Hey there 🥰

As we get properly stuck into the New Year, I wanted to share a powerful approach to goal setting that I’ve been absolutely loving over the last few years. For a bit of context, over the weekend I ran a live workshop (with a mind-blowing 19,000 attendees – the biggest live session I’ve done in my life, more on this topic of facing fears in a future issue) – all about creating your very own vision board to design your dream life. In the process of prepping for the session, I’ve done a lot of deep thinking about vision boards, so wanted to share some of my top learnings here with you – so whether you attended the live workshop or not, I hope this gives you some interesting, actionable ideas or a good recap and journalling prompts to take you deeper.

So, you’ve probably heard about vision boards before—maybe from that friend who’s really big into manifestation. Maybe you even rolled your eyes (I did at first many years ago!). But here’s the bottom line: vision boards work, even if you’re (understandably) sceptical. And no, it’s not magic, and no, it’s nothing to do with “quantum physics” or anything like that – all of this is actually grounded in cognitive neuroscience. 🧠

Firstly, a bit of brain background. At every waking moment, our brains are bombarded with millions of inputs from all our senses – sights, sounds, smells, touch, taste. If we were to actually fully consciously process every single input, we would have an information overload, go insane, and not be able to function – the volume of “noise” would drown out the important stuff and any ability to focus. 

Thankfully, our brain evolved a filtering function specifically for this, in the shape of a helpful part of the brainstem called the reticular activating system (RAS, for short). The RAS subconsciously sorts through the information coming in, and decides which few things are “important” and worth elevating to the level of conscious processing and response. It’s this very function of the RAS which allows us to focus and get anything done at all - and thank goodness for that! 🙇🏻‍♀️

However, on the flip side… life-changing opportunities pass by us every single day. (A slightly intimidating fact if I think about it too hard...) A chance to put yourself forward for an interesting new work project, a fleeting encounter with a potential future friend or partner, a casual conversation that reveals a job opening or partnership, creative ideas for a side hustle or business, a spark of motivation to try a new form of exercise or self-care, opportunities to mindfully connect to something beautiful unfolding in the present moment, perhaps a colourful sunset… 🌅 And most of them are filtered out by our RAS – so they pass by as a flash in our subconscious, never fully elevated to a conscious level where we can take action on them. 

Here’s where the vision board piece links in. We as humans are very visual beings, with a whole lobe of the brain (the occipital lobe) purely dedicated to visual processing. That’s a lot of brain! So when we create a vision board that we view daily and attach strong emotions to, we are signalling to our RAS what is important to us – and are then more likely to be made conscious of things that might help us on our journey to creating our dream life. 💭

You’ll notice opportunities you might have missed before, relevant ideas will pop into your consciousness seemingly out of nowhere, and you’ll feel more motivated to then make a plan and take action on making your dreams a reality. ⚡️

Sooo… does this mean a vision board will magically make all our dreams come true? 🪄 Sadly not… if only! But it does make the path of action to our dreams clearer. Think of it as a tool for focus and awareness – the more you look at your vision board, the more you prime your subconscious brain to help highlight potential next steps on the journey towards it. 🏔️

In the process of making a vision board, it’s crucial to get clear on some of the things that you want to design into your dream life. I like to think of this as a “3 year vision”, and I like to do a meditation-visualisation-journalling exercise around this. Here are two journalling prompts to get you started on it - I hope you enjoy them. 🌟

✍️ This week's journalling prompt(s):

1. What does your dream life look like three years from now? Create a vivid vision of it in your mind, and then imagine you are stepping into it right now, at the start of 2028. Describe it in detail, covering areas like health, relationships, work, lifestyle, and personal growth.

2. Reflect on a time when you missed an opportunity because it didn’t seem “important” at the time. What could you do differently to actively grasp opportunities now?

I'd love to hear what kind of things you're designing into your dream life in the next 3 years, and whether you've made a vision board before - let me know in the comments below!

My next Letter to you is all about limiting beliefs and how they interact with designing our dream life. One thing I’ve struggled with is coming up against internal resistance to putting my really big dreams on my vision board - all stemming from pesky limiting beliefs. If you're a bit like me, maybe you can relate! I’ll write more about this wrestle in the next issue, so keep an eye out for that.

Have a wonderful week ❤️

Lots of Love, 
Izzy 🤗 xx