When you’re on your path to success, the present may not look anything like what you see for the future. The differences between the present and the future can be so starkly different that you might:
- Begin thinking you’re losing your mind
- Have others thinking you’re too optimistic
- or, you can become discouraged because your present and future don’t seem to connect – AND – you have naysayers
Trying to keep hope and motivation as you build your dream business can be a challenging task especially if you’ve never heard of visualization or anything like the Jack Canfield Vision Board.
Who is Jack Canfield?
Jack Canfield is an American author, motivational speaker, seminar leader, and success coach. He is the co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series which has 250 books in print and sold over 500 million copies. Jack has many other notable successes, but he didn’t start out with them.
Jack was born August 19, 1944 in Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly after graduating from Harvard with an A.B in Chinese History, Canfield began his working life teaching high school. From his time in the classroom, he observed the negative effects of poor self-esteem and developed a passion to help others build their esteem. He wrote his first book, 100 Ways to Enhance Self-Concept in the Classroom in 1976, but didn’t have nearly the level of success with that, that he’s later acquire with his other works.
When Jack finally wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul, he was rejected 144 times! Now, Jack Canfield holds two Guiness World Records: one for having 7 books on the New York Times Bestselling list at the same time and the other for having the largest book signing. In addition to being a world record holder, Jack Canfield has other notable achievements including:
- Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises is now a billion dollar empire!
- His Goals program for California welfare recipients has been creditted with getting 450,000 people off of welfare
- He wrote The Power of Focus, The Aladdin Factor, Dare to Win, You’ve Got to Read this Book!, and The Key to Living the Law of Attraction and generated millions in bookstore and online sales
- His audio program, Maximum Confidence, sold 350,000 copies thru Nightingale-Conant alone
- Jack’s supposed net worth is approximately $20 million
The Jack Canfield Vision Board Philosophy
Jack Canfield teaches alot about how to get from where you are to where you want to be, and one major principle he teaches is visualization. He talks about how simply by focusing and visualizing an outcome you desire, it forces you to deal with limiting beliefs that inhibit you from achieving your dream.
Jack says by creating a vision board, you keep your goals top-of-mind. Here’s a video where he explains the Jack Canfield vision board philosophy:
Jack Canfield Vision Board Quotes
Studying Jack Canfield’s vision board philosophies is fragmented without hearing his own quotes on vision boards. Here’s a few quotes from Jack on vision boards and why we should use them:
“It can be any pictures or words that represent the quality of life you want to have.”
“You want to place your vision board somewhere you will see it consistently.”
“The main idea is it’s some place where you capture images of the goals that you have in your life, the things you want to experience, the things you want to own, the things you want to do, and it brings forward the things you want to do…”
“The reason you want to create a vision board is the subconcsious mind is much more powerful than the conscious mind. We can program the subconcious and the unconcious by putting in images, words, and affirmations on a regular basis.”
“The key is consistency.”
“I’ve been using vision boards in one form or another since the 1970’s….I started by having a $100,000 bill on my ceiling.”
“I took a 100,000 bill projected it on a peice of paper, every morning, I would close my eyes visualize my $100,000 lifestyle…within about 30 days, I started having $100,000 ideas for the first time in my life. To make a long story short, within one year, I had earned $92,000. This was 12x what I had earned the previous year.”
“Literally, when you look at your vision board, you’re programming your subconcious mind to come up with solutions.”
“By adding visualization practices to your daily routine, you will naturally become more motivated to reach your goals.”
The Jack Canfield Vision Board & The Secret
Jack Canfield says that by visualizing the life you desire, it begins to activate powers he spoke of in a documentary he’s featured in called “The Secret”. The Secret talks about the law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction is built on the premise that “thoughts become things”. In short, if we think good things, we’ll attract good things to us, and if we think bad things, we’ll attract bad things to us.
While I don’t agree that thoughts alone transform our futures, I do agree that thoughts in combination with things like work ethic, attitude, reputation, and relationships can powerfully change our lives. If you haven’t seen “The Secret” to get a full understanding of the power of positive thinking, you can check it out HERE.
The Secret | Video Documentary
How To Make The Jack Canfield Vision Board
If you desire to go from where you are to where you want to be, and you want to use a vision board as a way to stay focused and motivated, here are the steps you should follow:
1. Find Pictures that Symbolize The Life You Desire
Whether you desire travel, marriage, children, grandchildren, a grandiose business, or whatever you desire to see in your life, find pictures that can represent your desired outcome. You can cut images out of magazines or newspapers. You can use a digital source like Pinterest, Shutterstock, or Pixabay. You can create your vision board using Canva, Adobe, or graphic design software. There’s no wrong way to compile the images for your vision board. The key to this step is to find inspirational images for you that represent the future you desire.
2. Find a Place to Organize the Pictures
You want to compile the images in something where you can consistently reference them like:
- A wood board
- A picture frame
- Photo album
- Pinterest board
- Trello
- On the back of a door (as Jack Canfield does)
- On your ceiling
- On a wall
- or, wherever is best for you
3. Find Words that Symbolize or Motivate You to Work Towards Your Desired Future
If you have quotes, mantras, scriptures, or simply words that are meaningful towards your desired outcome, you want to include them on your vision board. The can be scattered in a collage-like way or they can be paragraphs–whichever is the most meaningful to you!
4. Compile all of Your Visual Aids Together
After you have your images, words, and your location where you’ll be placing your visual aids, now is the time to glue, digitally crop, or save them how you want.
5. Place Your Vision Board Where you Can See it Regularly
When you’ve compiled everything how you want it, then you need to place your vision board in a location where you’ll be able to glance at it naturally and regularly. Some people place there vision boards on their refrigerators, some use computer desktops, and others (like Jack Canfield) use their doors or ceilings–it’s up to you.
The Jack Canfield Vision Board Playlist
This playlist give much more insight into The Jack Canfield Vision board philosophy and his success principles that build from visualization. You should check it out!
Recommended Book for More on The Jack Canfield Vision Board
Jack Canfield has co-authored more books than I can compile in one blog post without making your eyes bulge for days! Of all of the books he’s written, I think his book, The Success Principles gives you the most value regarding visualization and pairing it with other habits to create the life you desire. You can check it out on Amazon HERE.
The Success Principles | Available in audiobook, paperback, eBook, and hardback
The Secret | Available as a book and a video documentary
Final Words on The Jack Canfield Vision Board
The goal of this article was to show the Jack Canfield Vision board philosophy and how to make one. Many successful people say that making a vision board helped them stay focused and motivated, so I highly recommend you trying it out. I’ve made several vision boards: some digital and some physical, and they’re exciting to look at and imagine.  If you have questions or concerns about making a vision board, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section. I’d love to help you out!
Now, it’s Your Turn…
Have you heard of the Jack Canfield vision board philosophy before? Have you created a vision board? How did you do it? Have you gotten results from having a vision board? Leave your comments below.
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