A vision board can help you achieve big dreams. It’s a special and sacred space that showcases visual representations of your goals. Seeing the board every day will allow you to visualize your future regularly and will inspire you to work continuously towards it.
Visualization is a powerful mental exercise that connects our mind’s eye to positivity and possibility. Seeing our desires and aspirations impacts the human brain, allowing us to consciously and subconsciously shift our focus and intentions towards fulfilling them.
According to psychologists and life coaches, the “power of attraction” is an important tool in making dreams a reality. People who visualize their success are more likely to achieve it because they are starting their journey already believing in their success.
Many well-known celebrities, successful businessmen, and multi-awarded athletes are known to use vision boards, including Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry, Michael Phelps, and many more.
Let’s take a closer look at how vision boards work and why you should be making one.
Why Should You Make a Vision Board?
According to Psychology Today, mental practice will help you get to where you want to be in life and prepare you for success.
Athletes who picture their victory can drastically improve their performance, and businessmen who envision the fulfillment of their ambitions can be expected to thrive.
The power and success of visualization should already be a good enough reason to make a vision board, but creating one has other benefits. Here are four more simple reasons:
Vision Boards Help You Refine and Prioritize Your Goals
Preparing a vision board allows you to create a physical representation of your goals and to assess the “big picture” you want to build. The process requires you to clearly define your goals and to identify your most important aspirations.
Vision Boards Give You a Daily Reminder of Your Dreams
Dreaming big may be easy, but relentlessly working towards fulfilling them isn’t always a breeze.
Sometimes, life and challenges get in the way. We tend to forget about our goals and aspirations whenever we encounter difficulties or get consumed by daily worries. Creating a vision board will enable you to keep an eye on your dream and stay on the track towards it.
Vision Boards Help You Avoid Stagnation
It’s not uncommon to get bogged down by the stresses of life. However, difficulties can, at times, paralyze us and discourage us from moving forward. Having a vision board can help us trudge on and stay inspired regardless of obstacles, exhaustion, doubt, fear, and anxiety.
Vision Boards Help Fuel Your Passion
Seeing your vision board everyday will help you stay strongly connected with your passions. Looking at visual representations of the things you love can ignite your spirit and propel you in to action.
How to Make a Vision Board
Now that you understand how important a vision board can be in achieving your dreams, you’ll need to know how to make an effective vision board.
Here are five simple tips on creating your vision board.
1. Write Down Your Goals
The first fundamental step in creating an effective vision board is figuring out exactly what you want to put on it. This means creating a clear list of your goals and prioritizing what you want to focus on first.
If you want more tangible results, create a vision board with a clear timetable. This way, you can rank the importance and evaluate the urgency of each goal accurately. Your list can include the things you want to achieve in the next 12 months or in the next 5 years.
2. Collect Pictures that Best Represent Your Dreams
Once you have made a clear and comprehensive list of your goals, the next step is determining how to visually represent them on your board.
You can skim through and collect photos from magazines, newspapers, and websites. If you want to find images online, you can check Google Images, Pinterest, Instagram, or stock photo sites.
This is a very important step in the vision board process. The more eye-catching and inspiring your images are, the more they can rouse you. Choose photos that truly speak to your heart. If you are an artist, you can even draw some of the pictures.
3. Make a Collage Our of Your Photos
Once you have collected enough photos, you can start arranging them on a display board. You can use a corkboard, an illustration board, or even a chalkboard for your dream visualization.
You can arrange your photos based on how you’ve prioritized your goals. Put your most important goals in the most prominent spots.
You can also add different decorations, such as colored paper, stickers, or glitter, around or on your photos to personalize your board further.
4. Add Motivational Affirming Words
Once your are photos fixed on your board, it’s time to add more depth and texture. Your vision boards shouldn’t be limited to just pictures of your ideal future—it should also connect with you on an emotional level.
To do this, you can add personally selected (or authored) motivational words and affirmations. These statements will raise the potential power of the photos you’ve assembled.
For example, if your board features a picture that represents a goal like skydiving, adding the word “Fearless” beside it enhances its effect. The combination not only shows you what you want to do, but it also describes how you want to feel while doing it.
Other good affirmation word examples include “joyful”, “healthy”, “powerful”, “content”, “relentless”, or “determined”, to name a few.
Take time prepare a list of affirmation words that best suit your photos. You can write them by hand or type them in fun fonts on your computer and print them out.
5. Revisit and Reflect on Your Vision Board Every Day
Completing the assembly of photos, decors, and words on your vision board isn’t the end of the visualization process. Your dreams can change as you grow up and evolve. Update and edit your board whenever you need to. Treat it as a fluid creation.
Put your vision board in a spot where you can see it every day, and look at it at least once a day. Mornings are great times for reviewing your board, as it can help you set activities and objectives for the day and motivate you through your tasks.
Meanwhile, looking at your board before you go to bed can help you contemplate on the things you’ve accomplished for the day and to plan out the next one.
It’s Time to Visualize Your Future
A vision board is not only a creative outlet for your passions, ideas, and goals, it is also a powerful tool for achieving your dreams. It’s a means for inspiration and motivation, and it’s an instrument that can help you constantly evaluate yourself.
Build it and keep building on it as you shape and reshape the future you want to live.
