The Science of Visualization: How Vision Boards Can Reshape Your Paradigm for Success
Apr 03, 2024
Jennifer Lander
In this episode of Landing Imperfect, Jen Lander shares her insights on the power of vision boards and the significance of understanding how our minds work in achieving our goals. Jen discusses the role of paradigms and subconscious beliefs, the importance of consistently reinforcing our visions, and the impact of our brain's reticular activating system, mirror neurons, and prefrontal cortex in pursuing our goals. With personal examples and practical advice, Jen guides listeners through the process of utilizing vision boards as a tool for personal growth and achievement. Tune in to gain valuable insights and reignite your commitment to your vision.
00:00 Opportunity to set life-changing goals, your choice.
04:09 Visualize and speak to become a great speaker.
08:46 Ras directs attention, vision boards program perception.
In this episode of Landing Imperfect, Jen Lander shares her insights on the power of vision boards and the significance of understanding how our minds work in achieving our goals. Jen discusses the role of paradigms and subconscious beliefs, the importance of consistently reinforcing our visions, and the impact of our brain's reticular activating system, mirror neurons, and prefrontal cortex in pursuing our goals. With personal examples and practical advice, Jen guides listeners through the process of utilizing vision boards as a tool for personal growth and achievement. Tune in to gain valuable insights and reignite your commitment to your vision.
00:00 Opportunity to set life-changing goals, your choice.
04:09 Visualize and speak to become a great speaker.
08:46 Ras directs attention, vision boards program perception.
Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode. So I'm recording this in my closet right now. And my son's room is right above me and he's playing video games. So if you hear any muffled noises or anything in the background, it's probably him getting very excited about his games. Um, so hopefully it won't be too distracting, but I wanted to take time this episode to play a practice run that I had for an event that I went to. I was a guest speaker there. And it was a vision board workshop that I did. So I just thought it would be a really interesting topic to go over. So I'm always kicking myself that I don't record these events because I've done a few of them now and I haven't recorded any of them. So I'm missing out on really good content here, but I'm just going to give you a little clip of when I was practicing for it, but it's got all the information in there. So here it is. We all have an opportunity to leave this workshop with a year full of goals that can change our lives. Some of us will leave here consistently working towards our goals until we reach them. Some of us will give it a good go, but we're going to revert back to old habits and some are going to leave our potential at the door and walk out today. The beauty in this is that we get to decide which it's going to be. We all have the potential to leave here. A different person, someone who's ready to change our paradigm. Too often we set goals only to fall short. We give up before we reach our goals. Who here has ever set a goal and spent weeks to months working towards this school only to see very little results, if any, at all. This can kill our confidence. We start to lose that momentum and the belief that we can actually achieve our goals and that incredible vision that we've created for our lives. We have been programmed nowadays to want that instant gratification and hearing the word patients feels a little bit foreign. So dopamine heads are right at our fingertips, whether we're turning to social media for the lakes, when we're posting things, or we have that infinite. Internet scroll. Or we're downloading really fun games on our phone. So the concept of waiting to get what we want might feel a little less disappointing. If we understand how we can change our paradigms. Everyone in this room is working on a paradigm. Your paradigm controls your behaviors. Bob Proctor described our paradigms as ideas that have been imprinted into our subconscious minds. These thoughts can be positive or negative. When we're consciously having these self-doubt thoughts, like, I don't know if I can achieve this. I don't think I can reach my goal. I've been working on this for months. I'm getting nowhere. There's no way I could do this. I'm not good enough. Or you're worrying about what other people think about you. You're sending messages to your subconscious mind that you're operating from a negative place. Negativity negates. It creates fear. That's expressed through our bodies and it shows up as stress and anxiety. So then we stay stuck in old habits and behaviors. When our conscious mind creates positive thoughts and ideas, then our subconscious mind starts working in flow with our goals. We can fully believe in our conscious mind that our goals are going to come true and still not see results. This is because we haven't yet impressed the change into our subconscious mind. This takes time understanding. Visualizing it's that discipline and repetition and the decision to embrace change. Who we are and how we see ourselves is managed in our subconscious mind. It's in this place that we determined the direction that we're going in. So I'll use myself as an example. I have a desire to be a well-known public speaker. This thought was developed in my conscious mind. What was impressed