A manifestation board won’t fix your life.
—
I made an image board in 2017.
I was taking architecture tech courses. Surrounded by images all day—floor plans, elevations, material samples. Everything visual.
we had a project where we were asked to collect images that made us feel something. Not sure what. Just things that pulled at us.
so I saved them. Put them in a folder. Looked at them from time to time.
Didn't call it manifestation. Didn't call it anything. Just... a collection of things i liked.
everyone knows how to do this:
Instagram saves. Pinterest boards. Screenshots folder on your phone.
I'm not the first person to collect images. Won't be the last.
But here's what I didn't expect—
Looking back at that board years later and seeing what I was pulled toward then.
Did any of it happen? Some of it. Not all of it. Some things shifted.
But the interesting part wasn't whether I "manifested" anything.
It was seeing what I thought I wanted.
And realizing how much of it I still do. Or don't.
what's the point of this?
Not sure there needs to be one.
Maybe it's just useful to look at what you're drawn to. To see it all in one place instead of scattered across apps and forgotten folders.
Maybe it's a way of asking yourself: what am I actually moving toward?
Or maybe it's nothing. Just images you like.
Either way, there's something about externalizing it. Making it visible.
Not because it makes things happen.
But because it makes you aware of what you're paying attention to.
if you wanted to make one:
(not saying you should, just if you did)
Open a folder. Pinterest board. Whatever.
Save things that feel like something. Don't overthink it.
Could be architecture you're drawn to. Color palettes. Workspaces. Landscapes. Whatever.
No rules. No categories. No vision statement.
Just collect.
Then leave it alone for a while.
Come back in six months. A year. See what you were looking at.
See if it still fits.
See if you moved toward it or away from it.
See if it says something about where you were then vs where you are now.
That's it.
what I learned:
Some of what I collected in 2017 I'm still chasing. Some of it feels irrelevant now.
That's not good or bad. It's just data.
Data about what mattered then. What matters now. What stayed consistent. What changed.
I'm not claiming this is some secret to success. It's not.
It's just one way to track where your attention goes.
And sometimes that's worth knowing.
—
Until next time,
Riley
P.S. Your old boards will tell you more about who you were than who you're trying to be.
