A vision board allows you to be constantly reminded of what you want in life. Now that you’ve gained clarity and self-awareness, you can motivate yourself by storing your goals in your subconscious. What better way to do that than to stare at images of your goals? I keep my vision board above my bed, and sometimes, like when I’m struggling to fall asleep or I’m talking on the phone, I’m looking at my vision board without thinking about it. That subliminal messaging to my brain does wonders!
A vision board can also help you make tough decisions. If you’re having a hard time making a decision about something—you have two choices and both are tempting—refer to the goals on your board and evaluate which of the two options align better with your vision. Often you will find that a tempting choice does not do anything to help you achieve your goals—it only divides your attention. Giving your vision board a glance can help you keep your eyes on the prize without being distracted by shiny objects. We’re all squirrels sometimes. Not to mention that—Wait, is that tinfoil? BRB.
If creating just one vision board will help you to become more self-aware, imagine how much you’ll learn about yourself with your second vision board! You can literally track how you’ve grown as a person when you compare your first and second boards. What are you changing? What has become more or less important to you? My first vision board had several images of money on it. I can’t say that I truly fulfilled that goal before making my second vision board, but still … money was not on my second one. Somewhere between my first and second board, money became less important to me. Maybe I realized that it didn’t make me as happy as the other things I had on my board, such as travel and content creation. LOOK AT HOW SELF-AWARE I AM. Now I can focus my attention on travel and content creation and not chase easy money.
Before you run off to create a vision board, let’s talk about visualization. In my life, I’ve practiced both long-term and short-term visualization, depending on the situation. Both have served me well on my journey to becoming a Bawse.
Long-term visualization is when you imagine yourself in a scenario that you hope will become a reality one day. You’re not quite sure when or how it’ll happen; all you know is that you want it to happen. In other words, you imagine the experience of obtaining all the things on your vision board. You can do this simply by sitting in a chair, closing your eyes, and imagining yourself signing the sales agreement for a new house. Feel free to even mimic signing your signature with your hand (bonus points if you hold a pen). Now, by The Secret’s logic, that’s all you’d have to do to obtain a new house. But I don’t believe that. The universe might respect the law of attraction, but it respects a good hustle even more. After you’re done visualizing, get up and get to work.
You can also visualize with your eyes open by acting out something you want to happen and pretending it’s real. Here’s my favorite example. I used to desperately want to be interviewed on the radio. I would constantly hear celebrities doing plugs for radio stations while I was driving, like, “Hey, this is Usher and you’re listening to Kiss 92.5.” Every time I heard one of those plugs I would think, “Man that’s so cool, and they’re so famous!” So I started to imitate them. While driving in my car, I would pretend I was on the radio and I’d say a plug out loud to myself. I must have said, “Hey, this is your girl Superwoman and you’re listening to Kiss 92.5, so keep it locked!” at least twenty-five times to myself before I ever got my first opportunity to do it on the radio in real life. The first time a radio host ever asked me to record a plug, I had to contain all my excitement and I was beyond prepared. Until then, I hadn’t known how or when I would get there; I just knew I wanted to be on the radio.
“THE UNIVERSE MIGHT RESPECT THE LAW OF ATTRACTION, BUT IT RESPECTS A GOOD HUSTLE EVEN MORE.
Short-term visualization is helpful when you know you are going to be doing something specific and you want to imagine how the scenario will play out. For example, before a performance, I’ll visualize exactly what I want to happen. I close my eyes, imagine myself walking onto the stage with full energy, and see the crowd’s positive reaction. Then I watch myself perform in a way that makes me proud. I see how I’m going to tell every joke, hit every bit of choreography, and nail my facial expressions. I’ll even physically go through the motions with my eyes closed so that it feels as real as possible. It’s like a dress rehearsal for the mind and spirit. When I open my eyes and do the show for real, the goal is to simulate what I visualized. There should be no issues since, according to my brain, this is round two.
We all know the cliché “See it, believe it, achieve it.” We’ve probably taken a screenshot of it and shared it on Instagram thinking we were really deep. I definitely have (#MondayMotivation). Well, now you can actually give meaning to that quote by practicing the art of visualization. There is great power in knowing what you want and even greater power in pretending it’s already yours. Combine that with a strong work ethic, and Christmas can come more than once a year.
Then you can start—Wait, is that a shiny ornament?! BRB.
YOU SEE A CUSTOMER eyeing a car at your dealership and you’re unsure if they’re going to buy it. You really want them to because you could use the commission and you have a quota to meet. The customer calls you over, acting mildly excited, but clearly trying to wear their best poker face. Let the games begin! You name a price. They begin to walk away. You lower the price. They suggest an even lower one. You start talking about the car’s special features, and they pretend like they don’t care that much. You say $50,000. The customer says $40,000. You say $49,000. They say $41,000. You make a final offer: $46,000.
“Fine! I’ll pay $52,000.” Said no buyer ever.
That’s because when you negotiate, you’re unlikely to get exactly what you asked for. And you definitely won’t get MORE than what you asked for. I don’t remember the last time I asked a friend to borrow their shirt and they replied, “Sure! And here’s my cellphone and boyfriend too!” I mean, that would be a great friend, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just not that likely.
Life is one big negotiation. If I know one thing about bartering, it’s that you need to start high. That’s because you’re never going to get exactly what you want, so you better ask for more than you need. When you go for something you want, there are three possible outcomes: ideal, workable, and horrible. A Bawse isn’t scared to aim for ideal, because a Bawse knows that, at worst, they’ll likely end up arriving at a workable scenario. But if you sell yourself short and play it safe, you may end up disappointed.