time.
(07:51):
And again, it's a little woo-wooand mystical.
I don't understand it all, but Iknow it works.
And we don't need to fullyunderstand how it all works.
We just need to trust theprocess.
So here's a key takeaway I wantyou to remember though.
Vision boards do not replaceaction, they give action a
direction.
So by creating a vision board,you doesn't mean you don't have
(08:14):
to do the work to achieve it.
It means you're going to beclear on what action is going to
help you achieve what's on theboard.
All right, my friend.
So this is the time that I wantto give you the practical steps
for creating your vision board.
Now, I used to do this in a liveworkshop where we would gather
all the things and I would sendout the list of people.
(08:35):
This is what you need to bring,and we're going to do this all
together.
And to be honest, I miss those.
And hey, let me know.
Like if you're in the 518 areaand you would ever come to a
vision board making workshop,let me know because I would be
happy to put something togetheragain in person, in real life.
But in the meanwhile, here'swhat you need to gather for your
(08:57):
vision board.
Now, the vision board again isall about emotions and pictures.
So there's five things that youcan put on your vision board.
You don't necessarily need themall.
These are just some options.
And there may even be some thatI miss here.
But number one is you wantimages, and this is the most
important thing.
The images that represent whatyou want.
(09:17):
So it could be somethingtangible, like that boat that I
had on my vision board.
It could be maybe that beachcondo is your dream.
Maybe you want a new kitchen.
So it could be somethingtangible that you want to
achieve, that you want to have.
Maybe it's even, you know, a newcouch.
Maybe it is that new cherry redcar.
(09:40):
So whatever it is you want,pictures of what you really want
to achieve.
Then you want images that alsorepresent how you want to feel.
So how do you want to feel thisyear?
Do you want to feel healthier?
What images would represent thatfor you?
And that's important.
(10:00):
It only has to mean something toyou.
You don't have to explain whatthe pictures mean to anybody
else if you don't want to.
This is just for you, my friend.
Only for you.
So what pictures would representhow you want to feel this year?
Put those on there.
You can also have images thatrepresent the kind of life you
(10:23):
want to live.
So is it a life of activity?
Is it a life of dancing?
Is it a life of achievement?
Is it a life of, you know, gamenight?
You know, things like that.
You can put any of thosepictures.
Again, they're images thatrepresent what you want, how you
want to feel, or the kind oflife you are living.
(10:44):
So that's the first part isimages.
The second thing you can put onyour vision board are stickers.
And you can get some greatstickers, you know, from
calendars, you can get greatstickers in the kids section
and, you know, Target.
You can get great stickers likephoto photo books.
But stickers or words of, youknow, stickers of words or
(11:05):
phrases that evoke emotion, theemotion that you want to feel
this year.
Um, is it freedom?
Is it happiness?
You know, what are those wordsthat just evoke something to
you?
You can also put number three,so that was number two, number
three, you can put photos ofyourself.
Photos of yourself when you felthappy and confident.
(11:26):
Photos of yourself, maybe whenyou were your ideal weight, that
maybe that's your goal.
You want to get back to thatideal weight again.
Photos of yourself of how youagain want to feel this year.
So the first images we talkedabout weren't images of you.
They were images you find onlineand print out and have them, you
know, cut them out and put themon your board.
(11:46):
These are actual photos of youthat remind you of how you want
to feel this year.
Maybe it's a photo of youcrossing a finish line if you
want to get back into running,you know, is the last time you
crossed the finish line.
You know, maybe it's a photo ofyou dancing, maybe it's a photo
of you playing with a kid withyour kids, whatever that is that
(12:07):
makes you happy.
The fourth thing you can put onyour vision board are
affirmations or meaningfulverses.
So you can write these out andput them on your vision board.
You can type them out, cut themout and paste them on your
vision board.
So maybe there's some meaningfulBible verses that just resonate
with how you want to live yourlife this year, or that give you
(12:30):
confidence that you can do thisor you're on the right path.
So, what are those affirmationsor meaningful Bible verses that
you could put on your visionboard?
And the fifth thing that you canput on your vision board are
just symbols.
Symbols that represent what youwant most in 2026.
Again, is it freedom, joy,peace, financial well-being,
(12:54):
health?
You know, again, it's somethingthat means something to you.
Maybe it's, you know, for me, alot of times I will have the
compass rose just because that'sa meaningful symbol to me.
Maybe it's a palm tree.
Maybe it's again, it's justsomething that means something
to you, doesn't mean somethingto anybody else.
(13:14):
So again, the five things thatyou want on your vision board,
and you don't need them all, butyou can use any of these images
that just represent what youwant to, you know, be, do, or
have this year.
