I’m often asked about my must-have items to take out with me on a run; last week a friend asked what I’d choose if I could only take 3 things with me. I had to go for a running belt as otherwise I’d struggle to take anything at all. I opted too for my Garmin watch but I bet you can’t guess my third choice…
It’s a little bit of card that I push into my running belt; my Power Postcard. I’m pretty sure you’ll have heard of vision boards-collections of images and words pasted on a large piece of card that represent things you’d like to do, be or have. Usually you’ll hang your board up on the wall somewhere you’ll see it every day.
In last week’s blogpost I went into detail about visualisation and these boards are a way of keeping your goals right there before your eyes.
I’ve made three or four vision boards at different times of my life and swear by their power to keep me focused and on target. In fact, whenever I start a new project of any kind, I become a little bit obsessed. I give it my all. Eat, sleep and breathe it. I just think that to be successful you have to get up off your ass every day and be relentless.
I think I’ve had remarkable results with my boards.
Most of my images have represented experiences, such as travel ambitions, or achievements. Several years ago, however, one possession I did hanker after was a sleek, metallic blue BMW sports car and I duly posted an image on a postcard which I carried around in my handbag. Passing a garage forecourt some time later I spied the perfect specimen at a fabulous price sitting gleaming in the sun. It was exactly like the photo I had on my board. I stopped for a closer look; second hand, not too old and reasonable mileage. Coincidentally, I was faced with the prospect of some expensive repairs on my current car and we’d been discussing whether it was worth going ahead with them. A few days later and the deal was done; I drove my dream car home to discover that the registration number was incredibly similar to that of the car pasted on my card. Uncanny.
My Power Postcard is basically a portable vision board.
When you create a Power Postcard and carry it around with you so you can look at it often, you essentially end up doing short visualisation exercises all throughout the day.
Your postcard should be a mix of images related to your goal plus those related to how you want to feel when you achieve it.
Here’s the one I’m currently carrying around with me:
When I’m struggling out on a run and even during a race, I’ll pull this little guy from my belt and I swear it gives me extra grit and determination.
It’s a great idea to laminate these cards if you can otherwise they get grotty very quickly.
Let me know if you decide to make one! I’d love to see what you come up with. Either comment here or find me on Instagram , post a pic and tag me 🙂
