Photoshopping Your Dreams: Visual Goal Setting, Goal Movies, & Vision Boards

W. Clement Stone said “[w]hatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Back in the day, my former self tuned out whenever it heard that quote; it just seemed too cliché. But I became reminded of Clement’s words after seeing more than a few photoshopped goals.

Photoshopping a goal involves manipulating digital images to visually represent your goals as if they already existed. An example would be taking a PDF version of your bank statement and adding a couple of zeros to the balance. A low tech (i.e. non-photoshop) implementation might involving having a picture taken of you in your dream car (even if it doesn’t belong to you), and then meditating on the resulting picture while holding thoughts of ownership.

The idea is that photoshopped goals help your subconscious believe that you can attain things previously thought impossible.  Getting your sub-conscious to buy into a goal radically empowers you to materialize the goal in real life. Some call it self-deception, others call it the law of attraction.

Goal Movies

Goal movies are basically Steven Covey’s concept of “beginning with the end in mind” on steroids.  Here’s an example:

The above movie was created using a free software program called Memories on Web. And for $37, Mind Movies will show you how to produce similar mini-films (they’ve produced some great how-to videos).  All the tools, however, are free and if you wait a week or so I’ll show you how to make one (but if you poke around long enough, you’ll probably figure it out on your own). I’ve created a few goal movies and they’re relatively easy to produce.

It’s important to note that goal movies frame not-yet-attained goals as if they’ve already been fulfilled.

What quantum physicists and Einstein tell us is that everything is happening simultaneously. If you can understand that there is no time, and accept that concept, then you will see that whatever you want in the future already exists.
-Rhonda Byrne

The idea behind this future-as-present formulation is that time doesn’t exist from a quantum physics perspective (something I’m unsure of). Here’s Robert Collier’s position:

See the things that you want as already yours. Know that they will come to you at need. Then let them come. Don’t fret and worry about them. Don’t think about your lack of them. Think of them as yours, as belonging to you, as already in your possession.
-Robert Collier

If you’re interested in seeing another goal move, look here, see the clip below, or go to YouTube and search for “mind movies.”

Visions Boards

Creating a vision board or dream board essentially involves taking a surface and placing on it pictures of the life you envision, the happiness you seek, the body you desire, etc. It’s important to place the vision board in a place where you’ll regularly view it.  Vision/dream board advocates will encourage you to intentionally experience feelings of possession and gratitude while looking at vision board items.  As goals are manifested, you can remove the associated items and add new ones.

Vision board items are by no means limited to material possessions.  If you want to be happy, tack up a picture of you with a big smile smeared across your face. If you need a break pronto, put up that picture of you relaxing on a Hawaiian beach.  You can also find pictures on the internet and print them up and cut them out, our use magazines. Some people like to add affirmations like, “I am living the life of my dreams” or “today’s is the best day of my life” or “my vacation to Thailand was wonderful.”

My belief is that while tools offered in this post may be useful, we need to make sure that our desires are sincere and authentic. Shakti Gawain does a good job of explaining this in Creative Visualization.

As always, thank you for reading.  I’d enjoying hearing about your visual goal setting thoughts and experiences in the comments.

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