“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” – Steve Jobs
If you have a goal, a vision board can help you make that goal a reality. In fact, it was only a few months ago where I was cutting, gluing, and organizing my very own vision board. If you’re in a similar place as I was, you might feel a little lost, purposeless, and confused about what you truly want in your life.
This is all 100% okay to feel. However, once you’ve sat in your emotions for some time, it’s worthwhile to take action toward what you actually do want.
And if you’re unsure, a vision dream board can help not only nudge you in the right direction, but also solidify in your mind the reason behind everything you’re doing.
In this article, we’re going to provide you with a step-by-step process, helping you create your ideal vision board. And don’t worry, you can also do this entirely digitally. A digital vision board is just as effective as a physical one.
Do Vision Boards Actually Work?
In short, yes!
It’s actually quite incredible what happens when you place your dreams and goals into one visual image. Months or years down the road, you might just find that these things are now your life.
- That house you put on your vision board? You live in it.
- That dream bod you imagined having? You’ve got it. Sounds great, right?
Along with helping make your dreams a reality, a vision board:
- Allows you to clarify and identify goals, dreams, and aspirations.
- Helps you focus on lifestyle choices and the day-to-day to create lasting change in your life.
- Acts as affirmations and works in line with the law of attraction.
- Provides inspiration and purpose.
- Helps you re-align with what is important to you, allowing you to let go of the stuff that’s not.
- Acts as a reminder of your “why.”
While all of this is wonderful and great, it’s also important to not forget that the key to making your dreams and goals happen involves taking action and steps toward them.
In many ways, your vision board acts as a stepping stone toward that, propelling you forward and keeping your aspirations top of mind.
Related Article: Turn Your Dreams Into Reality: 10 Reasons Why Visualization is a Powerful Tool
Visualization Board Ideas: Your Step-By-Step Guide
Set aside at least 2 hours to complete this mini-project.
Grab your laptop if you want to do a digital vision board. Or gather glue, poster board, magazines, scissors, and any other art supplies you think you’ll need. Got it? Alright, it’s time to get started!
Step 1: Brainstorm
This is your time to go wild with what your biggest aspirations and dreams consist of.
- In a perfect world, what would you have?
- Who would you be?
- Where would you be?
- What habits would you embody day-in and day-out?
Spend about 15-30 minutes writing everything you want for your life on paper. For example, mine included travelling to certain places, building a community in my life, becoming more confident, and more. Nothing is too small or too big to include here!
Step 2: Create Goals
So, you did your brainstorm/brain dump, now what?
Take those ideas and form SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-oriented) goals from them. Make goals from the ideas that you value the most.
For instance, if you want to improve your physical health, maybe your goal is to go to the gym three times a week. From here, you could put a picture of someone at the gym and the number three, or something similar, on your vision board. But start with goals.
Step 3: Gather Some Vision Board Images
This is the fun part!
Use magazines, books, and more to collect images that link to your goals. Each image should resonate with you. After all, the point of the vision board is to inspire you and basically make you feel a certain way so you achieve your goals.
If you’re doing a digital vision board, simply save a bunch of images into a folder.
At the end of this step, you should have a bunch of images, pictures, and words.
Related Article: 40 Inspirational Quotes to Help You Navigate Life’s Struggles
Step 4: Organize Your Vision Board
Grab that poster board or open a blank sheet of Google Docs (whatever works!), and begin organizing the images in a collage. This may take some trial and error. You might also find you discard certain images here — and that’s okay!
Alternatively, you can also create different sections of your dream board with each section dedicated to a particular goal. You can even write your goal at the top of the section. There really aren’t any rules here.
Step 5: Assemble It!
Start gluing or digitally pasting all the images.
Watch your vision board come to life! You may need to do some trimming here, or you may want to leave some images coming off of the main poster board. Again, you have tons of create lee-way. Basically, do what feels right for you.
Step 6: Place It in an Appropriate Spot
I put my vision board right by my bed, affixed to the wall.
Why? Because I wanted these images and dreams to be the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I saw before I went to bed at night.
Now, this might not be right for everyone. Perhaps you find it more appropriate to place your vision board in your home office. Or maybe you paste it on your fridge or on the back of your front door for little reminders throughout your day.
If you have a digital vision board, you may make it your background on your computer or phone (or as your locked screen or screensaver).
Wherever you put it, just make sure it’s somewhere you look frequently throughout your day. You need to be able to see it and feel the feelings that those images and words inspire within you.
Got a goal? A vision board can help. Feeling lost? A vision board can also help with that.
Overall, this is just another activity reaffirming your goals and what you want your life to become. The more activities you have like this (such as repeating affirmations), the more likely you are going to get what you want in your life.
That way, you can lead a life of fulfillment and happiness, rather than a life of what could have been.
Read Next: Understanding the Law of Attraction: How Can You Attract What You Want?
Updated from Jan 14, 2022
Photo by phuong nguyen
