Your Vision Board: How to Create & Use it to Actualize Your Dreams with Afrofusion Lifestyle

January 2022 BLOG

Do you believe in making New Year’s resolutions? Have you made any this year? If you are like me, you probably have not. The reason is likely because resolutions did not work in the past. However, I am certain you either wish you could make a resolution or have resolved to reset/realign to a healthier lifestyle. You know “What” change you should/must make but are probably wondering; “Where do I start?”. As Lao- tzu reminds us “ The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”!

We at Afrofusion Lifestyle can recommend the right step! Make a Vision Board, visualize it daily and watch your dreams and goals for 2022 become a reality!!! We advocate Vision Boards not just because Oprah, Michelle Obama and Steve Harvey recommend it, but because it has worked for us!!!  I completed by 3rd Vision Board yesterday because 80% of the goals on my Vision Boards for 2020 and 2021 happened. Making a Vision board is the 1st step in our program and we got you! This blog will support you to articulate and capture SMART goals on your vision board and use this to achieve the changes you desire in all areas of your life.  

WHAT IS A VISION BOARD?

A vision board is basically a collection of pictures, words and phrases representing your dreams and goals aimed at inspiring you to achieve them, by helping you visualize and manifest them. Creating the board helps you to get clarity and then maintain concentration and focus on the articulated goals. Although most people use a cork or poster board for their vision board increasingly more and more people are using digital vision boards. You can choose whichever works for you – there is no right or wrong. I did a hybrid this year – designed 6 slides one each for each of the 7 areas of my life: Faith, Family, Friends, Finance, Fitness, Food & Field on PowerPoint. I used a collage of them digitally as screen savers on both my work computer and laptop. I also printed and mounted them on a cardboard display in my bedroom.

DO VISION BOARDS WORK?

YES, Vision boards do work! The logic behind them makes simple sense; by visualising your goals and affirmative quotes on your vision board daily, you get visual stimulation that makes you more emotionally connected to the goals and your subconscious becomes activated to work to find ways to make them happen. The vision board tells your subconscious what your focus should be in what the Law of Attraction calls Visualization. This is essentially attracting what you are focusing on, into your life. Visualization is said to be one of the most powerful techniques you can utilize to manifest what you desire and attain your goals. Vision boards also work because unlike goals that we write on paper and lose and forget, a vision board remains in full view keeping your goals in front of your mind every day and invoking positive emotions as you look at the pictures and motivational quotes.

WHAT SHOULD YOU PUT ON YOUR VISION BOARD & HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT IT?

Step 1: Clarify your “what”

The 1st and most crucial step is to get clarity about the kind of life you dream for yourself, what your personal vision and mission are, what changes you need to make, or steps you need to take to get to that vision. To get to the bottom of your “What”, dedicate time to pray and reflect and answer the questions below and what actions you need to take to achieve them. You will need a notebook and pen: Write down your answers as this is the 1st draft of your goals!

Questions for your “What”

  • What is my personal mission and vision: What are my strengths and how can I use them to contribute to society in a way that it aligns with my values?
  • How do I want to feel when I am living my ideal life?
  • What makes me feel like myself?
  • How long do I want to live?
  • What activities do I want to enjoy with my family and friends i.e., what is my bucket list?
  • What would an ideal day in my life look like?
  • What is my definition of success?
  • Reflecting on 2021, what went well last year and what did I do to achieve it, and do I want to repeat it?
  • Reflecting on what went well in 2021 – do I want to build on it? e.g. “I went from 3000 steps a day to 10,000 and would like to increase to 12,000 or add one day of core exercises e.g., yoga? 
  • Reflecting on 2021, what did not go well? Why was that? Is it still important to me? If so, is there anything I could do this year to make it happen?
  • Reflecting on the above, what could be the barriers and what steps can I take to tackle them. Examples of barriers could be:
  1. Culture i.e., “what everyone in my community does” or Tradition which is “how it’s always done”, example being adding excessive oil to dishes
  2. Too many health myths to navigate e.g., “fruit juice is same as eating the fruit hence drinking 4 glasses of fruit juice is eating 4 portions of your 5 portions of fruits and vegetables”
  3. Insufficient knowledge or ignorance e.g., my aunt’s favourite “because red wine is good for my heart as was shown in France, the more I drink of it, the healthier I will be “

Step 2: Clarify the “Why” of your goals and complete a shortlist

Now proceed to understand your “why” This is important because if your why is profound and long-term and not shallow and short term, you would be more likely to prioritise it and feel more motivated and happier about making it happen.

Example of a profound “Why”

 “I would like to live long and healthy to be able to spend as much time as possible time with my children and to enjoy the activities we have worked hard to save for which are listed on our bucket lists, with my husband”

 Example of a frivolous “Why”

“I would like to lose weight to fit into that green outfit to look better than XXX”

Example 1 invokes positive emotions whilst example 2 invokes negative feelings and emotions that are not healthy. Therefore, dig deep and find positive “Whys”

Be mindful as you do this that very often, what you might think you want is not what you want, and spending time to get this clarity on why you want something helps you really flush out the goals that are not your real goals but are the result of societal pressure, parental expectations, or other external factors.