Two stickers of words or phrasesthat evoke emotion, three photos
of yourself feeling happy andconfident in that moment, photos
(13:35):
of yourself of how you want tofeel this year.
Number four, affirmations ormeaningful Bible verses.
And number five, symbols thatrepresent what you want in 2026.
Now that we talked about whatyou want on your board, I want
to give you five importantguardrails, five things to
remember about your visionboard.
(13:57):
Number one, this is for you.
This is not for Instagram unlessyou want to share it over there.
(14:51):
That's totally up to you.
This is your no judgment zonevision board.
It only has to mean something toyou.
So it's only for you.
Don't do it to make it pretty tolook on Pinterest or Instagram.
Really, really please avoidthat.
Again, if you want to share itover there, that's great, but
don't make it for that purpose.
(15:13):
Your vision, number two, yourvision board doesn't need an
explaining.
You don't need to defend it, andyou don't need to justify it.
So no explaining, no defending,no justifying.
Number three, keep it simple,over cluttered.
Choose, be purposeful of whatyou put on it.
It shouldn't be full of things.
(15:33):
And you may have to discern.
Maybe you have a lot ofmeaningful verses.
Pick one or two that really meansomething.
Maybe you have a lot ofpictures.
Pick the ones that most gotowards that number one goal
that you set that we talkedabout in the three steps in the
last episode.
So simple over cluttered.
(15:54):
Number four, one big main boardis fine.
But multiple boards are alsookay.
If you have different areas ofyour life that you're really
focused on this year, then makeseparate ones if you want.
Again, it's totally up to you.
And number five, and this isreally important, positive focus
(16:17):
only.
Avoid words or things like, youknow, I want to be debt free.
Debt's a negative word.
I want to lose weight.
That's a negative word.
I want to quit my job this year.
Replace them with I'mfinancially free, or I'm my
ideal weight, or I'm, you know,I have the career of my dreams.
(16:37):
I found my calling.
So positive words and focusonly.
So those are the five things towatch out for on your vision
board.
Here's what you really want tolook for as you're creating this
and you're looking through yourpictures and what you want to
put on it.
You might notice as you're goingthrough is like what excites
(16:58):
you?
Like, what just gets you going?
What when you look at it, you'relike, oh, I want that so bad.
Pay attention to what pulls youin and then trust what
resonates, even if it doesn'tmake sense.
Maybe there's something like, Idon't even know why I'm putting
this on here, but it just feelsright to do it.
Put it on there anyway.
(17:18):
Now, one other thing we need tobe aware of is fearful Fred, our
inner critic, may show up in themiddle of making our vision
board.
And if you haven't read my bookyet, fearful Fred is that little
voice that that triggers us,that, that starts to speak to us
and questions everything andsays, why do you who do you
(17:40):
think you are?
Well, that's unrealistic.
That's never gonna happen.
You should just be grateful forwhat you already have.
And we need to learn that thatis just fearful Fred speaking.
We don't need to take Fredseriously.
We don't need to listen to Fred.
We can acknowledge Fred and thenflick him off our shoulders and
move on.
We need to, again, reframe thevoice.
(18:04):
It isn't truth.
It's just our past conditioning.
And our vision doesn't requirepermission.
And again, if you read my book,I talk about ready to go, Ruth
is who we want to listen to.
She's gonna cheer you on, she'sgonna believe in you, and that's
the voice we need to listen toand not fearful Fred.
(18:24):
But I mention that because it'snormal for fearful Fred to speak
up anytime we're doing somethingto move towards something bigger
in our lives.
So be ready for him.
Doesn't mean you shouldn't putthe picture on the board,
though, okay?
And I want you to also rememberthat you're not committing to
how this happens.
(18:45):
That's the goalposter's job.
You're only committing to whatmatters most to you right now.
What do you really want in yourlife right now?
We don't need to know the how.
That's up to your plan.
And that's honestly, I like tosay that's up to God to figure
out the how.
We're just committing to what wewant in our lives.
(19:05):
Now, once you have your visionbored, I want to give you one
little extra thing to work on.
And that's a vision statement.
And a vision statement could beone or two sentences.
It could be a vision story,which I've loved doing before.
And that could be three or fourpages in your note, you know, in
(19:25):
your journal or your notebook.
But this helps because yourvision board helps you see what
you want, whereas your statementhelps you really internally
claim it.
And with a vision statement,it's simply kind of taking all
these things that you've beenworking on and writing it out in
(19:46):
a present tense story of yourlife.
And you want to think aboutlike, what themes keep showing
up for you?
What keeps resonating that,like, oh, I think this is the
direction I'm supposed to begoing?
Then what kind of woman isliving this life?
Who is she?
How do you need to show up asthat woman?
