How to Make a Vision Board that ACTUALLY Works (according to psychology)

what if I told you that collecting

together a few cute pics and looking at

them every day has the power to

completely transform your life well

today we're going through an

evidence-based tried and tested Vision

boarding method to make your dream life

a reality and vision boarding really

genuinely works and it has nothing to do

with quantum physics or any of that kind

of thing and everything to do with

proven principles from cognitive

Neuroscience in this video I'll walk you

through the ultimate evidence-based

guide of everything you need to know

what a vision board is who exactly

should have a vision board do you even

need one how they work at the level of

the brain and then walk you through an

exact five-step process for creating

your very own vision board highlighting

any common questions traps pitfalls that

people often fall into and finally I'll

share a routine for how to actually use

your vision board in an evidence-based

fashion to turn your dreams into reality

if you're new here my name is Izzy I'm a

Cambridge graduate and a doctor and I've

actually manifested so much of my life

things like getting into Cambridge to

studying medicine my career my YouTube

channel a happy relationship the place

that we live skills and experiences that

I've had put simply manifesting is the

practice of intentionally deciding on

your vision and then aligning your

attention and actions in order to bring

it into reality and so Vision boarding

is simply a powerful tool in our Arsenal

to effectively manifest also if you're

into this kind of stuff I've created a

completely free 3-day guide for you on

building soft productivity systems into

your life to take you from Vision to

action on your dreams so so it would be

a really good companion for this video

if you're interested in checking it out

I'll leave a link to the free guide down

below so why vision board who needs a

vision board do you actually even need

this in your life if you have no problem

achieving all of your goals and turning

your dream life into reality and

powerfully manifesting and creating the

kind of life that you want to live

that's an incredible place to be and I

honestly salute you because in this

instance chances are a vision board

won't actually add that much for you so

feel free to save some time and Skip

what watching the rest of this video but

if you're a bit like me and are still on

a personal growth Journey have things

you want to do and Achieve and

experience and become and you're looking

for strategies to effectively Implement

these into your life a vision board is

an extremely powerful tool to help you

actually make these dreams happen so for

any Skeptics and I completely get it

because I was one too here's the lowdown

on how vision boards work and the

Neuroscience of manifestation I've also

got a quick book recommendation on this

topic The Source by Dr Tara swart is

amazing for covering the Neuroscience of

manifestation in more detail so check

that out if you're interested I'll also

leave a link down below research has

shown that our brain receives around 11

million bits of information from our

sensors per second but it can only

consciously process about 50 this means

that your unconscious mind is helping

you out here by filtering out or

compressing all these millions of bits

of information every single second to

provide your conscious mind with just

the information that it actually needs

to focus on this is because obviously if

we were to try to process that volume of

information coming in from all of our

senses all of our thoughts we would

literally go insane and not be able to

focus on anything or get anything done

or function because we would just be

overwhelmed so this is actually really

working on our side because we need a

way to cut through the noise and figure

out what to pay attention to but this

also means that a part of the brain

called the reticular activating system

also known as RIS or Raz for short which

is located in the brain stem is

unconsciously subconsciously filtering

out information for us the way that it

decides what information to elevate to

the level of conscious processing versus

letting some information just slide by

unconsciously is down to this process

called selective attention and value

tagging selective attention is our

brain's ability to focus on specific

stimuli while filtering out irrelevant

information or rather information that

is deemed irrelevant by the RAS and

value tagging is a process where our

brain assigns importance to certain

stimuli certain pieces of information

based on emotional significance or

relevance to our goals or things that

are important to us you might have even

noticed some of this phenomenon working

in practice yourself in something known

as the badam mhof phenomenon this is

also known as the frequency bias but

it's caused by the RAS selective

attention and value tagging so for

example for me I am now pregnant and so

suddenly everything to do with pregnancy

and babies and child care and parenting

it feels really resonant and emotionally

important and I've noticed that all of a

sudden I seeing pregnant ladies and kids

and babies absolutely everywhere when

before I didn't really notice them as

