Why manifestations, the law of attraction and vision boards all need to get in the bin

Vision boards, the law of attraction, manifesting, or alarmingly put it under “positive thinking” it all needs to go away and fast.

It’s not so much that it is all complete nonsense that I have an issue with it.

It’s because it can actually be pretty damaging and stand in the way of you making progress.

If you’re already lost and don’t have a clue what I’m talking about then let me explain.

But before I do, a quick introduction.

My name is Chris Piercy and I’m a professional life coach. Unlike many life coaches I don’t promote the fluffiness and wankyness that seems to try and go with it.

Why?
Because it’s all completely unnecessary and in this particular case detrimental to your chances of success.

So without further ado.

What is vision boarding and all this stuff?

Get a corkboard.

Cut out photos from magazines of things, people, houses that you want in your life.

Stick them to a board.

Congratulations, you’ve created a vision board.

Now look at it every day.

The very fact that you’ve decided you want this stuff and are concentrating on it and willing it to happen will make the universe provide for you.

That’s the power of visualisation.

Apparently.

As a reader you’ve likely fallen into one of two camps.

Camp 1 – You already believe in vision boards and you’re nodding along.

Camp 2 – You can barely believe the bollocks you’re reading about.

If you’re in camp 1 then I suggest you continue reading the following section about the dangers behind vision boards/manifestation/law of attraction as well as why they don’t work.

Then you should read the final section on what you should be doing instead, in my opinion.

If you’re in camp 2 then sheer intrigue might lead you to reading me poo-pooing the whole thing in the next section, if not then skip to what you should do instead.

The dangers and nonsense of vision boards, manifesting and the law of attraction

There’s some science behind what I’m saying, there’s some logic and there’s also some opinion.

I’ve broken this down for easy consumption, let’s go!

9 reasons that this is all a load of horseshit and you shouldn’t do it.

1. It only achieves one thing.

Sticking pictures on a board of something that you want in your life doesn’t do anything. 

Well that’s not true. It does give you a board with a bunch of pictures on it.

2. Makes you less likely to achieve your goals.

What do I mean less likely?
It is of course posited that by having something to help you visualise your goals you’ll be more likely to achieve them.
Unfortunately studies have shown that this isn’t true.
You are less likely to achieve your goal if you’re focussing on the outcome/success.

If you want to achieve a goal you’re a lot more likely to achieve it if you focus on the things that you have to do in order to achieve it.

Study 1

Study 2

3. Every success would have been achieved without the vision board.

When people achieve things in life it is because they have done what is necessary to reach that success.
Self-made millionaires have put in years of work.

Professional sports people have put in hours upon hours of training every week.
The list could go on.
With or without “the law of attraction” the hard work that provides the success.

Even the top blog on Google about making a vision board speaks about how in her younger days she used a vision board in order to get music gigs at coffee houses has this to say

“I drew a picture of myself in a bar with people watching me perform and though it wasn’t the only factor in making it happen, I had a calendar full of bar and coffeehouse gigs by the next year.”

Now I’m going to hazard a guess that short of the vision board not being the only factor, I’m going to say that it wasn’t a factor at all.I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and say it was her approaching coffeehouses and bars asking to play.

That’s what I think got her a calendar full of gigs.

4. Do you really think you’re that powerful?
Let’s imagine for a minute that this thing is real and it works.
If you do believe this then please make a vision board today about this.
But can you cut out a picture of a scientist and place it on your vision board because she’s found a cure for cancer.

If it really works, stop being so bloody selfish, take down the photo of the hot model and the Lamborghini and put up something about solving global famine.

I think you get my point.

5. Encourages passivity

This is perhaps one of my biggest gripes.
You make the vision board and then you think the work is done.
The universe feels your positivity and pull for something and will provide it, you don’t need to do anything.
Many therapists actually report that the creation of a vision board that people live by actually stunts their personal growth and prevents them making progress.

6. The universe doesn’t give a shit
Honestly and seriously the universe doesn’t care what you want. It doesn’t provide.
The universe is cold, logical and unfeeling.
It is bound by the laws of science.

7. The whole argument for them working falls apart with even the slightest input of logic

What would happen if, say, you and someone else both had the same person as your ideal partner on your vision board.

What happens then?
Does the law of attraction make you into mormons so you can both be with him/her?

Or does it come down to who put more effort into their vision board?
Or who had more positive energy?

What if the desired person has a vision board themselves and they want someone else entirely?
Does their vision board get cancelled out?