Review your draft goals and for each reflect further and write down a rating for

  1. How important you rate the “What”? (10 = extremely important, 1 = not important)
  2. How confident are you that you will achieve the “What?” (10 = extremely confident, 1 = not confident)

From these

  • discard any goal with an importance of less than 7
  • highlight goals with a confidence level of less than 5 but do not discard because we will recommend actions to get the confidence level up

Step 3: Group your shortlisted goals

Review the draft list of goals you have so far and split them into sections. The sections I am using this year inspired by my daughter’s amazing tutor (thank you auntie Shola) are what I am calling my “Fundamental Fs for 2022”

  • Family
  • Faith
  • Finance
  • Fitness
  • Food
  • Friends
  • Field

I loved the fact that they rhyme and are like the areas I had in previous years though I referred to them then as relationships (family/friends/spouse), home, finances, career/work, and health etc. For your vision board use different sections and call them something else that speaks to your spirit or tickles your fancy.

Step 4: Translate your goals to inspirational words and images

Translating your goals into words and images that describe the feelings and emotions your goals evoke is important because these feelings and emotions will be generated every time you look at the board. The idea is that these would then inspire and motivate you subconsciously to get there.

To complete this step:

  1. Review each draft goal and choose a positive feeling/ emotion, word or image that it evokes. It could be an image of yourself or of someone else or something. The only rule is that it should give you positive vibes.
  2. Write down the word(s) and print out the images.

I encourage you to draw on your spiritual source of inspiration to inspire you to find the most befitting emotions, words and images to represent your goals. I love my Faith section on my board because I used my favourite scriptures and quotes from Mother Teresa that remind me that reading my bible is important as it is spending time with God and thus learning to love like him so I can love my neighbour. One of the verses inspired by Father Blessed (I listen to his Catholic Meditation daily) is

“In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God!”

Some of the Mother Teresa quotes I included are:

  • “I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbour. Do you know your next-door neighbour?”
  • “Work without love is slavery.”

Step 5 Select and articulate S.M.A.R.T.E.R goals

After completing the four steps above, you should now have a list of preselected goals and aspirations and words and images that represent them. However, you need to prioritise them further and choose the ones that should be added to your vision board.

From the list that you have created, create the final list by

  • Choosing two or three changes from each category that you would find the easiest to make because success will breed success
  • Making these chosen goals S.M.A.R.T.E.R.

What are S.M.A.R.T.E.R Goals?

  • Specific: Stating exactly what you want to start doing e.g., instead of “increase my steps “to “increase my steps to minimum 10,000”
  • Measurable: Ensure you can know when you have achieved the goal. The above goal for example would be measured with a “Fitbit “or Smart watch
  • Achievable: Make sure the goal is achievable because achieving it gives you the confidence to tackle the next goal. Certainly 30,000 steps a day for 5 days a week is very unlikely to be achievable
  • Realistic and relevant: The goal should be realistic and relevant. A relevant goal would be to drink 2 liters of water daily whilst an irrelevant (or bad goal) goal would be to drink 2 litres of juice daily.
  • Time -specific: Deadlines are important motivators top achieve goals. Choose a realistic timeline especially for new goals
  • Evaluation: Plan time to regular evaluate your goal and preferably with an accountability partner
  • Reinforcement: Think of how you will celebrate successful achievement of your goal to encourage you to continue. Do not go overboard –just a simple gesture even literally clapping for yourself or dancing round a room.

Now you should have a list and can proceed to the enjoyable and fun part of finally making your vision board!

FIND QUOTES AND AFFIRMATIONS

Find quotes and affirmations that will motivate and inspire you

HOW DO YOU CREATE A VISION BOARD?

A) Creating a Traditional cut and paste vision board

You should have the following. Simply order from amazon if you can

  • Scissors, glue stick, pins
  • A board, piece of cardboard, corkboard, or vintage wood
  • List of your SMARTER goals
  • Power words which represent your goals or values e.g health, love, happiness, joy, peace, community
  • Cut outs of visuals which include images, pictures, symbols, quotes and affirmations that align with your vision and goals to inspire and energize you

Organise these on your board designing as you see fit! You can mix it all up or keep separated in themes. Just remember not to glue or pin anything until you have laid out all the words and images and are happy with how your vision board makes you feel. You might need to rearrange a few times- that is ok. My board health and fitness last year – I did different ones for different areas of life.

Creating a Digital Vision

Start by completing steps 1 to 5 above. Then use a digital application as the next step e.g. Canva or PicMonkey if you are very skilled. Or simply use the tried and trusted PowerPoint.
To use these applications

  • I. Find or upload phrases, quotes or photos that represent your goals and dreams
  • II. Add them to your design
  • III. Add text typing in your positive words, quotes, or affirmations. Use the text effects to make your board pop.
  • IV. Once you finalize your digital vision board, download it to your computer and save as a background, or print it out and hang up or both as I did
  • My digitally created vision board for this year is a masterpiece that I will share in the Masterclass recording.