much at all and it's not actually

because there are more pregnant women

and babies and children around me but

rather that my brain now has value

tagged this category of pregnancy and

babies and motherhood as more important

and so therefore when there is a

pregnant lady on the street or a cute

baby my reticular activating system is

more likely to be like oh that's

something that's important to us let's

make Izzy conscious of this and so then

it's elevated to the level of conscious

experience you might have experienced

this yourself if let's say you got a new

car or a new specific kind of MacBook or

something to that effect and suddenly

you start noticing more of this kind of

car let's say like a red Volvo all over

the place but actually it's not because

the frequency has genuinely increased

but rather that you're paying more

attention to it and you're being made

conscious more frequently of them

because because it's been value tagged

and it's passing into your selective

attention more frequently if you enjoy

this kind of approach to personal

development you might also enjoy my

weekly email that I send out it's called

letters to my younger self it's my

favorite thing that I do it's all the

personal development tips and notes and

journaling prompts that I wish that I

could send to my younger self I also

share daily updates on my Instagram @

izy cely so feel free to check those out

and so now let's bring it back to Vision

boarding and actually achieving our

goals every single day life changing of

opportunities are passing Us by and most

of these are unfortunately filtered out

by our Ras because most information is

filtered out by our R but through the

process of goal setting and vision

boarding we can actually value tag the

things that we actually care about and

the things that we want to make happen

in our lives as important so that then

our reticular activating system is more

likely to elevate opportunities and

information that are relevant to this to

a conscious level where we can actually

take action on it and actually grasp

these opportunities rather than just

letting them pass Us by or not even

noticing that they're they're happening

our brains didn't evolve in an

environment where their main goal was to

make us succeed and be happy our brains

just evolve to survive and a lot of the

ways that our brains filter information

aren't necessarily aligned with the

person that we want to become they were

created from the person that we were and

the experiences that we have had but if

we want to change our future trajectory

we need to be able to shape our brain to

be ready for those opportunities and to

actually consciously be made aware of

these opportunities so that we can grasp

them and actually take action on making

our dreams a reality you might be

wondering well doesn't something like

just setting a goal and writing it down

work for this kind of thing and yes

absolutely that does help but there is a

certain power in making a vision board

which I'm about to explain we as humans

are extremely visual creatures we have

literally a whole lobe of the brain the

whole occipital lobe just right here at

the back of the brain dedicated to

visual processing and if if you just

think about your experience of the world

most of us and so you and me probably

included are primarily visual processes

of the world this means that seeing

visual images of our goals such as on

your vision board is a much more

powerful way of emotionally activating

your goals and really getting them to

stick in your head and value tagging

intensely what you're trying to align

your actions towards achieving multiple

Studies have shown that visually

focusing in on our goals and having

visual representations of our goals

helps to generate powerful emotions that

drive us to pursue those goals and

actually achieve them and so there was a

significant increase in goal Pursuit and

motivation for people who visually

represent their goals whether that's on

a vision board or through tools like

visualization so that's my Manifesto for

who needs a vision board and how they

actually work and why you need one and

so if you're convinced and you want to

create a powerful vision board that

actually works then let's Dive In to the

five-step process for creating your

vision board this is the process that I

personally use and I found it most

effective after trying multiple

different methods of creating a vision

board also one thing that's really

important when it comes to creating an

effective vision board is getting in the

right emotional state to actually be

able to dream big and to be able to

confidently put images onto your vision

board I've recorded a fullon vision

boarding Workshop as part of the life OS

course which is a course that my husband

Ali and I have put together to help you

essentially figure out where you're

going in life design your dream life and

then build in a productivity system so

essentially covering the full stack of

going from Vision to action if you're

interested you might want to check it

out and again you'll get this Vision

boarding Workshop as part of that course

where I'll guide you through the whole

process including visualizations

meditations and also giving you a bunch

of templates and resources for creating

your vision board step one is to dream