Logic destroys any suggestion for a second that any of this is true

8. Encourages materialism, denounces gratitude

This part really grinds my gears.
The whole thing suggests that material things; watches, cars, houses, are going to make you happy.
As if that’s bloody true.

I fundamentally believe gratitude is the pathway to being content in life not objects.

The problem with believing that shiny new things will make you happy is that when you do get that shiny new thing a short while later you need another shiny new thing to make you happy.

Rinse and repeat.

9. It doesn’t go deep enough

What will make someone happy and what people think will make them happy are two entirely different things.

Let’s say your vision board has a photo of a Lamborghini on it because you want one.
That’s where manifestation, the law of attraction and vision boarding stop.
Any therapy worth its salt would dive much deeper into this.
Here’s a made up conversation to express what I mean.

Why do you want a lambo?
Because it’s an awesome car.

And why is that important to you?
Because I want people to see that I’m successful

Why is it important to be seen as successful by others?
Because I have difficulty recognising that I’ve done well myself.

Boom.

This is overly simplistic I grant you but this fictitious person doesn’t need a sports car to feel happier. He needs to learn how to celebrate his success and not require validation from others.

Bonus reason why they’re nonsense.

During my research for this blog I stumbled across this post which explains how amazing vision boards are and how John Assaraf, author of “The Answer”, used them.
This is a paraphrased quote from “The Success Principles”.

“In May 2000, having just moved into his new home in Southern California a few weeks earlier, he was sitting in his office at 7:30 AM when his 5-year-old son Keenan came in and sat on a couple of boxes that had been in storage 4 years.
Keenan asked his father what was in the boxes.
When John told him his vision boards were in the boxes, Keenan replied, “Your vision whats?”
John opened one of the boxes to show Keenan a vision board.
John smiled as he looked at the first board and saw pictures of a Mercedes sports car, a watch, and some other items, all of which he had acquired by then.
But as he pulled out the second board, he began to cry.
On that board was a picture of the house he had just bought and was living in!
Not a house like it but the house! The very home was a home he had seen in a picture that he had cut out of Dream Homes magazine 4 years earlier!”

I have no doubt about the veracity of this story whatsoever, it all sounds very sweet and very believable.
But can we just check something quickly?
John made this vision board in 1995 and had this amazing house on it, and moved into that very same house 5 years later.
Yes?
However this story suggests that the vision board had been in storage for 4 years prior to this. Doesn’t it make you question slightly the power of the vision board and the the power of visualisation if his vision board had been literally out of sight and in storage for 4 years?

So, with your most logical possible head on, answer me this.

Do you think John’s success in buying his dream home is due to:

1. Him making a vision board 5 years prior to the purchase and then leaving that vision board in storage for 4 years?
   OR
2. John working really hard, getting financial resources together and then buying the house when it first came on the market?

I mean, seriously, well done John that’s brilliant work indeed to buy your dream home.

But let’s not pretend for a moment that putting a photo of the house had ANYTHING to do with you buying it whatsoever.

The vision board was in storage for 4 years FFS!

What to do instead of making a vision board

I realise that I’ve just been hating non-stop on this whole thing but there is one good thing about vision boards.

It is actually a good idea to write or get your goals out of your head.

Writing them down is just fine but if you feel like a vision board is necessary then go ahead.

But here’s the BIG thing.

Writing down the goal is just the first step.

Like I’ve said in a couple of place above, the vision board or law of attraction itself doesn’t do anything.

You need to decide what the work you’re going to have to put in to achieve your goals and ask yourself questions like:

• How are you actually going to achieve that goal?
• What are the steps to take in order to get there?
• What are the obstacles in the way of those steps being achieved?
• How am I going to find the time to do these things around the things that I already do?
• Are there any sacrifices that I’m going to have to make?

So, what do you do instead of making a vision board?

Well you answer all the questions that I’ve just asked you but in relation to your own goal.

This is what will give you the information and plan you need in order to get what you want. 

Certainly not a vision border, definitely not sitting waiting for the universe to provide but absolutely working hard on the right things.

That’s how you get what you want in life.

Moving forwards with your life

I’ve suggested above almost in a blase way that you should answer all those questions above instead of (or at least as well as) making a vision board.

I do fully understand that those questions aren’t the easiest to answer and often we don’t know what obstacles we’re going to face or we don’t know the steps required.

My job as a life coach is to help people get from where they are to where they want to be.

I help them understand their strengths, their weaknesses and how to overcome the obstacles that they’re going to face on the way to their goals.

If you’d like to have a FREE no obligation call with me to see how I might be able to help you then click the button below.

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