Hello my dear listener! Welcome back to yet another episode of Morning Cup of Sunshine podcast. I was planning to record this episode as the first episode of the year, but somehow other episodes took priority, but better late than never. If you remember last year, we had a huge virtual vision board party. We together created our vision boards over Facebook live. It was my first time creating the vision board. I mentioned this several times, but I was a little skeptical about them before because I was not sure how they work just based on power of manifestation. But to be honest, if you combine your power of manifestation with the power of action then it is no surprise that they do work. In today’s episode, I want to review my last year’s vision board. We will go over all the goals, dreams that I added on that vision board, and we will then review if any of them come true. Did I succeed in any of the goals that I added on that vision board or was it just for show? Did I create a board for this year? Did I set the same goals, or everything changed? Of course, I won’t be talking only about me here in this episode, because then what’s in for you right? While reviewing my vision boards, I am going to pinpoint what really worked and what did not? What did you need to do to have a useful and successful vision board? Can you and I both learn from my success and failure stories of vision boards? Let’s find out answers to all these questions in this episode. So, let’s start, shall we?
I had 4 broad categories on last year’s vision board. Let’s review each one of them.
Podcasting
I had pasted a picture of the one-year anniversary of the podcast on that board. I am super happy that Morning Cup of sunshine is now almost 2 years old. I did continue podcasting beyond one year. I also added a 100th episode picture on the board. We are not there yet but only 20 episodes to go, so hopefully, this dream will be real in just a few weeks. I think both of these goals were complementary to each other and that is the reason why they worked. I firmly believe unless you know how to achieve the goal you won’t be able to achieve it just by daydreaming it. I was able to complete one year of podcasting because I knew I needed to consistently show up and publish the episodes. This got me closer to my 100 episodes goal too. In addition to podcasting, I added a few more dream pictures on the board which were related to writing and speaking. Although I got several opportunities to speak on other podcaster’s shows and some YouTube shows, I am still miles away from that dream stage. I didn't really work toward this goal in the last one year. And the reason is the same, I was not really sure about the way to reach that stage. I never thought about the process. Even though vision boards work on the principle of visualization, you need to supplement it with your actionable steps. I was not sure about actionable steps, I just put down a dream picture but never thought about the way towards it and I think that was the mistake. This is the one thing that I would want anybody who is making the vision board to avoid. I think this time, I will try to at least start working towards it. Same thing for writing, even though my articles got published in some books, the dream project has not even started. So, yes, something to work towards.
Fitness
This was the major setback this past year. Even though I worked out with somewhat consistency, I was nowhere closer to what I used to do in 2020. I added a picture of me running, lifting the weights and being in my best possible health. I work out pretty much 3-4 times a week. I started running as well but did not continue it. Somehow, I felt not as active as I was in 2020. But I wonder what went wrong in this department. I know, I added too many things in the mix. I did not work on my stress level rather I was forcing myself to workout no matter what. But this is not the correct way. Vision boards will not work if you just add way too many things and then just force yourself to accomplish everything. It has to come from a place of love, compassion and empathy and this is where I went wrong. 2022 is the year of simplicity for me. I am trying to simplify my routine, and workout will be a big part of it but it will be my stress buster not a stress creator. I will not force myself to do something that I don’t enjoy or love rather I would focus on my health from a much more simplified and holistic approach.
Professional
I don’t talk much about the nitty-gritties of my day job. But to be honest it was a tough year. I had multiple projects and multiple teams to handle, and I struggled a lot to manage my stress levels. I did achieve a few milestones that I put down in my vision boards. So, in all this area was pretty much good this year barring the stress management that is something I need to learn. I am determined to work on that this year.