visualize your dream life in 3 years

time how it feels how it looks and the

person that you've ultimately become

through everything that has happened

this Taps into a cognitive process

called episodic future thinking which

essentially is when we visualize and

mentally simulate future events in Vivid

detail this has been proven to

counteract temporal discounting which is

the very human psychological tendency to

prioritize immediate gratification over

long-term benefits and delayed

gratification which is actually one of

the biggest barriers to making our

dreams happen an example of this is

let's say one of your goals is to get in

the best shape of your life immediate

gratification would encourage you to sit

on the sofa watch TV and binge eat yummy

snacks but if you're focusing more on

long-term delayed gratification then you

might put those aside and instead go for

a walk and listen to an Audi book or go

to the gym or do some yoga so by tapping

into this process of EFT episodic future

thinking we counteract this bias and we

can focus more on delayed gratification

and long-term benefits for example in

this study they found that students who

were prompted to visualize their

experience if they actually achieved

their study goals were significantly

more likely to spontaneously study for

longer which is going to make that

potential future reality of achieving

their study goals much more likely so

one tool that I like to use in this

visualizing stage is thinking about my

life in categories I personally really

like the Wheel of Life framework for

thinking about life a bit more

holistically and actually as part of my

weekly review process every single week

I check in and I track my Wheel of Life

score so that I can see patterns and

Trends over time I've personally found

that tracking the past checking in on

the present and then analyzing those

patterns to design the future has been

one of the most powerful Frameworks for

my personal growth journey I created a

Google sheet tracker that I use every

single week for my Wheel of Life I had

so many requests to share the Google

sheet tracker that I use so if you're

interested you can get a copy completely

free via the link below or via

i.com slwe this is the exact template

that I personally use this is an auto

updating graph here which updates

whenever you add in numbers I have also

created a little notes section here to

add any key points of notes of anything

that might have affected the score so

that you can look back and then analyze

any patterns so again feel free to check

that out if you'd like otherwise using

these kinds of categories of physical

health mental health friends and family

Romance career finances personal growth

and purpose and contribution I find very

helpful or if you really want to

simplify it down think about it in terms

of health in terms of relationships and

then career and personal growth so now

maybe take a moment to close your eyes

maybe even pause the video and set a

timer for a couple of minutes and

visualize what stepping into your

elevated life in 3 years time feels like

after this visualization exercise write

freely in your journal for a couple of

minutes about this experience and what

the key components of your dream life

are I personally like to write in a

physical Journal because I find that I'm

a bit more expressive and connected to

my emotions when I do that but write

wherever works for you and write down

any crazy world dreams that you have

don't hold back and recognize that at

this stage any thoughts of that's not

realistic or like oh like that's never

going to happen aren't actually needed

right now as this is simply about

dreaming divergently and creating a

bucket list almost of Dreams step two is

collect which essentially is searching

for images that represent elements of

your dream life I like using Pinterest

for this personally because it gives

great suggestions for similar images and

start suggesting Things based on what

you've searched so this is an example

when I open up my Pinterest because of

the kinds of things I've searched for in

the past it suggests things

automatically that I might be interested

in and some of these things are things

that I actually search for while

creating my own vision board so for

example maybe I like this kind of desk

setup I I feel like ooh that's feels

resonant feels like it's part of the

dream life and when I click on it then I

scroll down a little bit and then I see

a bunch of other similar images that are

a bit like this original one and so then

it makes it very easy to find the exact

kind of images that you want and so then

maybe I'll click on this one and then I

keep getting suggested new things

algorithmically by Pinterest one thing

to consider is including imagery that

reflects the outcome and the destination

of the dream but also the process and

the inputs required to get there so

almost the journey as it were I like

doing this because it prompts me to

think about the steps that are needed to

be taken to get to whatever dream

destination I have consider including

both literal images which have a

concrete reflection of the dream

destination and also more abstract ones

that reflect perhaps a certain feeling

or an energy that you want to experience