How does she show up to work?
(20:06):
How does she show up in herrelationships?
How does she show up in and justher living her life day to day?
How is she living?
Your vision statement mightinclude how you want to feel in
the present tense, as if it'shappening right now today.
It might include what you'reprioritizing in your life today,
again, as if it's you're doingit, and definitely the kind of
(20:29):
life you intentionally arecreating.
And the more detail you can dothat, the better.
One of the last times I reallysat down, I'm way overdue to do
this.
So I'm speaking to myself today,too, ladies and gentlemen.
Uh, this episode is just as muchfor me as it is for you.
I'll be honest, because Ihaven't done a vision statement,
(20:49):
a new one in a while.
But the one I had where I tookthe time and it was pages.
It was like four or five pages.
So many things on that visionstatement came to life.
And we're actually living in oneof them now.
One of it was about, and I don'thave it right in front of me,
but it was about living in aluxury.
I think I called it a funkyapartment, one of the best in
(21:10):
the town, where we get to walkto farmers market, you know,
weekly, and we make healthyeating and eating fresh produce
and goods from the local farmerspart of our weekly habit.
And I wrote in detail aboutthis.
And that's exactly what we dotoday.
I wrote it as if we were doingit probably five, 10 years ago
(21:32):
when I wrote it.
But we're living that lifetoday.
Now I do encourage you tohandwrite this, and we're not
looking for perfection.
I'm sure I misspelled some wordswhen I write mine.
But write as much as you canwith vivid details.
And again, don't listen tofearful, Fred.
(21:52):
Just let your mind wander.
If you knew you couldn't fail,what would your life look like?
Write it out in detail.
All of it.
Where are you working?
What are you doing?
What matters to you in yourwork?
How are you living?
Are you eating healthy?
Are you exercising?
What does that part of your lifelook like?
Your financial part, what doesthat look like for you?
(22:13):
Are you giving?
Are you saving?
Are you financially free?
What else matters to you?
You know, what's yourrelationships like?
Like as much as you can indetail.
Write out your story.
How do you want your story tounfold?
And I would encourage you tothink longer than the year for
(22:33):
this.
The vision board, many times oneyear is great for those.
But for your vision statement,you can even go out as five, 10
years for that if you want.
So it's up to you.
It could be a one-year visionstatement, five years, 10 years,
lifetime vision statement,depending on how old you are.
But write it out in detail andkind of take the same principles
(22:57):
we talked about before.
And the vision board is justyou're using your words now
instead of pictures.
Now, here's the most importantpart, my friends, for either one
of these.
Because you can make these, andif you tuck them away and never
look at them, they're not goingto help you.
They're not going to serve you.
So here's some practical stepsto take.
(23:18):
Once you create your visionboard and your vision statement,
your vision board, you want toput it where you're going to see
it daily.
Now, maybe it might be at work,maybe it's in your home office,
maybe it's in your bathroom,maybe it's in your bedroom.
Wherever it is, make sure it'ssomeplace.
Maybe it's in your kitchenwindow.
Where will you see it all thetime?
(23:40):
And intentionally take the timeto look at it either first thing
in the morning or last thing atnight.
And during those moments, studyit.
Spend time with it.
Feel the feelings as if you'veachieved those things, as if
they are part of your lifetoday.
Almost meditate on it if you'rea meditator.
(24:00):
Like really sense it and feelit.
Don't just glance at it.
You'll glance at it severaltimes throughout the day, but
really just spend time with itfirst thing in the morning or
last thing at night, or both ifyou want to really boost it.
And imagine stepping into theimages.
It's all about, again, theemotion that you feel when you
(24:20):
look at it.
Feel gratitude as if it'sunfolding.
And then your vision statement,read that at least every morning
and or every night at a minimum.
If you can't do both, then makea point that at least once a
week you spend time reading yourvision statement at a minimum.
But I would encourage you to doit daily.
(24:41):
And again, it depends on howlong it is, but it's amazing
what will happen.
I love to end the night readingmy vision statement and just let
my mind wander and sleep.
You'll sleep better, you'lldream better, you'll come up
with ideas on how to make ithappen when that's the last
thought you have at night.
Now, a couple, again, keyreminders here is on your vision
(25:04):
board.
Don't remove the images onceyou've achieved them.
Leave them there because theywill remind you of your growth.
They remind you of what you haveachieved.
Also, it's a fun idea if youhave the space, keep your boards
year after year.
You will get to see maybesomething doesn't happen this
year, but five years down theroad, you'll look at a board and
like, oh my gosh, that happened.
(25:25):
And we're reminded of that.
It's so fun to pull out boardsfrom previous years to see what
has changed, what has happened.
