Staying motivated to achieve your goals can be tough. Sometimes what you really want or need takes hard work, determination, and will power that may fade away easily after you start working on a project.
So what can you do to keep yourself motivated?
The answer may be to create vision boards so you can use them to refresh your motivation whenever you need it. The idea is to use the vision board to visualize yourself working towards achieving your goals. Then, you’re in a mindset where you’re more likely to take action.
The basic concept of a vision board is simple. You take a board—or any flat surface—and add pictures and various other design elements to have a visualization of what you want, hope, dream, and strive for.
People originally begin using vision boards as a part of the visualization process for the Law of Attraction. However, more and more people are using the power of vision boards as a fun way to inspire and motivate themselves.
Read on to find out what a vision board is and how you can use vision boards along with your normal goal-setting routine!
What Exactly is a Vision Board?
To simplify it, a vision board is a type of visual tool that allows you to focus on a specific type of goal in your life. This can be a personal goal, a financial goal, or a professional goal. Many different people create vision boards for many different reasons.
Today I’m going to explain:
- What a vision board is and how it can help
- What you can include on your vision board
- How to create and achieve goals with your vision board, and of course
- Simple steps to create vision boards that work
You will also get instructions on creating a vision board every month of the year, which works great as a more visual representation of your planner or goals worksheet.
Keep reading to learn all about creating vision boards!
Why Create a Vision Board?
Do you know why you would create a vision board?
This is the first thing you should understand. This way, you’re able to truly take advantage of the power of visualization.
Below you’ll find some of the most impactful benefits of using vision boards. You’re also likely to discover other personal benefits as you create and use your own board.
You may even find it helpful to create multiple vision boards to work on different areas of your life. Some of these benefits will be most helpful for different types of goals, so the benefits may vary by your needs.
You can easily visualize achieving your dreams
This first one is pretty obvious. It’s also the main reason why people work to create vision boards and use them regularly.
When you make a vision board, you typically use images that represent what you want to have someday. That could be money, family, recognition, or success. Or your vision board may be focused on something more specific like a vacation you want to go on or type of home you want to live in.
The most effective vision boards also include images that inspire you to take action. You’ll visualize yourself working to achieve the outcome whether than the outcome just appearing out of thin air.
Visualizing through a vision board takes all of those thoughts and dreams in your head and puts them right in front of you. Visualization is a very powerful tool that takes your thoughts and allows you to see what they would look like.
The great thing about visualizing with a vision board is that it can be done for every facet of your life. It doesn’t have to be all about a car you want to drive or buying a big house someday, but things like having the career you are working hard toward, or pictures to represent personal health goals you have work too.
Vision boards help you prioritize your life
Another good reason to create a vision board is to help you prioritize. This works in a few different ways.
Discover Subconscious priorities
Just the process of setting up your vision board and choosing what you want on it can give you an idea of what’s in the forefront in your mind. This doesn’t mean that other items you didn’t choose right away aren’t important to you, but it does show that you have certain priorities.
This exercise gives you an idea of what you might want to start working towards first since that’s what your imagination is most focused on.
Learn what goals are most important to you
When you think about what you want to build a vision board around, do you immediately think of a personal goal, a health goal, a business goal, or a financial goal? Maybe something else?
This is the start of finding out what your priorities are. Once you start making a more detailed list of elements to add to your board, you’ll be able to gain even more insight into your priorities.
Figure out what to focus on first
Another way a vision board helps you prioritize is by showing you what areas to focus on first. With everything laid out before you, it’s easier to see what needs to be done. Then you can work on organizing your time and creating task lists to achieve your goals.
You can create inspiration
Have you ever used a Pinterest board to save ideas and inspiration for a project?
Think about when you look at one of those boards, and how you feel different emotions and even motivation while looking at it. This is exactly how vision boards work. In fact, this is likely where Pinterest got their idea from!
With a vision board, you have better incentive and inspiration. It lets you see what you want out of life, gives you clear goals you want to achieve, and helps keep you motivated and on track.
And yup, you can totally use Pinterest to create a digital vision board.