and especially look for images that

evoke some kind of emotional response in

you as these will be the most powerful

for forming your magnetic vision for

example for me this image here of this

old couple dancing in what looks like

their beautiful home surrounded by

warmth and plant was so emotionally

resonant for me and when I saw that I

just felt like it like literally brought

tears to my eyes when I saw this image

and so even though this photo isn't

necessarily what my life is exactly

going to look like in a couple of years

time because obviously this is an old

couple many years down the line when I

look at this and I see like their

smiling faces I see the feeling that's

in this image with like full of warmth

and love and a deep connection over the

course of a lifetime that is extremely

emotionally evocative for me and so

that's why I put this on my vision board

step number three is dump copy and paste

all these images that you find into a

blank document so for me personally I

like to use either Google Slides or

canva for this but feel free to use

basically any document where you can

paste photos rearrange them easily and

change the aspect ratio of the document

so like that's the dimensions of the

document basically and you can change

the aspect ratio in both Google slides

and canva as well a quick shortcut that

I like is just typing in slides. new and

then a new Google Slides document will

open up and so that's a really quick way

for you to just get directly to it once

this is opened up you just go to

Pinterest you pick a couple of pictures

that you like so let me grab a couple so

for example if you're on Pinterest and

you really resonate with let's say this

image over here you go in you copy the

image you go into your Google slide you

paste it there we go that's dumped in

step four is refine so once you've

collected and dumped a bunch of

inspiring evocative images into your

document go through them all again and

now eliminate and select so remove any

images that are either too repetitive or

no longer resonant I basically refine

them down to the core collection of

images in this refining stage I also

like to edit and personalize any images

for example I've put this 1 million

subscriber YouTube plaque into this dump

and so then on my actual vision board to

make it more magnetic and personal I

edited the image to include my name my

profile picture all of that stuff so

over here you can see the YouTube plaque

has my name on it this is like literally

the exact image that I would see on my

YouTube channel page with one million

subscribers and I've also done the same

for my hsk 6 certificate which is how

you shap in cure level six which is

essentially a mandarin proficiency exam

and I really want to get to level six so

I literally took a copy of a photo of of

the hsk6 certificate and edited it to

include my name and my photo over there

step five is coales so now you have your

set of magnetic images for your vision

board it's time to coales them into

their final form the first thing here is

to decide on what format you want your

vision board to be in I'll get into this

a little bit more in the final part of

this video but essentially here you want

to choose your aspect ratio for your

canvas and that basically means the

dimensions of the canvas I'll give you a

quick demo in Google slides and canva of

how you can do this in Google Slides you

want to click file and then go to page

setup and here it has a few three like

standard aspect ratios um or you can

choose custom here and you can also

choose whether that's in pixels or

inches depending on what kind of final

form you want for your vision board in

canva what you want to do is go to the

canva main page and then click custom

size you can again choose pixels or

inches centimeters create a new design

and that has popped up something here

and then you can copy and paste your

images into this space here then when

you're arranging your images I'd

actually recommend placing related

images nearest to each other for example

images that are all about health all

togethere or relationships kind of in a

cluster ultimately there are no rules

when it comes to Vision boarding find

what feels good for

you now for some common traps and

pitfalls that people often fall into and

mistakes that they make when making

vision boards one really common thing

that I see a lot is people focusing only

on material outcomes so fancy branded

luxury items or extrinsic material Goods

that we think will bring us happiness

but it's important to remember that

honic adaptation is a thing and so this

can easily become part of a honic

treadmill and feed into this cycle of

consumerism so it's just worth being

aware of like are there actually things

on the vision board that are part of

your dream life not just because they're

material Goods but because they are

genuinely things that will bring you a

richness to your life another common

trap is limiting yourself from actually

putting your dreams on your vision board

I recently wrote a whole newsletter

issue about this very topic of limiting

beliefs and self-sabotage and how vision

boards can actually help to discover and

unearth them so feel free to check this

out or join the free email Community

where I sent this to I'll include a link

