At the beginning of every new year and on every birthday, I find myself inspired to reflect on my goals and intentions. What will the upcoming year look like? What do I really want and what do I aspire to?
Even when I have the best of intentions, those goals and aspirations slowly fade into the background as day-to-day life takes the front seat.
If that sounds familiar, there’s one thing we can do to make sure our aspirations actually stay top of mind: a vision board.
To create a vision board, the first thing you have to do is decide whether it’ll be a physical board that you can hang in your home or a digital board that lives online.
What is a vision board? Why make one?
A vision board is a visual collage of images, words, and goals that represent what you want to achieve. People use vision boards to clarify their intentions, stay motivated, and manifest specific outcomes. Vision boards often include photos, affirmations, and symbols tied to career, health, relationships, or personal growth.
Making a vision board can help you get excited about the future, stay motivated to stick to your intentions, and actually remember your goals throughout the entire year.
In fact, neuroscience research has shown that visualizing what you desire activates dopamine pathways in your brain, increasing your motivation. Also, when your vision board is right where you’ll often see it, it’s much easier to keep your goals top of mind, helping you check in with yourself regularly.
How to Make a Physical Vision Board
To create a vision board, the first thing is making a couple of decisions.
- Decision #1: Will your vision board be physical or digital?
- Decision #2: Will your vision board have a specific focus (like health or career), or will it cover everything?
- Decision #3: Where will your vision board live? If it’s physical, put it where you’ll see it every day: next to your mirror, by your TV, or even on your refrigerator.
Now, if you're making a physical vision board, you’ll need to gather some supplies.
Vision Board Supplies:
- Poster board or open wall space
- Double-sided tape, mounting squares, glue, or tacks if you’re just using the wall
- Magazines
- Printed photos
- Printed or handwritten quotes, lists, or affirmations
- Other meaningful items like stickers, ticket stubs, postcards, bumper stickers, paint swatches, etc.
Assembly Instructions:
- The first step is to decide on your board’s size. Where will it be hanging? Cut a poster board to a smaller size or use the whole thing, depending on where it will fit.
- Now, gather everything you want to put on your board. Cut meaningful photos or words out of magazines, gather up mementos (such as ticket stubs, flyers, or doodless), or print things out that speak to you and your goals.
- Finally, get creative! Add your items however you want. Make it neat in rows, throw everything on like a collage, make separate sections for different goals…it can be whatever you want it to be. What’s going to be the most motivating?
How to Make a Digital Vision Board Online
Digital vision boards can be just as motivating as physical ones, and easier to make!
My tip? Make one that’s the right size to fit to your computer’s desktop or smartphone background. That’ll ensure you see it often!
- Step 1: Choose a program to make your board in. Popular choices include Canva, Pinterest, Venngage, VisionSidekick, and Adobe Express.
- Step 2: Collect meaningful images, quotes, and other content from your favorite websites.
- Step 3: Lay it out, save, and download!
What to Put on a Vision Board
I already gave you a few ideas, but here’s a longer list with tons of ideas for any type of vision board:
- Photos (digital or printed) of people, places, animals items, styles, moods, or vibes
- Words
- Quotes
- Lists
- Affirmations
- Postcards
- Letters
- Greeting cards
- Drawings/doodles
- Affirmations
- Ticket stubs
- Stickers
- Small tokens of memorabilia
- Color palettes/paint chips
- Fabric swatches
- Dried leaves or flowers
- Fortunes
- Feathers
- Garland
- Small envelopes with something meaningful inside
- Maps
- Business cards
- Keys
- Coins
The key is choosing elements that genuinely resonate with you and your specific goals!
How to Manifest with Friends: Host a Vision Board Party
Did you know that vision board parties are actually pretty popular, and really fun to boot?
It’s true! To set up your own, gather a bunch of magazines (find them at dentist or doctor offices, from your local Buy Nothing or Nextdoor group, garage sales, or from friends). Then, set out boards, glue sticks, scissors, and party food, and invite your closest friends for a fun evening of vision boarding.
Besides setting a digital vision board as your screen background, you can also create “portable” vision boards that are physical reminders of your goals and dreams. This might include stickers on your planner of where you want to travel, a keychain/bag charm of your favorite color or good luck sign, or patches on your bags that make you smile.
Good luck vision boarding!
Article by Joli Skow.