into my subconscious mind is that I'm not a great speaker. I have a terrible memory. I struggled to organize my thoughts and deliver it to an audience in a way that could be easily understood. There's no way I'm good enough. This was a belief that I've had since I was a little girl and I reinforced that into my subconscious mind through repeatedly telling myself those things. So over the last year I've been working to change my paradigm. I can't expect to be a great speaker. If I'm in the frequency of sitting and audience, the only way I'm going to change this paradigm is if I decide that I want to be a great speaker, I understand how my paradigm works. I can visualize it. And I have the discipline to repeatedly put myself in positions where I'm speaking in a public setting. It's through that repetition that I'm going to be able to change my paradigm. A lot of workshops have you create vision boards that represent what you want to do, what you want to have, and maybe what you want to earn. So this is helping you to create that image in your mind. For many people, once the workshop is over the experiences over, it's important to consistently spend time during the day, looking over your vision board. I would suggest doing this at least two times a day. This is going to help reinforce your vision and to your subconscious mind then before, you know, it you'll be taking action in ways. That's going to lead you towards your goals. You'll be making decisions that are in line with the vision that you have for your life. This isn't always an easy task for us, and some people will give up too soon because they don't understand how their minds and their paradigms are working. Having an understanding doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be easier, but understanding is working on a positive vibration, so you can feel uncomfortable in your growth. And we often do, but still feel happy and fulfilled because you understand this concept. You have a better understanding of you and what makes you tick? Without understanding people can hit this bump in the road and then they start to spiral a negativity and then eventually give up on their goals. So I want to take it back to the idea about looking at your vision board multiple times a day. Don't just look at it and then walk away, really spend time looking over your vision board. We have to internalize our desires and turn them into emotional experiences to reinforce their meaning to us. For me. Like I said, I want to be a well-known public speaker. So when I look at my vision board, I'm going to see myself on stage in front of thousands of people. I'm not gonna say that's going to be me someday. Instead, I'm going to say, wow, this feels empowering to be standing on this stage in front of thousands of people I've changed so many lives. And I feel so damn proud of myself. I'm going to see myself as if I've already reached my goals and feel how I want to feel as the person who's already achieved that goal. Emotions are a powerful motivator to keep us in motion. This can work for us or against us. So when we focus on the positive thoughts, that's great. And it's definitely what I want you to do. But for many of us just thinking about the thought isn't enough. We have to feel it. We have to internalize that thought and to an emotion to really make changes. Whatever we choose to focus our attention on is the direction that we're going to move in. So if we commit to focusing our attention on our vision boards, We're training our minds to recognize this is important to us. This means something, this is significant. We all have a brain function called reticular activating system. I'm going to refer to it as Raz. So the Raz is a group of neurons in our brain stems and it plays a crucial role in filtering sensory information. And determining if it's relevant and what's important to go into our conscious awareness. it acts as a gatekeeper. So it's only going to allow select information to pass through to our conscious mind while filtering out the rest. So I have an example of this. I was at work a couple of weeks ago, and I have a student who. Was shadowing me. So I've worked in this building for the last five years. And she asked me if there was a water fountain anywhere. So I'm taking a few seconds mentally scanning the building. And I was like, Nope, no water fountain. Absolutely not. So the next day she comes in and she tells me that she found a water fountain and I was like, really? Where is it? This is how much my Raz was filtering those water fountain out. It was right outside of the elevators. And I walked past this on a regular basis. I could reach out and touch it by walking past it. I'm just like, oh my goodness. Wow. I've obviously never needed the water fountain before. So apparently my mind didn't think that, that it was necessary for me to even notice it. So obviously after this conversation, I am now fully aware that this water fountain exists. Has anyone ever heard of the blue car syndrome? It's that idea that someone is interested in buying or has bought a blue car? They've never noticed any blue cars around before and now they are consciously aware of these blue cars. They start seeing them all over the place. It's not that they didn't exist before it's that you're Raz, filtered them out because there was nothing significant about them before. So your Raz consciously direct your attention towards something to meaning, and it can influence what we perceive and attract into our lives. When you create a vision board, you're essentially