- Image courtesy of Melody Campbell’s photostream
“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”
This question was posed in a chapter of one of my favorite books, ‘Be the Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible’ by Regina Brett. While the entire book offers inspirational lessons, I was struck by this question in particular. What would I do if failure was never a possibility? Would I take more risks? Become more adventurous? Throw caution to the wind?
I won’t go into the details of my own answers to the question, but it did cause me to evaluate my goals and dreams for the future. I found myself thinking about what I’d like to achieve – as well as how I am going to do it.
The only problem with all my dreaming and scheming was that I never took the time to really visualize and write it all down. Yes, somewhere in my brain I knew what I wanted to achieve. But by the next morning, I had forgotten exactly what I had pinpointed as my big dreams.
Luckily, I was introduced to a concept that can help combat my forgetfulness. It’s called a Dream Board, or a Vision Board, and the idea has been promoted by some of the biggest names in the business world, including Oprah Winfrey. The idea behind a Dream Board is based on the law of attraction, which says that positive thinking can bring about positive results in your life.
To create your Dream Board, you can follow these easy steps:
1. Visualize. Dig deep to figure out what you really want to achieve. Do you want to open your own business? Hire more employees to expand your company? Or maybe, it is something more personal – you want to pay for your children’s education, or would like to travel to Europe. Whatever it may be, develop your thoughts first.
2. Write It Out. As soon as you know the dreams you want to achieve, write them down. Even if it is on a piece of scrap paper for the time being, make sure you have them to remember.
3. Choose Pictures. Now comes the fun part! Once you have your dreams written out, find images that go along with what you want to achieve. If you want a new Lexus, find the exact car you want to purchase. If you want to save money for retirement, think outside of the box to find something that will always remind you of your goal to have that nest egg tucked away. No picture is too silly if it has meaning to you.
4. Create the Dream Board. Some people use a cork board to display their dreams; others have it printed out on durable paper. No matter how you create it, the most important thing to remember is to…
5. Display it in a Visible Location. Place your Dream Board somewhere you will always be able to see it. Maybe this is in your office, or by your front door. No matter the location, make sure it can serve as your daily reminder of what you want to accomplish.
Of course, having a Dream Board isn’t the only thing that will lead you to accomplishing your goals. That will take hard work, dedication and a number of other variables. But a Dream Board will keep everything in perspective, and will hopefully be a daily reminder that if you can believe it, you can achieve it.