6) WHERE DO YOU PUT UP YOUR VISION BOARD?


You should ideally put up your vision board in a location where you will see it daily. This will ensure that the crucial visual reminders are very visible to ensure that your visions and dreams are transmitted to your subconscious. This way it remains in your mind and your subconscious is inspired to keep at work to make it happen!

7) WHAT DO YOU DO ONCE YOUR VISION BOARD IS DISPLAYED?

After getting clarity and SMARTER goals and creating your vision board, our suggestion is to plan a daily routine to visualize and review your goals and imagine life after you achieve them. Look and reflect on it at least once daily spending time visualizing your goals. This will activate your subconscious to keep busy even as you rest.


We recommend these steps:

  • Spend 1 minute sitting and looking at your vision board reflecting on your goals.
  • Then close your eyes for 2 minutes and visualise yourself in the future living a life where these goals are a reality- paint pictures in your mind’s eyes
  • Speak out your goals with conviction so you hear them as this is thought to make them feel more attainable. It is like putting it out in the universe and making them reality.
  • Write down 2 or 3 simple things you are grateful for that already support your vision. It could be just being alive and having the 3 minutes to spend with your goals.

If you do this daily, your goals are kept in sight considering “ out of sight is out of mind” With your goals in your mind, the power of visualization will proceed with creative thinking and results happen.


8) ROBUST PLANNING TO HELP BREAK OLD HABITS

As you know most New year resolutions are broken. This is because we are creatures of habit and change is usually challenging. It is therefore crucial to think of ways to mitigate against the barrier that your old habit will pose!


This requires intentionality, preparation, and planning. Making a successful change is dependent on. Think of the area of focus and plan for it. Focusing on health and fitness, these are some pointers to include

Goals, Vision & Visualization
Schedule time to spend with your vision board daily

Knowledge

  • Have information such as nutrient list handy to check macros
  • Buy Afrofusion book
  • Attend Afrofusion Masterclasses
  • Read our blogs

Nutrition

  • Schedule a regular shopping day so you do your shopping to ensure you have the right ingredients for meals
  • Do meal prepping so you always have ready-made meals and ingredients to put together a meal quickly to reduce temptations when you are hungry.
  • Drink water if you feel hungry as thirst is often confused with hunger or food cravings
  • Eat more protein. eating more protein may reduce your appetite and keep you from overeating
  • Do not stock unhealthy snacks or snacks you crave
  • Plan your meals & stock healthier alternatives, boiled eggs, veg smoothies
  • Avoid getting extremely hungry
  • Plan for vacation and social occasions

Selfcare

  • Use Mindfulness techniques to be present and aware to reduce stress. For example, Journaling to check in with yourself and focus on what you’re thinking, feeling, and writing about, deep breathing, body scan, stretch and narration. These are described in detail under selfcare later.
  • Get enough sleep
  • Schedule your spiritual and social activities to ensure they happen as planned

Fitness

  • Have a realistic schedule
  • Measure outcomes to stay motivated e.g., steps on Fitbit
  • Choose activities you enjoy
  • Have your equipment handy e.g., trainers in the trunk of your car
  • Have accountability partners

9) ACCOUNTABILITY SUPPORT

Now you have your vision board mounted and you are visualizing daily what next? Remaining consistent in achieving the goals and maintaining your vision is more likely to happen if you can rely on support from an accountability partner or group. You might ask why you need accountability? It is simple – research shows that people with accountability partners are 75-85% more effective.


How can you stay accountable for your health goals?


Reflect on all the times you’ve decided, choice or New Year’s resolution to help you achieve your health goals. Maybe you signed up for a gym membership planning to attend a class twice a week. How many times have you started making the change and simply decided, “I will give today a miss”?
In such situations when you know exactly what you need to do, why you need to, how to do it, and when to do it, but it still is not working according to plan, accountability is often the last piece of the puzzle that will support you get to the finish line. There are two types of accountabilities.

Internal Accountability

This is being accountable to oneself even when no one is around to witness or acknowledge your actions. It is that motivation that gets you out of your cosy bed. However, although some people are naturally good at this, others struggle.

  • Write Down Your Health and Wellness Goals
  • Ensure step by step planning
  • Do an honest route cause analysis when you do not meet goals
  • Knowledge is power so get the Knowledge required

External Accountability

External accountability is remaining accountable to others who are checking in with you, supporting you, and keen to hear about your progress. This makes you feel a sense of obligation to achieve these goals from them. Team sports is a pertinent example where you feel obliged to show up for practice because your team and coach are expecting you.

  • Share Your Goals
  • Be Honest
  • Use Available Apps
  • Social Media
  • Challenges


Which of the two types of accountabilities do you feel would work best for you?
A combination of the two would allow you to stay accountable and attain your health and fitness goals. I use personally use both: I weigh myself weekly, try to do 10,000 steps five days a week and 2 core sessions twice a week. However, I do find that external accountability motivates me further.

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