John Assaraf - The Complete Vision Board Kit: Using the Power of Intention and Visualization to Achieve Your Dreams

This book is the result of many peoples vision and dedication to make that vision come to pass. My deepest thanks goes out to:

John David Mann: Your ability to take an idea and some scribbles of notes, and make them shine and dance on paper is nothing short of genius. You are the best!

Cynthia Black, Richard Cohn, and Lindsay Brown: You three are a dream team to work with; all dealings between author and publisher should be this easy and rewarding!

Margret McBride, Donna DeGutis, Faye Atchison, and Anne Bomke at the Margret McBride Literary Agency: The level of care, enthusiasm, devotion, and professionalism you all put into every project is awe-inspiring!

Sean Simpson: Thank you for your creative thoughts and eagerness to help at every turn. Your enthusiasm is contagious!

Murray Smith: Creating the vision at OneCoach of changing the world one entrepreneur at a time is one of the most rewarding endeavors I have had the honor to be part of. Thanks for making it a masterpiece with me!

My wonderful soul mate and best friend, Maria: You are my rock!

Keenan and Noah: I see my dream of you two growing into spectacular young men becoming a reality, and I cherish every moment being your dad. I love you two more than anything else on this earth.

Why would you want to create a vision board? The simple answer is: to help make your dreams come true . You can use a vision board to achieve success in as many ways as you define that word: success in your health, wealth, relationships, career goalsin all aspects of your life.

Creating your own vision board is easy, and its incredibly powerful. Once you see the kinds of results it will create in your life, youll say, Why didnt someone tell me about this before?!

In the most basic sense, a vision board is a flat surface onto which you paste a collage of pictures that represent the life you want to be living. For example:

• the house you want to live in;
• the car you want to drive;
• the relationship you want to be a partner in;
• the family life you want to uphold;
• the adventures you want to explore;
• the accomplishments you want to achieve;
• the kind of person you want to be;
• the kind of difference you want to make in the world.

From the simplest possessions to the greatest impact and legacy, whatever you want your life to be and to mean, you can find pictures to represent these desires on your vision board.

Thats what a vision board is but that doesnt tell the whole story. A vision board is one tool (an especially powerful tool but just one of many) that you can use to create the life of your dreams. In this little book, were going to explore the board itself and also the ideas behind it. Were going to learn how to put these ideas to use and thereby master the art of creative visualization . Were going to learn how to unleash the remarkable ability that every human being has to imagine incredible things and, through the course of time and the power of imagination, to have those things come to pass .

Ive been using this principle since I was a teenager. Ive used it to win at basketball, to overcome a debilitating illness, to make millions of dollars in business, and to find my soul mate. Ive also worked with thousands of others who have done the same thing. In fact, youll meet some of them in this book as they describe how theyve used vision boards:

• to find the life partner of their dreams;
• to compete successfully in outrageously challenging athletic events;
• to create multimillion-dollar businesses;
• to help themselves recover from serious diseases;
• to resolve long-standing legal disputes;
• to help their kids achieve their own dreams;
• to multiply their income;
• and much more.

Some people think the whole idea of vision boards is mystical or out there. Actually, theres nothing mystical about it. Theres even some pretty compelling science behind it, and well take a brief look at some of that science in this book, too. But you can skip that part if you like, and it wont detract from your ability to dig in and start transforming your life right now by making your own vision board.

Thats the point of this little book: to help you do it . It's not meant to justify it, dissect it, or complicate it, but to show you what it is, how it works, and most of all, how to do it.

My Dream House

I learned about vision boards in 1995. The moment I heard about the practice, I acted on it: I wrote a list of goals, gathered a collection of magazines, cut out pictures that represented those goals, and pasted them onto a series of bulletin boards. I had no idea what events this simple technique could set in motion, but I soon found out.

I put all kinds of pictures on that board: watches, motorcycles, carsI even found a picture of a home Id love to live inan aerial shot of a big, white, contemporary ranch house estate built onto a hilltop with orange groves, a pool, and gorgeous views. I had no idea where the place was or what it might cost. I didnt care; it just looked like an amazing place to live.

Later that year, I felt the impulse to move. I had just spent a decade in Indiana building a real estate business, and I was ready for new horizons. I hired someone to manage the business, packed away all my furnitureincluding all my vision boardsinto storage, and relocated to western Canada.

I spent the next few years involved in a series of businesses and consulting roles. By 1999 I was ready to settle down, so I went to San Diego, where Id always dreamed of living. I started real estate hunting, and within months my broker had found us a beautiful home. I had furniture and other boxed stuff shipped out from Indiana, and my family and I moved in.