programming your Raz to pay attention, to opportunities, to resources and information that aligned with your goals by repeatedly exposing yourself to images and words related to your aspirations. You're priming your Raz to recognize and prioritize goal related stimuli. That's in the environment. This heightened awareness increases the likelihood of noticing opportunities and taking action towards your goals. I also want us to be aware that our brains function by the use of something called mirror neurons. Mirror neurons play an important role in empathy, learning through observation and imitation. So if you've ever noticed yourself sitting across from someone and they're crossing their legs, and then all of a sudden you're crossing your legs without being aware of it. That's using your mirror neurons. Babies do this through facial expression too. So. If you're smiling at the baby or you're frowning at the baby. Then the, baby's going to mimic that back to you. So when you visualize your goals on your vision board, your brains mirror, neurons are activated as if you were actually experiencing the action and outcomes that are associated with your goals. I also want us to take into consideration the role that our prefrontal cortex plays in creating vision boards. Our prefrontal cortex is involved in higher cognitive functions. Like decision-making planning. Goal setting and self control. It's essential for pursuing longterm goals and overcoming challenges. Our prefrontal cortex is going to evaluate what our options are and coordinate actions to achieve our goals. When you create a vision board and you're regularly engaging it with it. You stimulate your prefrontal cortex. The stimulation reinforces your commitment to your goals. It enhances your ability to plan and to strategize, and it strengthens your belief in ability to overcome challenges along the way. The visual representation of your goals on the vision board serves as a constant reminder and motivator. Keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind. If we have an understanding of how our brains work, this can give us some leverage when it comes to achieving our goals. We can use our vision boards as another tool that helps keep us on track and focused on creating a fulfilling life. We can see massive growth this way. So when you leave this beautiful experience, I want you to decide if you want the experience to end, or if you want to understand it and use it to help you achieve every single goal that you've imagined for your life. And I hope that you know, that I believe in every single one of you. And I know that you're capable of achieving anything that you desire. Okay guys, thank you so much for joining me on this episode. And if you have created a vision board and you did it in January, like I did. Then this is a reminder. If you have fallen off and you're not looking at your vision board multiple times a day, then please, please. Revisit it. Establish the habit. Spend some time with your vision board, because it is going to help you reach all the goals that you've set for yourself this year. So really spend time with it. And if you have any questions, then don't hesitate to reach out to me on Instagram or through my website. You can chat with me there. Um, and I hope you guys have a beautiful week. Take care. You guys, I have to take a minute to share with you an amazing store that just opened up a few weeks ago in Geneva, Ohio. Ben bargains aims to make your shopping experience affordable while providing quality products at unbeatable prices. And when I say on beautiful prices, that is exactly what I mean. They offer the most incredible highlight items in their bins. Insane deals, a few things that they've thrown in there.$7 bins are a PlayStation five AirPods iPads. Amazing toys for over a hundred dollars home decor. I mean, you never know what high quality highlight items they're going to add to their bins. Lots of wonderful retail that can fill your house at prices. You won't believe. New inventory every Friday and restock for more goods on Saturdays for their$7 Ben days. I know he keeps saying$7 Ben days. I don't think I've mentioned this, but the most you will pay for their bin items is$7. My mind is blown. They have Sam's club and target clothing brands high seriously could go on and on about how amazing the store is. And the owners, Jeff and Heather bedroom. They bust their butts to provide you guys with the best deals and experience in their store. Their staff is so welcoming and friendly. I'm telling you, you make your way over to Ben bargains located at seven 11 east main street, Geneva, Ohio. And you will know exactly what I'm talking about. Stay up to date with them on Facebook at Ben bargains, where they often share their deals and you can find their hours and Ben prices there as well. So happy shopping Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of landing imperfect. I truly appreciate you being a part of this community and sharing this journey with me. If you do want to connect further, then don't hesitate to follow me on Instagram at Jen dot Lander. I would love to hear your thoughts, any questions or any stories that you want to share. So, DME there, I also have a website. It's a landing and perfect website where I share a blog post about my podcast, and then you can join my email list. I have a PDF that provides anxiety and stress management tools that you can. And use as well when you join my email list. So check it out. My website will be linked in my show notes. So don't hesitate to reach