Is gluing a picture to a piece of paper the secret to life?

Posted on February 01, 2012 by Traci Wallace, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

I had become so used to being in a transitional phase. It’s basically where I have lived for two years (living abroad, transitioning back to life in the U.S., starting my own business) … But, now that the building period is done, now what?

Yes, it’s one thing to “Go with the Flow” but, there comes a time in the process of change to realize, “o.k. I achieved that”, celebrate a little, and then it’s time to make new goals and start executing on those.

My friend asked me a few weeks ago “what’s next for you?” … “hmmm”. good point.

“How about taking your own advice and figure it out” … another good point.

I realized at that moment, I had reached that time, and it was now necessary to create new goals and ask myself, once again, that amazing question … “what do I want”?

So, next thing you know, I am creating a vision board.

Remember vision boards? They were all the rage right after “The Secret” came out. If you glue a picture of something onto a piece of paper, it will magically appear. … Really, that’s the secret to life? How could all those powerful white men have kept this from the rest of us for so long? Those damn 1%ers and their arts & craft projects.

I have done vision boards before, but I cannot express what a great exercise this was for me right now. Although, I do feel like I move forward on a daily basis towards overall goals, I realized I needed to get more specific about the things that I wanted. I mean really specific and most importantly, honest.

It’s pretty fun when you give yourself a blank slate and ask yourself “o.k. self, seriously … what do I really want”? As you start to create a visual picture of your life, you look at some of the pictures you choose and totally connect, it feels right (as you thought it would) … and pictures that represent things that you have been saying you want, maybe even for years, just don’t look/feel right at this moment. For instance, on my first pass, I had some pictures of children on there, but then two days later, they got replaced by Greece, Norway and Italy. ;)

As I mentioned, this process personally allowed me be honest about what I really want now, which was surprisingly much different from what I thought it would be … and after my trip to Target today (after the 5th child I heard screaming) I realized, the pictures of the cafe in Italy and the Northern Lights in Norway were definitely the right choice … at least for now.

Whether you think it’s a cool idea or not, you should at least think about trying to create one for yourself. For certain, you have nothing to lose. Just like me, you may realize what you want is really quite different than you think. … and here’s another “secret”, in order to get what you want, you have to know what it is.