You gain more focus and intention
As you might have guessed by now, the vision board is also a wonderful tool for building more focus and acting with intention. You look at your board every day and have a better understanding of what your priorities are and where your time and attention should be focused.
You act with intention and purpose, by completing tasks related to these goals that you have on your vision board.
A Vision Board is Perfect for Goal Setting
We’ve talked a LOT about goals so far and that’s with good reason. While many create vision boards with goals that are somewhat vague, making a vision board with a specific goal is better.
In fact, this may be one of the best benefits of creating a vision board!
Setting Your Goals with a Vision Board
Everyone has goals, whether small or big, short-term or long-term, personal or professional. Think of what you want to achieve someday, where you want to be, who you want to be surrounded by. These can give you an idea of what your goals are.
Being able to lay out a process for completing those goals through a visualization exercise makes them seem more realistic. You understand that you really can achieve your goals of you take the right steps.
You can start by adding pictures of where you want to be or what you want to accomplish, which allow you to see what your biggest life’s goals are.
Visualize Your Goals
Vision boards provide amazing ways to actually visualize your goals, including what tasks you will complete to achieve it, and what the results will be. You can visualize how your life will change after you accomplish those goals.
Plan to add images, quotes, and affirmations that inspire you to do the necessary work. This way, you can visualize yourself working towards your goals.
Use the Vision Board for Tasks
One key part of creating a vision board that works is being able to visualize yourself taking the steps necessary to meet your goals. This is also a good way to gain insight into what you need to do to achieve your goals.
You can easily build a vision board specifically for one goal in your life, then have sections that represent what you need to get done to achieve that goal.
Some questions to think about when doing this include:
- What will you need to make your goal a reality?
- Is there any training that you need?
- Will you need help from others?
- What milestones will you need to reach?
How to Create Vision Boards for Any Goal
Now that you’ve seen the benefits, I hope you’re feeling like you’d like to give using a vision board a try!
You don’t have to be super fancy with your board, nor does it have to be the first and only board you create. You can even start out by creating a vision board for a goal that’s simple, but you struggle with keeping the motivation to complete it.
Below you’ll find 8 simple steps to create a goal-focused vision board that will help you manifest your dreams!
8 Easy Steps to Make a Vision Board That Works
Follow the steps below to make a vision board that motivates you to complete your goals. These basic steps will work for any classic vision board styles, both physical and digital, as well as vision journals and bullet journal spreads.
Define your vision board’s purpose
Decide on a single goal so you’ll create a focused vision board. You can always create more boards for other goals later.
Find inspiration for creating your vision board (if necessary)
This one is optional, but it may be helpful to take a look at how other people are creating vision boards. You shouldn’t copy someone else’s vision board since you have to make your board unique to your own motivators. However, it’s okay to get some ideas for materials or layouts that you may not have thought of in your own.
Collect crafting supplies necessary to create your vision board
There are a few ways you can create vision boards—whether its on poster board or a digital vision board—and the supplies will be different for each.
Collect elements to include on your vision board
Think about what life will be like when you complete that goal. How do you think you’ll feel once you’ve achieved it? Collect photos, words, quotes, and affirmations that fit your intended vision and feeling of life after you complete your goal. Prepare them to be used in your board (ie. cut pictures out of magazines or type out affirmations in appropriate fonts).
Put everything together in a collage
This is the fun part! Arrange your elements however you see fit. If you have a physical vision board, glue or pin each piece into place.
Display your vision board
Place or hang your board somewhere where you can see it easily. This could be a room you visit frequently in your house, a home office, or even your phone or desktop backgrounds if you created a digital vision board. Many people frame their vision boards as well.
Create your plan of action
Your vision board isn’t going to magically make you a success. It will, however, motivate you to continue working through a plan you’ve designed. This is why a goal focused vision board works better than a random one. Break your main goal up into smaller goals and work on achieving each of those one at a time.
Reflect on your vision board often
View your vision board every day or at least as often as you can. Visualize your desired outcome and see yourself completing the necessary steps from your plan to get there.
Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to create a vision board. You’re the one who’s going to use it as motivation for achieving a goal that’s unique to you. Focus on adding whatever will motivate you to your board.
