5 Steps to Manifesting Your Dreams Using a Vision Board in 2022

I created my first vision board in 2015, which helped me move from rock freakin’ bottom to simply not poor. It wasn’t a giant improvement, but it was enough to help me believe that this whole vision board thing might actually work.

The following year, I decided to dream bigger and put the number $75,000 in big green numbers on my vision board. My goal was to 3x my income in 9 months with a grad school program.

By the end of the program, I received an offer of exactly $75,000.

So when people ask me “Do vision boards really work?”  Or say things like “it’s too woo-woo for me” I can’t help but smile. They work like magic…. if you take them seriously.

Vision boards have been the only way that I’ve been able to manifest the things I want to create in my life. And every year, I watch my dream transform right in front of me.

Vision Boards and Manifesting

Manifesting means to create something in the real world.

You may not realize this, but you’re doing it all the time - even if you’ve never heard the word manifesting before.

Have you ever had a dream that you made come true? For example, during my lowest rock bottom, I realized that journaling could help me get out of my head and have a bit of gratitude for the meager life I did have.

There was one problem: I couldn’t afford a journal.

I started to act as if I knew I was getting a journal anyway. I started looking at journals in the store and on Amazon. I knew that I wanted one that would inspire me with beautiful quotes. I wanted something that would fit into my purse so I’d always have it. I wanted it thick enough that I’d be able to keep it for a while.

Soon there after, at my receptionist job, I greeted a woman who arrived for a meeting with on the executives. She happened to be carrying a journal that had exactly everything I wanted. The black leather cover was filled with inspirational affirmations from top to bottom. The entire 6x9 book would fit right into any of my purses. I immediately asked her where she got it from, admiring it from across the desk.

On her way out of the office, she stopped by my desk and said, I haven’t written anything in this book yet - and I’d like you to have it.

That is manifesting. You can manifest things big or small, expensive or cheap, realistic or grand AF.

Related Content: How to Manifest Real Love with a Boyfriend Vision Board

A vision board is a tool in the manifesting toolbox.

Your vision board is a visualization of everything you want to be, do, and have in the future. It’s your blank canvas to post images, quotes, affirmations and drawings of anything you want to create in your life.

Manifesting is, therefore, the ultimate goal of the vision board. The measurement of success for your vision board is whether the things you want became a reality.

Is A Vision Board For Me?

If you want to improve the overall quality of your life and manifest your goals, a vision board can help you to do that. To be honest, you don’t even have to believe in vision boards.

Seriously, I only created my first vision board because a woman I know and trust swears by them. Before then, I thought vision boards were some woo-woo fad that would soon pass. Plus I was in such a bad place in my life at the time, I figured it couldn’t hurt. Only after watching my goals manifest did I truly believe.

This is my favorite tool for people who are just starting out in manifesting their dreams because it’s easy to start, fun, and can even be made into a group activity. (I host vision board parties every year for friends and family to create their vision boards together.)

How To Manifest Using Vision Boards

Step One: Understand the steps to manifesting

There are three key steps in manifesting:

1. Ask: Set your intention for what you want. The more clear that you can be on what you want, the better you can “ask” for what you want out of life.

2. Believe: Trust that the process will work for you. Fears about whether you can create your reality will only hinder your ability to be “all in” on your future.

3. Receive: Allow the change to happen in your life. Start to act as if your goal is inevitable and It. Will. Be.

Step Two: Visualize The Ask

Here’s where your vision board comes in. Once you know what you want to manifest, it’s time to solidify the idea in your mind with a vision board. Use your vision board to visualize the end result of achieving your goals. Imagine what your life looks like. Imagine what your new daily schedule would be. Imagine the people around you. Imagine how you’ll feel. Imagine what types of things you’ll be doing.

Step Three: Prepare To Receive with Goal Setting

Start preparing yourself to achieve your goal by breaking your dreams down into smaller, more achievable goals. Manifesting isn’t supposed to be about waiting for things to happen to you. Instead, it’s about moving through your life with intention and purpose.

Setting goals and working down the path means that you expect your goal to become a reality, you believe. (See what I did there?)

In my story, I started looking for journals and doing the research as if I would be able to purchase it one day, even though I didn’t have money for food.

Step Four: Be Present In Your Life

The biggest thing keeping people from attracting their dreams is worrying about their past or their future. If you’re worried about the training you don’t have, your age or your skin color, you might miss some of the opportunities right in front of you.

Focus on the moment you’re in. Pay attention to the things around you and try to notice when the stepping stone to your desire is near. (Remember when I met the woman who gave me my first journal?)

Step Five: Appreciate This Moment

Working towards your goals might be difficult at times - that’s a good thing. Commend yourself for taking time for you, for working towards what you want or for trying something new. As you start to make accomplishments towards your goals, don’t forget to take a minute to celebrate.

Take Action Right Now

Vision boards are one tool that helps you on your manifesting journey. Once you realize that you can manifest anything you want, it becomes easier (and addictive) to manifest more things.

