The Dua and Vision Board

Most people are trapped in their day to day.

All their mental space is used for daily activities only. They might have set a few goals for themselves, but they lack a long term vision.

And what do all financially successful people have in common?

They had a clear future vision, and they executed on it.

When we were children, we all had a lot of dreams. We were dreaming, we were playing.

Then we grow up. We enter college or university, and we start getting ambitious. The dreams turn into career options, ambitions we shape for ourselves - and that are shaped by our environment.

After that, we might or might not reach them. And we start accepting the daily grind. The daily status quo. The daily normal life. We settle for that.

Very few go back to this ambitious self.

And that is a trap.

Old is when you lose touch with your younger self. The one who was ambitious, full of enthusiasm and vitality.

Many people think the obstacle is financial. That they are struggling because they lack the financial means to realize the future they want.

But what’s actually missing is a clear picture of the future that you want to go after.

That’s why I would like to invite you to go back to the visionary image you once had for your future.

One of the best ways to do that is to create a vision board. Or better: a dua and vision board.

what makes a board work

A vision board is a personalized creation of images that make you feel something. Three things in that sentence matter:

1. Curated. You decide very specifically what to include and what to not include.
2. A collection. Multiple images, together.
3. Feeling. Every image on your board must make you feel something.

So how do you create one? Start by searching for the images you would like to include. Then there are three approaches:

1. Print the images and make the board with your hands. Glue, scissors, the work. The most personal one, because you’re really putting effort into it.
2. Use a digital tool like Canva, if that’s where your creativity lives.
3. Give the images to AI and let it build the board for you. The easy and quick route - and probably the one that makes you least attached to your board ;)

Whichever you choose: print it, and hang it somewhere you can see it almost every day.

the part that makes yours different

You’re going to perform dua over the vision that you have:

Ya Rabb, bring me closer to this vision. Help me achieve it. Make me strong, and give me all the character that is necessary to achieve those goals.

Write out a few duas like this. Print them. Put them below your board. The vision above, your duas below.

That is much more powerful than having a financial goal on paper. That is the thing that will make you feel something, that will drive you, that will carry you through.

a story from one of my clients

He had built a vision board many years ago. When we looked back at it together, he realized how much of it he had achieved.

He had the vision to move to Europe. He achieved that.

He had the vision to perform Umrah every single year in Ramadan. MashaAllah, he achieved that.

He set the goal to start his own business. Which he did as well, mashaAllah.

Almost everything on his board, realized. His conclusion: it was time to build a new one.

Because a vision board is not a static thing you build once. It changes over time. Every two or three years - five at most - you look at what you achieved, and you update it.

And yes, I have my own vision board. I made it one year ago, and ever since, it has made me much clearer on my future direction and what I need to execute on.

(much of the work you see here is a result of that board)

I had it as my desktop wallpaper for quite some time → it reminds me daily, before I start working, what my bigger picture is.

When I look at it, it brings up strong emotions. Positive ones, and sometimes negative ones, depending on my mood. But one thing is certain: it helps me gain clarity about my path, rather than being swallowed up by the daily grind.

start with one value

And what if you don’t know what to put on your board? Look at your values. Based on your values, you build your vision.

Take one value and ask yourself: What would I like to have done? What would I like to have achieved? Who would I like to have become?

For example, if one of your values is freedom - what does freedom actually look like to you? Find images that match that.

So here is where to begin. Not by finishing a vision board. Just by starting one.

That’s the beginning of your dua and vision board, inshaAllah.

This is one of the first things I do with my clients as well, because for many of them it is life changing. I walk them through it by asking the right questions, by discovering together - and bringing up that excitement, that enthusiasm, that vitality to keep going.