What’s on the Backside of Your Vision Board?
I worry that making visions feel real will jinx them
Well before digital versions like Pinterest and Houzz existed, people were pinning drawings, photos, swatches, and whimsical quotes to cork bulletin boards, turning fluffy ideas into three-dimensional aspirations.
And presto! The vision board was born.
If doing this puts you in your happy place, I’m not here to rain on your parade.
But I’ve never made a vision board. It’s never occurred to me to transform an idea—a wish, a hope, a goal—into an object that I can gaze upon or sigh over. Perhaps this is akin to keeping birthday wishes a secret while blowing out candles. If you say your wish out loud, it won’t come true. If you pin it up on the board—physical or virtual—you’ll jinx your chances. I guess I’m suspicious about this sort of thing.
What’s more, a vision board feels like a great opportunity for unrealized wishes to come back and haunt you. I imagine my vision board with all sorts of stuff on it: the castle winery in Tuscany, the logo of Oprah’s Book Club, the perfect cheese soufflé…
Wow, I’m breaking out in hives just picturing these things. It’s too much! And the images are not only haunting me, they’re taunting me. If they could speak, they’d say:
Who are you kidding? None of this is going to happen! Tear that s*it down! Pull out the pins!
Now, I’ll admit my imaginary vision board may be aiming ridiculously high. But where’s the fun in making a vision board at all if you’re not shooting for the moon? What else am I going to put up there? My step goals for the year? My writing word count? A frittata? Pittsburgh? Ugh, no thanks.
What?! You haven’t taken the Self-Doubt Survey? Gee, I guess you don’t want any insights into your psyche. (It’s fast and easy.)
I guess, if I’m being honest, vision boards give me the willies. Like someone walking over my grave. Doom foretold.
In this light, it’s as though I’m not even looking at a vision board—I’m looking at the back side of the thing—the doubt board. The doubt board is the obverse of the vision board: it’s a monument to all the uncertainty you feel about accomplishing any number of life goals, or even shorter-term goals, like making that damned frittata.
I can’t help it. The minute I imagine making a vision board, I assume not a single thing on there will come true. If I keep my dreams to myself, maybe I can sneak one or two of them into reality.
And the reason I’m writing about this today is because I am circling around a fairly big dream: giving a TEDx talk in 2024. I’ve only taken a baby step so far. This isn’t real yet. But the prospect is out there swirling around in the ether.
I just need to keep it off that damn board.
I've seen people obsess over their vision boards and never get to work in what they want to manifest. I'm more of a let's get messy and just do it kinda guy.
Not my thing either.