Family
What shall I say? I had a lot of hopes and dreams to see my loved ones in 2021. I missed my extended family terribly in 2020 and hence I added their pictures on my vision board in the hope that I will get to see them in 2021. But did it happen? Unfortunately, no, it did not happen. I have still not seen my sister since 2019. I have not met my mother-in-law, father-in-law since 2019. I have not held my littlest niece. I have not seen my friends back in India since 2019. Absolutely nothing changed for me. I am still missing them as much as I missed them while preparing that vision board one year ago. But the hope is still there. I am hoping to see them this year. I won’t say that this is the failure of vision boards. The things that we are experiencing since 2020 are beyond anyone’s control. I am happy that everyone is safe and healthy. That is what matters the most but yes, I am really hoping to see all of them very soon. I did have other family goals on that vision board. One of the biggest and boldest dreams that I put down on the board was buying a house. We never thought we would be buying a house here in the USA, but that dream came true in 2021. We bought a beautiful house in 2021 and made it our home. We are thoroughly enjoying our new home and we truly feel blessed to have such a beautiful home where we can make a lot of beautiful memories. I think this dream worked because of two things, one I added that picture of the board and just let it go. They say, you visualize what you want once and then drop it, let the universe work on it rather than you obsess over it. That is what we did for this dream, we never really obsessed over buying a home. Another thing that worked was that we were really clear on our expectations and our limitations too. We knew how much we could afford and what our non-negotiable priorities were. I think that is what worked to realize this dream into a reality.
Finally, the word of the year 2021 was Believe for me. I think I truly lived by that word. I believed that I could podcast. I believed that I could write, I believed that I could manage my time better, and I believed that I could reach a lot of people and help them find a little sunshine in their day. I am really happy that I was able to do so.
But what about 2022? Did I make a vision board for this year? What are some of the lessons learned? And the most important question of all is what’s in this episode for you? I don’t want you to spend 20 minutes of your day just listening to my vision board, I would rather provide you with something that is useful to you. I want to help you create your vision board with better understanding, better clarity. So, let’s discuss that, shall we?
What I learned from my first ever vision board is not to have too many things on that board. The cluttered board makes a cluttered mind. It is a good idea to put less but more intentional dreams and goals on that board. Rather than filling your board with tons of vague dreams, spend some time going through your master list. Make a brain dump first and then sort through that list and decide your priorities. Only add those dreams and goals on the vision board that brings you true joy and are really something that you want to achieve for yourself. Don’t go straight to cutting and pasting the pictures. It is a good idea to go over those dreams and think a little bit about how you are going to achieve it? I am not saying you need to have all the step by step plans ready because we are going to utilize the power of manifestation while creating the vision board. But you still need to have at least an idea about your path towards that dream. Just take an example, let’s say you have a YouTube channel, and you are planning to put a dream picture saying 1M subscriber on your vision board. I suggest you should at least think about what will make you gain 1M subscribers. It will be quality and helpful videos as well as consistency. So, instead of just putting a picture saying 1M subscribers why not put a quote that depicts hard work and consistency. So, clarity is another important aspect of vision boards. The last and very important aspect of creating a vision board is having the trust in the process. I highly recommend not to obsess about the goal. This happened to me, I was over obsessed about my fitness goals, and I tried doing too much. It led me nowhere. I was not able to achieve the level of fitness I was aiming for, but I did manage to workout at least 3-4 times a week but I never celebrated the fact because I was over obsessed about my goal of working out every single day. I want you to avoid this mistake. Once you set the goal, decide your plan and put that on a vision board, stop obsessing over it rather work on it as per the plan but don’t remain fixated on the outcome. Alright those were my three big takeaways from my first vision board. I created a vision board for 2021. I applied all these learning while creating my vision board for 2022. I have very few pictures on the board. I have a much simpler board this time because as you know the theme of this year for me is simplicity. I am aiming for a simplified life routine this year and my vision board is the reflection of that. I have thought through each goal and really thought about its value in my life. My vision board has very few but intentional goals. Let’s hope I am able to achieve those goals, of course I will keep you posted. I sincerely hope that you also make your vision board and may all your hopes, dreams and goals come true. Afterall, you are what you manifest. Don’t forget today is your opportunity to build the tomorrow that you want.