Do you know what a vision board is? Have you ever tried to create your own, maybe for a school project or for a material to be used in the office? And maybe it didn't work out the way you wanted?

In today's Ask Noah St. John Show, I'm going to teach you why everyone's wrong about vision boards and how to do a better vision board for you, for your family, for your business, your career, and your legacy.

What are vision boards? And how do I create one?
What is a vision board? As we all know, a vision board is an art piece of motivation that the gurus have been telling us to do for years and years. A vision board is something where you think about your journey, what you want to focus on, your deepest desires, and the achievements you want to fulfill in the future. It is designed to represent your visions.

There's a broad concept when it comes to the designs of a vision board. The very common tools are paper and pen where you just write down quotes from your favorite books, stories you have read, or films. People often use words of affirmations that aim to grow positivity within. Perhaps, you can use my words of Afformation® which reinforce your confidence by simply answering empowering questions about the things you are capable of achieving.

Others use magazines to pick and cut fun pictures, gluing those to paper, and sticking them on the wall. Some use photos they have taken to remind them of memories. Most students make vision boards using different materials and resources which resembles their school projects having various themes, colors, and textures. Anything that appeals visually great can attract positive vibes and inspire a person to keep moving and hustling for a dream.

Why is your vision board not enough?
Well, vision boards are supposed to help you get all the things that you want. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

I remember years and years ago when I started to educate myself through spiritual studies. I read all these books and talked a lot about vision boards. I said, “I'll try it”. I got all these magazines out, I cut all these images of cars and houses of money and I put them on my wall. I think about it and I'd stare at my vision board, look at it and think about it. My eyes are glued to these pictures hoping I will be able to experience success.

Do you know what I got while I was looking at the picture? Do you know if the pictures of cars, houses, and money become true now? Why didn't the vision board work for me? A reason the vision board didn't work for me and it didn't work for millions of people out there who have tried vision boards is that a vision board doesn't fix the actual problem. It doesn't guarantee automatic success.

Basically, like going to the dentist you say, “Hey Doc, do you know I got a toothache? My tooth really hurts.” He goes, “Hey, you've got a cavity there.” Okay, next. You’re like, “Wait a minute. Don't you want to fix it well?” He says, “Well you didn't ask me to fix you just asked me to tell you what was wrong”. See, that's the real problem. Here’s the point, when you look at a vision board, cutting out pictures and all that texts, and you're visualizing the pictures on a wall, all you're basically doing to your brain is saying; “See. Look at all that stuff.” Your brain's going well.

What are we going to do now to see your brain? It’s a question seeking an answer, “finding machine” - that's what it is. Your brain is always in the process of asking and seeking answers to questions. This is one of the reasons why I invented the Afformation® System. If you look at my books like Power Habits® and Get Rid of Your Head Trash About Money, in the book of Afformations® from Hay House, and my Afformation® system at afformations.com, this is exactly what I’ve been teaching my coaching clients for more than two decades since 1997. It's also one of the reasons that my clients and I have added over 2.7 billion dollars using my legendary methods.

While you're doing a vision board wrong, it's not your fault. It's just that they told you to put all these ideas and pictures together but then, they didn't tell you what to do. You became "blind" and too much focus on dreaming, you definitely lack a bit of moving.

Power Tip #1: Asking yourself what do you want
What works way better and more efficiently than a vision board is?

Asking yourself the things you want now, goals, or dreams you want to achieve.

You can write specific objectives for a short-term project you want to finish or an outline of goals to check development in achieving a long-term one. You can still draw them out and creating a vision board would be nice, too.

The things you value and believe in can definitely help to identify what's more essential to include in your list. You don't need to rush and frustrate yourself to envision mind-blowing ideas, or to visualize a clearer future right away. If you still don't know where to settle because maybe you're focusing on the present, asking yourself now can be truly helpful. This will serve as a key guide in your journey of understanding your feelings, learning your experiences, and knowing your purpose in life.

Power Tip #2: Understand what's between you and what you want
I call that going from your CPR to your NDR - your Current Perceived Reality to your New Desired Reality. Yes, it is important to know where you want but you gotta understand and relate what's between you and what you want. I call it "the gap.”

There are three kinds of gaps that you can have. You can have a knowledge gap, a skills gap, and a belief gap. A knowledge gap is “I don't know what to do”, the skills gap is “I don't know how to get there”, and the belief gap is “I don't really think I can do it now”.

From 99 of the coaching clients that I've coached over the last two decades, it's the belief gap that's keeping you stuck meaning most people just think or believe they probably can't do it anyway. What's the point now that maybe it is a conscious thought, may not be it, or maybe a subconscious thought but it doesn't matter because of the law of sowing and reaping. As you sow, so shall you reap.

If you think you can't do it then guess what, you're going to prove yourself right. Your emotions define the core of this life mission, how inspired and motivated you are to take risks and grab opportunities, and how you acknowledge the negative feeling and turn it into a challenge. You should want it more than you're afraid of it. Believe me when I say it helps you feel powerful when someone explains your gap, whether it is closer to your dreams or there's still a long track to go through.

Power Tip#3: Take the steps
Take the actions necessary to overcome your gap. Being committed to a goal is allocating time regularly, setting aside insecurities, and having the courage to push through no matter how difficult it is to get there. A visual board should not end with the image or text on the wall, it should empower you with a daily step to take and gain lessons through trials so it can add up to your growth.

That's why I have so many different programs that help you to overcome whatever gap it is whether it's a knowledge gap if you don't know what to do, a skills gap meaning you don't have the tools to do it, or much more important and the foundation of all is a belief gap. I have programs and tools that will help you believe and actually know that you can do it but believe it or not, belief isn't as important as you think even though it's crucial. It's much more important to take action than just try to sit there and change your beliefs. The Law of Attraction is not a bad thing to believe in but you need to work on your goals to make it happen.