I want to encourage you to take one tiny step to manifest your dreams:

1. Write down one thing you want to manifest this year.

2. Find one image that represents this idea for you.

3. Place that image on your bathroom mirror where you’re guaranteed to see if every day.

Manifesting anything you want out of life starts with one simple step: knowing what you want. Once you have that idea you can visualize your goals, map out the steps to get there, find mentors to help and focus your energy in the right direction.

Take that first step and share what you want to accomplish this year in the comments below.

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Why You Must Start Living Your Dream

Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you followed your silly childhood dream?

I have.

For decades, I've imagined myself singing on a stage in front of a small crowd in a speakeasy. They'd be nodding their heads to my sultry melody and my words would shift them from a state of urgency to a state of understanding. I'd fill their spirit with the jazzy melodies I grew up listening to as a child.

THAT was my dream.

This year, I swallowed every ounce of you-can’t-do this + its-too-late + you’re-not-good-enough and took the first step.

I promised myself that I would sing on stage at least once.

I didn’t know how it would happen or who’d be crazy enough to put me on a real stage, but I convinced myself that no matter how small or what audience, I would find a way to make it happen. After all, I can’t teach people to create vision boards and go after their dreams if I’m not doing it myself.

That’s when I got the email. Last year, my daughter’s artwork made it into a gallery and we signed up for the email list. That same gallery doubled as a theater - and was holding auditions.

When I received the email I thought “I gotta do this. What’s the worst that can happen, right?”

I auditioned for a musical - and got one of 5  roles. (I played a ballet-dancing novice Nun in a silly musical called Nunsense.)

I could finally consider myself a real singer.

As a singer, I started my new life:

• Practicing 3-4 times a week with the cast

• Learning to dance ballet and tap

• Memorize dance moves, harmony and words to 10 different songs in my free time

All to perform well for 5 shows. Then after those 5 shows, the magic was over.

People clapped, we bowed and then my life went back to normal.

To accomplish this goal, I gave up my free time. I pushed myself physically harder than I ever had. I gave up time with my daughter that I'd never (ever) get back. I traded the morning and evening time I used to work on my blog for learning ballet via YouTube.

Woah.

Even though I lived my dream of singing on a stage (and had awesome pictures to show for it), I didn't feel like the spotlight was worth everything I lost.

That feeling is the number one reason you must start living  your dreams today.

I Liked The Outcome, Not The Work It Takes To Get There

It wasn't until I actually started rehearsing for my first real show that I truly understood what it took to do the work.

You might be dreaming of yourself holding a best-selling novel, standing on stage in front of millions or amassing millions of followers on your award-winning YouTube channel. The end goal sounds AMAZING, but the work lacks the same glamour and recognition.

The work requires you give things up.
The work challenges your persistence.
The work makes you second guess your abilities.

If you don’t start living your goal, you’ll never know if you’ll love the day-to-day the same way you love the end result.

I Loved It As A Hobby

I needed to take a step back. My body ached, my feet begged for relief and my daily productivity suffered due to lack of sleep.

All after just one set of performances. I couldn’t imagine getting back up to do this again. I loved the experience. In fact, I wouldn't mind doing this again… once a year - max.

Singing Is Not A Priority For Me

The more I had to leave my daughter at home each week, it started to eat at me. I was too busy during the week to spend time with her and too tired from rehearsals on the weekends to do anything with her beyond watch Netflix.

Surprisingly, I missed blogging. I couldn’t impact millions of lives all over the world with my little musical. I couldn’t encourage the women at rock bottom. I could barely find the time to support myself with the little pockets of time I had.

I realized the cost of singing was too high of a price to pay. My ability to impact others with my story is more important to me than I had ever realized.

I Wasn't Missing Out On Anything

Since college, I blamed my parents for pushing me to become a doctor and not nurturing my natural ability as a singer. They knew that it was a passion for me and instead, they wanted stability for me, they wanted me to do the college thing (which led me nowhere) and get a more stable career.

So I did.

I went to school, I looked for jobs, I started my career - all with the idea that I'd never do what I REALLY wanted to do. I'd never become a singer. Because of them, because of my daughter, because of society at large, I'd never accomplish my goal.

I thought about it as a thing far in the distance, that because I didn't have the courage, time or money, I'd never reach.

After singing on a stage, I realized that it was fun, it was satisfying, but it didn't change my life. It didn't make me any more or less of who I am. The heavens didn't open up and reveal a new life that I'd been missing out on.

I'm still Exactly. The. Same.

I needed to accomplish this goal in order to see that I could. I needed to see what it felt like practicing and rehearsing for one amazing show to know what it feels like in my body. I had to study harmony and ballet to know that my life was already filled with all the music I desired.

I needed to try my goal to stop wondering…… what if?