Or sometimes we look at boardsfrom five years ago and think,
yep, why did I even want that?
I'm glad that didn't come tofruition.
You know, sometimes things don'thappen for a reason.
But as I close here, one reallyimportant thought I want to
(25:48):
leave you with.
Whether you're creating yourvision board or your vision
statement or both is just giveyourself permission to dream.
And then give that dream a placeto live.
And if you feel called to do so,once you create your vision
board, send me a picture.
You don't have to do it onsocial media if you don't want
to share it there.
Just send it to me in an emailor in the DMs.
(26:11):
I would love to see it.
No judgment.
I just want to cheer you on toachieve everything on it.
I'm here for you, my friends,and I will see you back here in
a couple of weeks.
I can't wait to hear whathappens with your vision board
and your vision statement in2026.
And I'm gonna go write mine thisweek myself.
(26:31):
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for spending this timewith me.
My hope is something you heardtoday inspires you to take
action toward discovering yourcalling.
I just have two favors to ask ofyou before you go.
One, if you found value andenjoyed this episode, please
leave us a review on ApplePodcasts or Spotify, and you
might hear your review read on afuture episode.
(26:53):
And two, can you share thisepisode with three friends who
will also enjoy it as much asyou did?
By doing these things, you willhelp us grow the podcast to make
a bigger impact on the world.
And until next week, remember,you've been created to live a
life of fulfillment, freedom,purpose, success, and joy, okay.
In this episode, you're going to discover how to
create a vision board and avision statement.
I'll teach you what to do andwhat to avoid doing so that a
vision board and a visionstatement can help you achieve
any goal you set for yourcareer, for your work, and for
your life.
(00:21):
Welcome to the Discovering YourCalling podcast.
I'm your host, Jerry Mitter.
I'm here to help you unleashyour strengths and get clarity
on your calling.
I believe when you find yourpurpose in life, fulfillment,
joy, and success will follow.
If you're ready, pop in thoseearbuds, hit that follow button,
and join me on this journeytoward discovering your calling.
(00:46):
Let's jump in today's episodeand one of my favorite topics to
talk about.
So if you listen to how to turnyear-in reflection into a clear
plan for the year ahead, where Ishared the three simple steps
for goal setting, andor thelatest guest episode with my
friend John, where we touched alittle bit on vision casting our
(01:07):
goals.
Today I'm gonna give you thehow-to behind creating a vision
board and a vision statement.
And it's a training, you know, avision board is about training
your focus.
Darlin, start that part over.
A vision board is about trainingyour focus and giving direction
to your energy because thevision is what keeps goals from
(01:28):
becoming scattered or forgotten.
So if we take the time to do thethree steps that I shared in the
previous episode and you arevery clear on your goal, we want
to keep that goal in front of usso that we are way more likely,
and I don't have stats for youtoday, sorry, but you're
definitely more likely toachieve the goals that you want
(01:51):
for your work and for your life.
Now, before we jump into thehow-tos, I do want to clarify
because I get asked this a lot.
What is the difference between avision board and a goal poster?
And in my mind, a goal postershould have the checklists, the
timelines, the outcomes, theactual maybe how-to on it, the
things where you can mark it offand you can track things.
(02:14):
Whereas a vision board is yourvisual reminder, it's about
direction.
It's about really that emotionalresonance that you feel when you
look at it.
It's more that feeling of itmore than the how-to.
It lets you sit with the goalsand really be able to envision
in your mind what it's gonnafeel like when you achieve them.
(02:35):
Now, both are important, butthey both work a different way.
And they both, you should haveboth in your in your workspace,
in my opinion, so that you havethe goal poster for the
checklist and the vision boardfor that emotional attachment to
the goal.
Today we are definitely justtalking about the vision board.
Now, again, this is one of thosethings that I don't understand
(02:56):
exactly how it works.
It goes back to that reticularactivating system that I've
talked about before.
And I know it works.
I just don't really understandall the science behind it.
But I've said this before.
I also don't know how the lightswitch turns on a light.
I don't understand how my cellphone works.
I don't understand how a podcastworks.
I just know it does.
And I trust that it does.
(03:17):
I trust when I pick up my phoneto call somebody and they pick
up the other phone, it's workingin their line.
It works.
And I hope you can just do thesame thing.
We don't need to alwaysunderstand every the how-to
behind everything.
Sometimes we just have to trustthat it works.
This is what I do know is thatthe brain notices what it's
trained to notice.
(03:38):
You may have heard me hear theexample of car shopping.
Sometimes we go car shopping andwe've been looking at cars and
dreaming about cars, and wefinally settle on this, you
know, one particular model of acar in a unique color.
Maybe it's a cherry red Mustangthat you've always wanted.
