Do you set goals for yourself, either in your personal life or for your business? If not, how do you know you’re growing or making progress? Creating a Vision Board can be a great way to allow yourself to daydream about your memoir. What is your WHY, the reason behind why you want to share your story?
Vision boards have become a popular activity in recent years although the concept has been around a long time. Like most good things, it’s come around again for a new generation. What is it? A vision board is simply one tool that helps you visualize the themes, topics, people and places that you want to write about. How so, you ask? Let’s explore the ways…
1. Vision boards make you focus on what’s important to you. Thinking about what story you want to share helps you to prioritize what’s important. Do you want to tell the story of your childhood? Or bring your readers along on a travel journey? Or do a whole life review? Putting a memorable photo from an important time/place in your story will inspire you to work harder and prompt your memory bank. You’ll draw on this for inspiration and focus as you write or record your tale.
2. Visualization stimulates the creative side of your brain. Placing your vision board in sight of your desk or computer serves as a daily reminder of what you want to achieve. Take a look at it before you go to bed. It will help stimulate your subconscious, perhaps prompting ideas and recollections while you sleep and dream. With your creativity soaring, keep a notebook handy to jot down any ideas you have during the night or upon awakening. You’ll be surprised how much you start recalling.
3. Focusing on goals makes you recognize new resources or opportunities. Visualizing the events of your story will motivate you to work towards your goal. You’ll also notice new things as you relate events and describe people and place. A new perspective on a situation or a relationship can be eye-opening. Writing memoir is as much about the process and journey as the end result. This is why it’s such a wonderful, life affirming gift to give someone else.
4. Break out of your comfort zone by stating a big, scary goal. Are you stuck in a rut because you’re afraid to break out of your comfort zone? Many people who long to write their story are overwhelmed by the quantity of material, photos, and memorabilia to sort through. Acknowledging big goals – as scary and outrageous as they may be – will help you step out and take on the challenges, all in the name of reaching that goal. If your goal is to write a book, start with small wins of writing a paragraph, or the story of one event. These bite-sized chunks will give you lots of practice and build your confidence and skill in sharing your story. They will also bring additional clarity and focus as you start to transfer memories from your heart and head to paper or oral recording. Before you know it you’ll have a written a chapter, then two and three.
5. Seeing a big goal forces you out of the daydream and into action. Nothing happens without some action on your part. Vision boards are not magic tricks; they are instead a tool that spurs us into action! Visualize your story, add to your vision board using your own photos, pictures cut from magazines, whatever appeals to you. Then, approach each day with action steps which will lead you toward your goal.
In addition to these reasons, creating vision boards can be fun, relaxing and inspiring. You can even do it as a fun family activity. It’s guaranteed to spark good conversations. Need some ideas? Head over to Pinterest and follow Remembering the Time to take a look at some of the best curated ideas, sure to inspire your own creative thinking. This serves as our ongoing vision board and is loads of fun! https://www.pinterest.com/rememberingthetime/
So grab some boxes of old photos, a stack of colorful magazines and start daydreaming!