Several years ago, investigating professional horizons, I hired a career coach to learn about grant writing.

One day, the coach brought up vision boards.

Vision boards, sometimes called dream boards, involve a collection of pictures, inspiring words, or other significant items that a person attaches to a board (or paper, or cork board) – using images that have significance, showing what a person cares about and hopes for.

I know first-hand that this works magic and can be eerily specific.

On my first vision board, I used images of what I imagined successful grant writing looked like.

I used pictures including women at computers, artfully lit folder piles, upward-trending graphs, an alarm clock on top of a pile of cash, puzzle pieces, letter tiles spelling out ‘funding,’ and pictures of children — imagining who the grants would reach.

To learn more, I took grant writing classes and attended networking events. I held informational interviews with established grant writers. I had the good fortune of receiving an invitation to join the board of a local fundraising organization — allowing me to participate on the other side of the grant process.

On my vision board, I included pictures of a target with an arrow in its bullseye – and of women smiling for the camera, holding a giant awards check – having received a grant.

About one year later, I got a jolt of recognition.

Although I was helping present funds (rather than receiving them), I was holding a giant awards check. Like an episode in “Night Gallery” where a person wishes themselves into a painting – only a happy one!

Giant awards checks don’t come along every day.

Several months later I earned a modest grant from a private foundation for the nonprofit I volunteered for. The first time out of the gate.

It might seem “woo-woo,” but science backs this up: Visualization helps with manifestation. Research shows that visual pointers can influence what people do (or don’t do).

Athletes use pre-visualization and say they do better when they imagine desired performances.

Studies show that people who concentrate on a fixed-point execute tasks more efficiently.

Do dream boards sprinkle hocus-pocus – or do visual cues point you in the right direction? Yes.

Maybe it’s just a colorful do-list that keeps wishes top of mind, helping the dreamer recognize opportunity.

Mirror neurons (brain cells first discovered in macaques) react as if something has been done, even when that thing has only been observed – i.e., monkey see, monkey do.

In an Aug. 2020 episode of Shankar Vedantem’s podcast “Hidden Brain,” social psychologist and professor of psychology Emily E. Balcetis at New York University discusses how visual perception influences emotions, saying what we see can shape our motivation.

Vision boards help me see what I’m looking for. (And no, I have not affixed any pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch to my collages).

Vision boards don’t guarantee I’ll get what I want simply by gluing a picture of desired outcome, however. Experts suggest using elements that show the steps towards a goal rather than an end result.

The idea is that if you see an image of a goal already attained, your brain may say, well, that’s done! And not cue you to take ongoing steps.

I find myself again wondering about next chapters.

Kicking it up a notch, I’ve made separate pages, one page per area of my life that needs attention (prayer and meditation) or physical goals (going to the athletic club).

Pictures of salad greens mean more vegetables on the table (this hasn’t stopped me from eating cake, I’m not going to make an anti-cake page, not gonna happen).

Yours can be simpler – I happen to like the book format and searching for pictures, listening to music, making simple cuts and gluing things down. The pages are fun to leaf through.

In “Hidden Brain,” Balcetis said of her own creative goals: “This carves out time to let my brain do what it wants just for me.”

What we see can influence what we think and what we decide to do.

Now how do you spell “Cumberbatch?”

Marie Koltchak lives and writes on Vashon Island, and currently collects pictures of long and winding roads.