(04:00):
And you finally go by that car,and you feel like, you know, I
never see anybody with thischerry red color Mustang.
And all of a sudden you'redriving home, and what do you
notice on the roads?
You notice a couple of othercherry red Mustangs.
Now, did everybody else just runout and buy the same car the
same day?
(04:20):
No.
The thing is, your mind wasn'tfiltered to notice them yet.
But once you bought the car, nowyour mind says, Oh, we need to
filter to see other cars likethis.
So all of a sudden your brainworks and it starts noticing
those particular cars.
And again, it's part of yourreticular activating system that
(04:42):
just filters things out becausewe're not designed to notice
everything that's happeningaround us.
We would go insane.
And sometimes we may feel thatway already.
So it's about shifting yourawareness.
And that's what a vision boardhelps you do.
Now, in real life terms, yourvision board, when you look at
(05:03):
it, it helps helps you fromsecond guessing.
So you have less secondguessing.
It becomes a clear reminder,like, oh, wait, this is what
we're focused on.
So stop going in this otherdirection.
You also will experience fewer,should I be doing this moments?
Because again, when you look atyour vision board in front of
(05:24):
you or read your visionstatement, it reminds you what
is aligned with the goal youset, what is aligned with what's
on your board.
And if it doesn't align with it,then you need to train your
brain to say, no, that's not thedirection we're going to go.
That will not help us achievethis.
It also just gives you thateasier, more confident yeses and
(05:44):
no's.
Because again, does it alignwith what's on the board?
Will it help you achieve what'son your board?
Then the answer should be nomost of the time.
If it will help you achieve it,then it's a yes.
So it helps you in a practicalmanner of just kind of eliminate
some of the decisions we have tomake throughout our day and our
work week.
It eliminates some of thatdecision fatigue because it's
(06:04):
very clear the direction we'reheaded.
Now, I want to share one morestory, one more thing to get you
on board in case you're stilldoubting is it worth taking the
time to create a vision board?
So this happened years ago.
It was one of the first times Ireally created a solid vision
board that really resonated withwhat was super important to me.
(06:26):
I had created some before, butthere are some usually more what
I felt like I should be puttingon my board.
And I remember having a verysmall vision board set up, and
it was actually a picture of a31-foot sailboat.
And it I sat it in our kitchenwindow.
And there were a couple otherthings around the board.
I couldn't even tell you whatelse was on there.
It was like the sailboat was themain picture, front and center.
(06:48):
And it was a little bit biggerthan a normal paper size.
It was like on a small posterboard, and it sat in that catch
kitchen window.
So I would look at it everysingle day, multiple times a
day.
And here's what happened.
Within a year, and again, thisgoes back like 10, 15 years ago.
(07:10):
So I don't remember the exacttimeline, but it was within the
year of making that vision boardwith the sailboat.
We ended up buying the exactsame model of boat.
I had no idea.
I had just cut out a picture ofa sailboat when I put it on
there because that was what we'downed a 26-foot sailboat at the
time.
(07:30):
We knew we wanted a bigger boat.
It happened to be the exact samemodel we ended up buying.
We didn't set off to actuallylook for that model.
It's just what happened.
And that's what happens when wereally resonate with what we put
on our vision board.
And we see it daily.
And I'm going to talk more aboutthat in a minute.
Things do become real over time.
(07:51):
And again, it's a little woo-wooand mystical.
I don't understand it all, but Iknow it works.
And we don't need to fullyunderstand how it all works.
We just need to trust theprocess.
So here's a key takeaway I wantyou to remember though.
Vision boards do not replaceaction, they give action a
direction.
So by creating a vision board,you doesn't mean you don't have
(08:14):
to do the work to achieve it.
It means you're going to beclear on what action is going to
help you achieve what's on theboard.
All right, my friend.
So this is the time that I wantto give you the practical steps
for creating your vision board.
Now, I used to do this in a liveworkshop where we would gather
all the things and I would sendout the list of people.
(08:35):
This is what you need to bring,and we're going to do this all
together.
And to be honest, I miss those.
And hey, let me know.
Like if you're in the 518 areaand you would ever come to a
vision board making workshop,let me know because I would be
happy to put something togetheragain in person, in real life.
But in the meanwhile, here'swhat you need to gather for your
(08:57):
vision board.
Now, the vision board again isall about emotions and pictures.
So there's five things that youcan put on your vision board.
You don't necessarily need themall.
These are just some options.
And there may even be some thatI miss here.
But number one is you wantimages, and this is the most
important thing.
The images that represent whatyou want.
(09:17):
So it could be somethingtangible, like that boat that I
had on my vision board.
It could be maybe that beachcondo is your dream.
Maybe you want a new kitchen.
