If I didn’t believe in the Law of Attraction and the subsequent power of vision boards before this week, I sure do now.

On Monday I watched the United States Olympians on The Oprah Winfrey Show when gymnast Nastia Liukin, a gold medalist in the individual all-around, told Winfrey that she had created a vision board before going to Beijing because she had seen the concept on Winfrey’s show. Liukin had done an Internet search for the actual medals to be awarded in Beijing and had put photos of them prominently on her board.

Pretty cool, but there’s more. The life coach in me was intrigued by Liukin’s story and the fact that vision boards have become all the rage, so I decided to consult an expert. My Internet research brought me to author Joyce Schwarz, whose forthcoming book is titled The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life.

During our telephone interview, the first thing Schwarz told me is that a Chicago newspaper article--reporting about the Winfrey show celebrating the Olympians--incorrectly stated that Schwarz was the guest on the show Liukin referred to when she got the idea for her vision board. But actually Winfrey’s guests that day were authors Martha Beck, Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson. Schwarz hasn’t been on The Oprah Winfrey Show … yet. What she got was some golden--albeit accidental--free publicity. Around Oprah, no less.

I then asked Schwarz about the genesis of her book, which brought me to yet another bizarre Law of Attraction component to this story. At the end of 2006, Schwarz--who does high-tech company launches and is a coach--was in the hospital for a stress-induced condition and knew something had to change in her life. She decided to write, which she liked doing and hadn’t done in a while.

“I was watching Oprah and I saw Lisa Nichols with her vision board,” Schwarz said, referring to a show Winfrey did on the then-popular book and film, The Secret. On that show, Nichols’ vision board was displayed on a large screen behind her and it showed that she had “visioned” her appearance on Winfrey’s show.

“I know the power of doing things visually,” said Schwarz, whose claim to fame 20 years ago was organizing and launching the campaign to put missing kids on milk cartons. “I had done visions with people. So I decided to go back to it.”

In its most known or traditional sense, a vision board is an assemblage of images and words cut from magazines and the idea is to have a tangible point of reference or reminder of what you want for your future. It is also intended to help you attract those things into your life, as per the Law of Attraction. Wikipedia writes, “According to proponents of this law, thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy.” While scientifically unproven, the Law of Attraction reached its peak with the popularity of The Secret and, more recently, with Esther and Jerry Hicks’ 2008 best-selling book, Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness.

“A lot of times, people think a vision board is a bunch of pictures likes cars, houses, diamond bracelets,” Schwarz said, echoing an oft-repeated criticism of The Secret. “I’m expanding that whole concept to include things like gratitude and sharing. You can do boards for different areas of your life, like charities and community outreach.”

While often vision boards involve good old-fashioned magazines and scissors, Schwarz liked the idea of offering alternatives like paperless ones using images and photos on the computer. There are all sorts of Web sites and tools that can help make the boards a work of art.

“I like to show people different ways to do something ordinary,” said Schwarz, who promptly secured an agent shortly after getting out of the hospital and sold her book four months after that.

“The vision board is a map for your future,” Schwarz said. “When you gather pictures, put them on a table, what do they say to you? Sometimes you need something to prompt yourself. If you have airplanes or mountains, what does it mean to you? Freedom? Flying? It’s not always that spiritually deep.”

Among the vision boards in the book is one by Aras Baskauskas, the million dollar winner of Survivor: Panama, Exile Island in 2006. He came to Schwarz to get help focusing on what to do with the bulk of his winnings. The board he created with Schwarz had a lush green feel to it and the exercise led to him having his own retreat-like yoga studio.

My own vision board is expansive and continually growing, and it includes areas like writing, love, finances, health, beauty, gratitude and culture. Mirroring the concepts of feng shui, I have a corner devoted to prosperity and one to relationships. It is a powerful tool for focusing on what you want from your life.

If you don’t believe me, just ask the Olympic gold medalist, the Survivor and, it seems, a good portion of Oprah Winfrey’s audience.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.