Maybe you do, too. Maybe it will be super amazing and you’ll start living a life that you never thought possible. Or Maybe you’ll be happy with your accomplishment but will decide to move on to the next thing. Either way, it’s better to have the answer than to always wonder. What have you been wanting to do that you’re holding back on? Time to find out the #truth.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

What Changes When You Create a Vision Board

If you’ve never created a vision board before, it’s probably hard to understand exactly why you’d want to go to the store, buy a million magazines, spend hours looking through them, cut out pictures of smiling models and fancy food, and then labor over a piece of poster board like a third grader trying to finish a science fair project.

Then again, you may have heard that some your friends swear by these little creations. Is it worth it?

Related Content: Why Vision Boards Work and Why You Should Create One

Related Content: How to Set the ONE Goal That Will Change Your Entire Life

I’ve been creating vision boards for several years now, and after my first creation turned my life around (like full on rags to riches), I refuse to begin a year without one.

One of my blog readers recently asked me: What really changes in your life when you create a vision board? It is in fact true true, you don’t get skinnier over night, you won’t be 100% confident by morning, and no one is going to deposit extra money into your bank account. You still have to work hard for all of those results.

So why not just skip the vision board and work hard, right?

There are three things that changed dramatically when I created my first vision board. I’ve noticed that I still feel the same way every time I create a new vision board at the beginning of each New Year.

I asked what I want out of life.

Before that moment, I was taking whatever life had to offer me without making any decisions of my own. I was reacting to life. I accepted whatever came my way. I had no plan. No goals.

When my relationship wasn't working out - I simply gave more of myself, hoping that someone would choose me.

When I was rejected from every school I applied to, I gave up.

When studying for the GRE was difficult, I told myself that I was bad at standardized exams. Grad school wasn't meant for "people like me" (yeah, I actually said that).

When my friend invited me to her Vision Board Party, I only agreed to go because I didn’t really have anything else to do. But creating my first vision board, required me to ask ,and really think about the question: “What do You Want?” For the first time ever, I ignored who wanted me and what they wanted me to be and who they wanted me to become. I paid attention to the things that I wanted without any input from any other human in this world.

Answering that question was hard (because I’m a grade-A people pleaser), but answering that question gave me freedom to re-discover my desires. It helped me set meaningful goals. It gave me something to work towards. It gave me focus.

I started to believe I could actually do something about it.

My first vision board convinced me that I could accomplish something. That's it.

I set the bar really low. At that time in my life, I felt like such a failure that it would have made me super proud just to finish something I started.

But the most important thing is, that I made a choice. I was no longer waiting around to be pushed into a corner, broken up with or rejected.

I would do my best to finish… something.

I started to choose.

It was the biggest mindset shift I ever made - and that decision to start choosing for myself, is what changed my life.

To tell the truth, a vision board is not some almighty creation that instantly changes your life. It’s an enabler. It enables you to think through your desires with no input from the world around you. It enables you to be honest with yourself. It enables you to choose a life you want, instead of accepting the life expected of you. It empowers you. Dream big my friend.

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How to Ask Family for Money to Reach Your Goals

When I was trying to go back to school to get my Master's, I was in a rough place.

I was working 3 jobs and waking up at 3AM to study for the GRE. I had no idea when I was actually going to take the GRE….. because I couldn't afford it. I was exhausted, but still determined.

I just kept studying.

A close friend of mine asked me when I'd be taking the GRE because I had been studying for over two months. I responded ‘I have no idea, whenever I get the money’. Immediately, she pulled out her iPad and her credit card and said "Pick your date. I'll pay for it." #wow

After I took the exam and applied to school with a free voucher, I received an acceptance letter that said that in order to hold my spot, I'd need to come up with $1,000 in two weeks. #stressing

Needless to say….. I didn't have a dollar to my name.

I decided to call up friends and family and asked them for $50, $100 or whatever they could spare. I promised that I would pay them back as soon as I graduated and got a job.

Guess what? Within 48 hours, I had $1,000 to go back to school!

Related Content: How to Guarantee Grad School is Worth Your Time & Money

I graduated with a job making more than triple what I was making before. And now I was only working one job instead of three. #happydance I called Every. Single. Person. on my list so that I could pay them back...

... and every single one of them refused to take my money. #blessed

I graduated. I'm now living my dream. That was more than enough for them.

Asking people for money, can be scary and shameful, especially when you’ve always been able to take care of yourself. But here is what I did to make it a little easier:

I called my friends and family and personally asked them.

I drove to them to pick up the money.

I had already did 90% of the work.

I ONLY asked for what I needed to get to the next step.

I am more than happy to pay it forward where it makes sense and when it's truly genuine. If a close friend asks for a small contribution…… I'll be the first to whip out my card.

The people who did it for me, made the difference between me going into debt and eating the free leftover sandwiches from my receptionist job for dinner and me now being able to live my best life.

I'm more than happy to do the same for others.

Don’t be afraid to make the ask, and don’t forget to pay it forward.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!