So it could be somethingtangible that you want to
achieve, that you want to have.
Maybe it's even, you know, a newcouch.
Maybe it is that new cherry redcar.
(09:40):
So whatever it is you want,pictures of what you really want
to achieve.
Then you want images that alsorepresent how you want to feel.
So how do you want to feel thisyear?
Do you want to feel healthier?
What images would represent thatfor you?
And that's important.
(10:00):
It only has to mean something toyou.
You don't have to explain whatthe pictures mean to anybody
else if you don't want to.
This is just for you, my friend.
Only for you.
So what pictures would representhow you want to feel this year?
Put those on there.
You can also have images thatrepresent the kind of life you
(10:23):
want to live.
So is it a life of activity?
Is it a life of dancing?
Is it a life of achievement?
Is it a life of, you know, gamenight?
You know, things like that.
You can put any of thosepictures.
Again, they're images thatrepresent what you want, how you
want to feel, or the kind oflife you are living.
(10:44):
So that's the first part isimages.
The second thing you can put onyour vision board are stickers.
And you can get some greatstickers, you know, from
calendars, you can get greatstickers in the kids section
and, you know, Target.
You can get great stickers likephoto photo books.
But stickers or words of, youknow, stickers of words or
(11:05):
phrases that evoke emotion, theemotion that you want to feel
this year.
Um, is it freedom?
Is it happiness?
You know, what are those wordsthat just evoke something to
you?
You can also put number three,so that was number two, number
three, you can put photos ofyourself.
Photos of yourself when you felthappy and confident.
(11:26):
Photos of yourself, maybe whenyou were your ideal weight, that
maybe that's your goal.
You want to get back to thatideal weight again.
Photos of yourself of how youagain want to feel this year.
So the first images we talkedabout weren't images of you.
They were images you find onlineand print out and have them, you
know, cut them out and put themon your board.
(11:46):
These are actual photos of youthat remind you of how you want
to feel this year.
Maybe it's a photo of youcrossing a finish line if you
want to get back into running,you know, is the last time you
crossed the finish line.
You know, maybe it's a photo ofyou dancing, maybe it's a photo
of you playing with a kid withyour kids, whatever that is that
(12:07):
makes you happy.
The fourth thing you can put onyour vision board are
affirmations or meaningfulverses.
So you can write these out andput them on your vision board.
You can type them out, cut themout and paste them on your
vision board.
So maybe there's some meaningfulBible verses that just resonate
with how you want to live yourlife this year, or that give you
(12:30):
confidence that you can do thisor you're on the right path.
So, what are those affirmationsor meaningful Bible verses that
you could put on your visionboard?
And the fifth thing that you canput on your vision board are
just symbols.
Symbols that represent what youwant most in 2026.
Again, is it freedom, joy,peace, financial well-being,
(12:54):
health?
You know, again, it's somethingthat means something to you.
Maybe it's, you know, for me, alot of times I will have the
compass rose just because that'sa meaningful symbol to me.
Maybe it's a palm tree.
Maybe it's again, it's justsomething that means something
to you, doesn't mean somethingto anybody else.
(13:14):
So again, the five things thatyou want on your vision board,
and you don't need them all, butyou can use any of these images
that just represent what youwant to, you know, be, do, or
have this year.
Two stickers of words or phrasesthat evoke emotion, three photos
of yourself feeling happy andconfident in that moment, photos
(13:35):
of yourself of how you want tofeel this year.
Number four, affirmations ormeaningful Bible verses.
And number five, symbols thatrepresent what you want in 2026.
Now that we talked about whatyou want on your board, I want
to give you five importantguardrails, five things to
remember about your visionboard.
(13:57):
Number one, this is for you.
This is not for Instagram unlessyou want to share it over there.
(14:51):
That's totally up to you.
This is your no judgment zonevision board.
It only has to mean something toyou.
So it's only for you.
Don't do it to make it pretty tolook on Pinterest or Instagram.
Really, really please avoidthat.
Again, if you want to share itover there, that's great, but
don't make it for that purpose.
(15:13):
Your vision, number two, yourvision board doesn't need an
explaining.
You don't need to defend it, andyou don't need to justify it.
So no explaining, no defending,no justifying.
Number three, keep it simple,over cluttered.
Choose, be purposeful of whatyou put on it.
It shouldn't be full of things.
(15:33):
And you may have to discern.
Maybe you have a lot ofmeaningful verses.
Pick one or two that really meansomething.
Maybe you have a lot ofpictures.
Pick the ones that most gotowards that number one goal
that you set that we talkedabout in the three steps in the
last episode.
So simple over cluttered.
(15:54):
Number four, one big main boardis fine.
