What would you like your financial future to look like? Can you see it? Really see it?

If not, it’s time to start giving it some thought. Envisioning your financial future is the first step to making it a reality. It’s the old, “If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you get there?” kind of thing.

If you’re like me, you may have trouble literally visualizing things. The usual advice in that case (and it’s good advice) is to create a dream board or a collage where you cut out pictures of the things you want to have in your life. This helps you to clearly picture them and aim toward reaching them.

I’ve tried to do that several times — and gotten as far as cutting out a few pictures — but I’ve never actually gotten a board or collage done. This might be because it’s hard to find pictures of exactly what I have in mind. (It can’t possibly be because I haven’t made doing so a priority, can it?)

But I’ve found that just plain old writing down a few sentences about what I’d like my financial future (ideally my immediate financial future) to look like can make it just as easy to visualize. This is because I tend to “visualize” by feeling things very strongly, and that’s just as good because it puts me there as if I’m really experiencing whatever I’m imagining.

Once you have this done, choose the item that calls to you the most strongly, and focus on that. Work backwards to figure out what you would need to reach that place. Come back to your dream board or written dream daily.

Describe the situation you’ve placed on your board out loud to yourself while you’re looking at it, or read what you’ve written aloud. Do this slowly. Somehow hearing it in your own voice helps it sink into your brain. Then take at least one step toward where you want to be every day.

Have you ever tried anything like this? How did it go for you? I’ve been amazed at what a difference saying things out loud makes.