down below the next common trap is

getting too attached or too worried

about specific timelines and deadlines

for achieving these dreams on your

vision board because a vision board is

very different to creating a concrete

plan of action I'd actually recommend

having both and making an action plan

after you've got your vision board but

while a plan usually has a timeline with

clear milestones and objectives and a

kind of very clear path a vision board

is a softer bigger picture approach to

designing your dream life and by

actively stepping away from including

these kinds of timelines opens us up to

an abundance mindset and allows us to

hold our plans more lightly which means

that we can follow the flow of life and

take opportunities as they arise rather

than holding on to them with too much

attachment but while still keeping our

dreams front and center the next common

trap is only including the outcome or

the results and none of the processes

because vision boards work best when

they are conducive to action and this is

why I always try to include some images

of the journey and the work in progress

towards the dream destination to almost

create a visual stepping stone and

connect that Vision to action you can

see this on my own vision board here

where let's say this image here I've

included a lady doing prenatal Pilates

and there isn't any clear destination

goal it's not like like the pose that

she's doing is particularly challenging

or as some kind of destination but it's

more that I want to include this process

in my life because I know by including

more of this kind of process and acting

on it I will by default get towards the

dream destination that I have now for

the final step of this Ultimate Guide to

Vision boarding is the evidence-based

application in your day-to-day life the

first thing that's important is to look

at your vision board daily so spend at

least a minute per day looking at your

vision board this is because in order

order to actually activate your value

tagging selective attention reticular

activating system and get that

subconscious mind on board with making

your dreams a reality you need to

constantly feed it reminders of what's

important to you so for me personally I

create wallpapers for all of my main

devices with my vision board on it so

this includes for example my phone

literally my phone background is my

vision board which I arranged into the

right aspect ratio to fit nicely on my

phone on my iPad as well which I use

everyday is also my vision board on my

laptop background everything all of my

electronic devices because I use these

every single day have my vision board on

them front and center as both the lock

screen and also the wallpaper in this

way being repeatedly exposed to seeing

my vision board and reminders of my

dream life works on two levels on the

conscious level it's a reminder of my

goals and dreams to actually make plans

and take action towards them and in

terms of the subconscious level it's

aligning my Raz and my sub conscious

with noticing these kinds of

opportunities that are important to me

and making them happen an alternative to

putting them on digital devices is to

physically print it out on let's say a

canvas or a poster and put it somewhere

that you're going to see very regularly

ideally daily such as maybe inside your

wardrobe so that when you open your

wardrobe and you're getting dressed and

ready each day then you have a look at

it or place it maybe above your home

desk so you can look at it when hustling

to make your dream life happen finally

combining Vision boarding with written

goal set setting and action planning I

personally do quarterly goal setting

with monthly and weekly reviews under

this to align my actions with my vision

and actually one of the biggest reasons

why people fail at achieving their

dreams is this execution Gap essentially

this gap between vision and action so we

want to close this Gap and now we have

our vision that we feel motivated by

every single day we're aligning

everything in our mind and heart towards

that we want to take action I'm actually

planning a full video on this quarterly

monthly and weekly review system which I

actually Implement inside my journal so

stay tuned for that if you're interested

in every single video I always like to

encourage you guys to actually take

action on the videos that you're

watching because it's all good and well

watching YouTube videos for

entertainment but I really want you guys

to put this into practice in your own

life so right now decide on two action

points you're going to take away from

this video that you're going to

implement today and so think of those

two action points and maybe share them

down below in the comments if you like

or send me an email or message with them

or just write them down for yourself in

your journal and make sure that you

actually take action on this video If

you enjoyed this video I think you might

like this video over here where I talk

about my exact process for journaling

and how to bring more mindfulness

intentionality and self- understanding

into our lives with journaling so feel

free to check that out over here

otherwise thank you so much for watching

take care of yourself and remember that

the journey is the destination I'll see

you in the next video bye