But multiple boards are alsookay.
If you have different areas ofyour life that you're really
focused on this year, then makeseparate ones if you want.
Again, it's totally up to you.
And number five, and this isreally important, positive focus
(16:17):
only.
Avoid words or things like, youknow, I want to be debt free.
Debt's a negative word.
I want to lose weight.
That's a negative word.
I want to quit my job this year.
Replace them with I'mfinancially free, or I'm my
ideal weight, or I'm, you know,I have the career of my dreams.
(16:37):
I found my calling.
So positive words and focusonly.
So those are the five things towatch out for on your vision
board.
Here's what you really want tolook for as you're creating this
and you're looking through yourpictures and what you want to
put on it.
You might notice as you're goingthrough is like what excites
(16:58):
you?
Like, what just gets you going?
What when you look at it, you'relike, oh, I want that so bad.
Pay attention to what pulls youin and then trust what
resonates, even if it doesn'tmake sense.
Maybe there's something like, Idon't even know why I'm putting
this on here, but it just feelsright to do it.
Put it on there anyway.
(17:18):
Now, one other thing we need tobe aware of is fearful Fred, our
inner critic, may show up in themiddle of making our vision
board.
And if you haven't read my bookyet, fearful Fred is that little
voice that that triggers us,that, that starts to speak to us
and questions everything andsays, why do you who do you
(17:40):
think you are?
Well, that's unrealistic.
That's never gonna happen.
You should just be grateful forwhat you already have.
And we need to learn that thatis just fearful Fred speaking.
We don't need to take Fredseriously.
We don't need to listen to Fred.
We can acknowledge Fred and thenflick him off our shoulders and
move on.
We need to, again, reframe thevoice.
(18:04):
It isn't truth.
It's just our past conditioning.
And our vision doesn't requirepermission.
And again, if you read my book,I talk about ready to go, Ruth
is who we want to listen to.
She's gonna cheer you on, she'sgonna believe in you, and that's
the voice we need to listen toand not fearful Fred.
(18:24):
But I mention that because it'snormal for fearful Fred to speak
up anytime we're doing somethingto move towards something bigger
in our lives.
So be ready for him.
Doesn't mean you shouldn't putthe picture on the board,
though, okay?
And I want you to also rememberthat you're not committing to
how this happens.
(18:45):
That's the goalposter's job.
You're only committing to whatmatters most to you right now.
What do you really want in yourlife right now?
We don't need to know the how.
That's up to your plan.
And that's honestly, I like tosay that's up to God to figure
out the how.
We're just committing to what wewant in our lives.
(19:05):
Now, once you have your visionbored, I want to give you one
little extra thing to work on.
And that's a vision statement.
And a vision statement could beone or two sentences.
It could be a vision story,which I've loved doing before.
And that could be three or fourpages in your note, you know, in
(19:25):
your journal or your notebook.
But this helps because yourvision board helps you see what
you want, whereas your statementhelps you really internally
claim it.
And with a vision statement,it's simply kind of taking all
these things that you've beenworking on and writing it out in
(19:46):
a present tense story of yourlife.
And you want to think aboutlike, what themes keep showing
up for you?
What keeps resonating that,like, oh, I think this is the
direction I'm supposed to begoing?
Then what kind of woman isliving this life?
Who is she?
How do you need to show up asthat woman?
How does she show up to work?
(20:06):
How does she show up in herrelationships?
How does she show up in and justher living her life day to day?
How is she living?
Your vision statement mightinclude how you want to feel in
the present tense, as if it'shappening right now today.
It might include what you'reprioritizing in your life today,
again, as if it's you're doingit, and definitely the kind of
(20:29):
life you intentionally arecreating.
And the more detail you can dothat, the better.
One of the last times I reallysat down, I'm way overdue to do
this.
So I'm speaking to myself today,too, ladies and gentlemen.
Uh, this episode is just as muchfor me as it is for you.
I'll be honest, because Ihaven't done a vision statement,
(20:49):
a new one in a while.
But the one I had where I tookthe time and it was pages.
It was like four or five pages.
So many things on that visionstatement came to life.
And we're actually living in oneof them now.
One of it was about, and I don'thave it right in front of me,
but it was about living in aluxury.
I think I called it a funkyapartment, one of the best in
(21:10):
the town, where we get to walkto farmers market, you know,
weekly, and we make healthyeating and eating fresh produce
and goods from the local farmerspart of our weekly habit.
And I wrote in detail aboutthis.
And that's exactly what we dotoday.
I wrote it as if we were doingit probably five, 10 years ago
(21:32):
when I wrote it.
But we're living that lifetoday.
Now I do encourage you tohandwrite this, and we're not
looking for perfection.