Remember that I've said this many times and you've heard me say this if you've been on these programs, “One positive action beats a thousand positive thoughts.” I’d rather see you taking action without even believing it rather than sitting there trying to believe, and waiting until you're ready to take action because guess what you're never gonna be ready. It really takes time to be confident and speak positively about the abilities you possess. This only speaks a lot about the trust you put in the process no matter how blurry your view is on reaching your goal.

I can give you a thousand examples from my own life of how I took action even when I didn't think I could do it. A great example is my Hay House book. I started reading Hay House books in the 1990s when I started my spiritual studies more than 30 years ago and I dreamed of being a Hay House author. I kept saying, “It'll never happen to me. I'm probably not good enough. Who's going to listen to me? Why would they ever publish my book?” Well lo and behold, they published my book and now there's so much demand for it that they're sold out. When you go to Amazon and look at my Book of Afformations®, they're actually sold out which is pretty funny.

Baby Steps to Financial Freedom
Anyway, my point is that even if you don't believe yet, go ahead and take action. Learn to contribute to your progress. Shape up your mind and upgrade your career. In fact, here's something you can do right now. I’m gonna show and tell you something you can do right now today. You can start making money in your online business without even having to build anything. It's really simple.

First of all, just go to noahstjohn.com/jv. You're going to see a million of me right now. Let me share how you can join my inbound ram, that's what we call our Affiliate Program, the Ambassador Program. You can earn commissions on every sale. All you have to do is put your email, password, your first name and then you just type in your PayPal email because I'm going to pay you here when people come to me through you. If you know anything about my work and if you're a fan of mine then you know you want to recommend me, you may want to refer me to your friends, your colleagues, your teammates, your family members, and the people whose lives for them to know that this works and can change your life.

I’m happy to pay you commissions on every sale that comes through from your efforts. Isn't that great? It’s a win-win, everybody wins! Go to noahstjohn.com/jv then it will take you to your Affiliate page. Everybody has a unique affiliate number. I have programs like Online Business Virtual Retreat, Power Habits® 21-Day Challenge, the Afformation® System, Get Unstuck Out Six-Figure Machine, Funnel Secrets, sendmeabooknoah.com for my free book called Get Rid of Your Head Trash About Money, and Traffic Income Secrets. That's my eight-week coaching program where I teach you to massively increase your traffic without spending any more, authority cycle mastery where I show you how to have the traffic and the funnels so that you can become a trusted authority in your space. We have Power Habits® Secrets where I teach how to have more mind health and business wealth in just eight weeks and Power Habits® Academy which is a virtual health program where I teach you the Power Habits® of unconsciously successful.

You can make money on all of these if you want to so I recommend starting with the easy ones which are Afformation® System, Power Habits® Challenge, and Online Business Retreat. You’ll just hit the link, copy that affiliate link, scroll down on the page, copy and see what email social media swipe copy says then share these pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, wherever and whatever the newest social media is out there. You can also send it through email. Email is really going to be the best way to do it.

In fact today, right now, at the time of this year, the early bird promo is ending so make sure if you want to get in on my Power Habits® Challenge so I can help you have better mind health and more business wealth in the next 21 days. Go to powerhabitschallenge.com and sign up today before the early bird expires. We have Power Habits® which is right here at powerhabitsecrets.com, Funnel Income Secrets, and Traffic Income Secrets. I've got you covered in a cradle to grade A to Z. There's nothing missing so there it is right there, it's pretty simple friends so you can get paid right now.

I wish that I had this all, all those years ago when I started successclinic.com in a dorm room with 800 in a book on HTML. I didn't have any of these accessible tools that you all have available to you right now. I had HTML all by myself and I tell you, it was awful. It took me 10 years before I broke six figures but if I had the tools, had the training and workshop, and had the support that I have for all of you right now, I would have gotten there a heck faster. You can actually get there faster than I did and much easier than I did. You won't have to spend half a million dollars on all the gurus only to find out that they can't teach their way out of a paperback.

Turning your vision into a mission
Again, a vision board is only a representation of your goals in life which anyone can agree that it serves as an inspiration. All it takes to make it work is to follow the tips I've given you. Ask yourself empowering questions to discover yourself more. You'll be able to understand and explain the things you live up to. When you recognize and accept where you are and where you're going, you'll be able to attach and connect lessons from the past, apply strategies today, and create an objective plan for tomorrow.

Make minutes in your life count by spending time day in and out for your dreams. You don't stay where you are residing, you grow and bloom. But always be reminded not to compare your vision boards to someone else's because we all have our own version of progress and success.

If you ever need a helping hand, there is plenty of support you've got out there. Parents will definitely ensure you'll land a good life. If you've been thinking about seeking professional help, don't hesitate to ask for mentorship from people who've been there longer, just like me. We will help you become strong with decisions, enhance the ability to lead, and wake up every morning, like a bright yellow sunflower, a boost of good mood.

Clarifying the visualization you have in mind is where I am good at. We'll help you realize and process what you are thinking to essentially design a concrete plan so you can achieve your goal and improve your career.

Go ahead and follow your chosen path to make your visions happen starting today.

Author's Bio: 

Noah St. John is a keynote speaker and best-selling author who's famous for inventing Afformations® and helping busy people enjoy financial freedom. His sought-after advice is known as the "secret sauce" in personal and business growth.

Noah's engaging and down-to-earth speaking style always gets high marks from audiences. One of the world's most sought-after experts on personal growth and professional development, Noah appears frequently in the news worldwide, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The Hallmark Channel, NPR, PARADE, Woman's Day, Los Angeles Business Journal, Huffington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Forbes.com, Selling Power and The Washington Post.