Hey there ❤️

In last week’s Letter I wrote about the transformational power of vision boarding to change your life… well today I’m going to talk about how that can go off track – starting with a personal confession. 🙈

The first time I made a vision board, I struggled, big time. I just didn’t want to put my biggest dreams on it. I felt fear and anxiety even thinking about it. 😧

Why? Because there was a little voice in my head saying, “That’s not realistic. Who on Earth do you think you are? You need to get real”.

There was a point in time when I truly believed reaching 100k subscribers on YouTube would be a genuinely wild, unrealistic dream for me. This belief meant that I didn’t allow myself to embrace the identity of “being a YouTuber”, because that voice in my head said, “Who do you think you are to claim that you’re a YouTuber, you’ve barely got a few thousand subs”.

I clung to this self-sabotaging belief all the way until I’d actually passed 100k subscribers and had the 100k subscribers YouTube plaque coming in the post. I’d created this weird artificial ‘ceiling’ for myself and a whole limiting belief system around it. I was afraid to dream big – in case I failed. It was almost as though by avoiding owning a big dream, I couldn’t really actually fail. 

But here’s the truth: avoiding owning our big dreams makes success less likely.

Looking back, I see how much this self-sabotaging voice held me back. By shying away from setting big goals, I made it less likely that I would actually succeed. Before hitting 100k subscribers and allowing myself to break free from this belief, I didn’t fully commit to creating videos, I didn’t allow my identity to align with my desired actions, and so my posting schedule was… let’s just say, sporadic. Chaotic, inconsistent, a hot mess. And on reflection I realised I’ve self-sabotaged other areas of my life too due to fear of failure. 

If you’re a bit like me, you might be thinking: ‘Well, it’s just a cold, hard fact that not all of our wildest dreams will come true’. But over time I’ve realised that actually allowing ourselves to truly believe in the possibility of a version of the world where these dreams do come true, increases the chances of them happening – by opening up our minds, identities and actions. 🌸

So this brings us back to the topic of vision boards. Vision boards are effective and clarifying, but not just because of the power of seeing your dreams in visual form on a daily basis as an alignment prompt for your subconscious. 

There is also power in the process of creating a vision board. I’ve never confronted my limiting beliefs with as much clarity and painful (but healing!) honesty as when I’m vision boarding. The very process challenges all these limiting beliefs that tell us to hold ourselves back. That hesitation to include something that you actually really want on your board? That’s a sign you’ve hit a mental roadblock, and maybe just discovered one of those hidden, self-sabotaging thoughts that try to limit us by telling us we’re not good enough, smart enough, or deserving enough. Maybe ask yourself, where is this resistance coming from?

One perspective that I’ve found very helpful is that your vision board doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you – and it definitely doesn’t have to be “realistic” – there are no rules here! It’s simply a tool for expanding your mind and sense of possibility, not a strict checklist of “to-dos” or goals that you’re promising to achieve. And remember, it’s not about predicting or even planning out the future. It’s about keeping your dreams front and centre, so your mind can start noticing any potential opportunities to take action on them.

Speaking of taking action – over the last few weeks, my friends and I have been building an app called Superfocus to help us be less distracted, so we can take more focused action on things that matter. You can check out the walkthrough by my husband Ali here. If you like the idea, we’d love to have you on board as a Founding Member, where you get lifetime access at a big discount in return for signing up while the app is in its early stages and sharing any feedback you have. 🌱 Click here for more info. 😊

Click here for more info on our Superfocus app 🙇🏻‍♀️

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What dreams or goals have you hesitated from writing down or admitting to yourself? What limiting beliefs might be holding you back, what is the self-sabotaging voice in your head saying? Where might those limiting beliefs come from?

🌟 What would you do differently if you didn’t worry about “realistic” expectations, or others' opinions?

I'd love to hear what kind of big dreams you'd like to embrace, and any limiting beliefs you've discovered along the way. Click here to reply to this Letter online or hit <reply> to this email! 🫶

So if you’ve ever hesitated to dream big, you’re not alone – I’ve been right there with you! But consider this your nudge to go all in. Make the board. Add the dream. Invite yourself to include those so-called “unrealistic” things on your vision board, because here’s the thing: identifying our limiting beliefs is the very first step toward overcoming them, embracing our big dreams, and taking one more big step towards making them actually come to life. 🪄

In next week's Letter I'll write more about stepping out of our comfort zone as a catalyst for personal growth, and my recent personal story around that. Feeling the fear, and doing it anyway. I'll see you there! ⚡️

Have a wonderful week. 🤗

Lots of love,

Izzy xx