I'm sure I misspelled some wordswhen I write mine.
But write as much as you canwith vivid details.
And again, don't listen tofearful, Fred.
(21:52):
Just let your mind wander.
If you knew you couldn't fail,what would your life look like?
Write it out in detail.
All of it.
Where are you working?
What are you doing?
What matters to you in yourwork?
How are you living?
Are you eating healthy?
Are you exercising?
What does that part of your lifelook like?
Your financial part, what doesthat look like for you?
(22:13):
Are you giving?
Are you saving?
Are you financially free?
What else matters to you?
You know, what's yourrelationships like?
Like as much as you can indetail.
Write out your story.
How do you want your story tounfold?
And I would encourage you tothink longer than the year for
(22:33):
this.
The vision board, many times oneyear is great for those.
But for your vision statement,you can even go out as five, 10
years for that if you want.
So it's up to you.
It could be a one-year visionstatement, five years, 10 years,
lifetime vision statement,depending on how old you are.
But write it out in detail andkind of take the same principles
(22:57):
we talked about before.
And the vision board is justyou're using your words now
instead of pictures.
Now, here's the most importantpart, my friends, for either one
of these.
Because you can make these, andif you tuck them away and never
look at them, they're not goingto help you.
They're not going to serve you.
So here's some practical stepsto take.
(23:18):
Once you create your visionboard and your vision statement,
your vision board, you want toput it where you're going to see
it daily.
Now, maybe it might be at work,maybe it's in your home office,
maybe it's in your bathroom,maybe it's in your bedroom.
Wherever it is, make sure it'ssomeplace.
Maybe it's in your kitchenwindow.
Where will you see it all thetime?
(23:40):
And intentionally take the timeto look at it either first thing
in the morning or last thing atnight.
And during those moments, studyit.
Spend time with it.
Feel the feelings as if you'veachieved those things, as if
they are part of your lifetoday.
Almost meditate on it if you'rea meditator.
(24:00):
Like really sense it and feelit.
Don't just glance at it.
You'll glance at it severaltimes throughout the day, but
really just spend time with itfirst thing in the morning or
last thing at night, or both ifyou want to really boost it.
And imagine stepping into theimages.
It's all about, again, theemotion that you feel when you
(24:20):
look at it.
Feel gratitude as if it'sunfolding.
And then your vision statement,read that at least every morning
and or every night at a minimum.
If you can't do both, then makea point that at least once a
week you spend time reading yourvision statement at a minimum.
But I would encourage you to doit daily.
(24:41):
And again, it depends on howlong it is, but it's amazing
what will happen.
I love to end the night readingmy vision statement and just let
my mind wander and sleep.
You'll sleep better, you'lldream better, you'll come up
with ideas on how to make ithappen when that's the last
thought you have at night.
Now, a couple, again, keyreminders here is on your vision
(25:04):
board.
Don't remove the images onceyou've achieved them.
Leave them there because theywill remind you of your growth.
They remind you of what you haveachieved.
Also, it's a fun idea if youhave the space, keep your boards
year after year.
You will get to see maybesomething doesn't happen this
year, but five years down theroad, you'll look at a board and
like, oh my gosh, that happened.
(25:25):
And we're reminded of that.
It's so fun to pull out boardsfrom previous years to see what
has changed, what has happened.
Or sometimes we look at boardsfrom five years ago and think,
yep, why did I even want that?
I'm glad that didn't come tofruition.
You know, sometimes things don'thappen for a reason.
But as I close here, one reallyimportant thought I want to
(25:48):
leave you with.
Whether you're creating yourvision board or your vision
statement or both is just giveyourself permission to dream.
And then give that dream a placeto live.
And if you feel called to do so,once you create your vision
board, send me a picture.
You don't have to do it onsocial media if you don't want
to share it there.
Just send it to me in an emailor in the DMs.
(26:11):
I would love to see it.
No judgment.
I just want to cheer you on toachieve everything on it.
I'm here for you, my friends,and I will see you back here in
a couple of weeks.
I can't wait to hear whathappens with your vision board
and your vision statement in2026.
And I'm gonna go write mine thisweek myself.
(26:31):
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for spending this timewith me.
My hope is something you heardtoday inspires you to take
action toward discovering yourcalling.
I just have two favors to ask ofyou before you go.
One, if you found value andenjoyed this episode, please
leave us a review on ApplePodcasts or Spotify, and you
might hear your review read on afuture episode.
(26:53):
And two, can you share thisepisode with three friends who
will also enjoy it as much asyou did?
By doing these things, you willhelp us grow the podcast to make
a bigger impact on the world.
And until next week, remember,you've been created to live a
life of fulfillment, freedom,purpose, success, and joy, okay.
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