Create Your Vision Board

A few months ago I spoke about turning your dreams into reality. If you haven’t read the blog and downloaded the free worksheet, please do so. You will need it for creating your vision board.

Let’s get started!

How To Make A Vision Board Reflect Your Life’s Goals

Do you feel you need a push to focus on your goals? It can be very effective to have daily reminders of what you want to accomplish. But how is it possible to keep your goals in mind every day? One way to consistently work toward bringing your dreams to life is to make a vision board.

A vision board can be a wonderful tool for reminding yourself about your goals each day. One of the most challenging parts of achieving goals is sticking with them. It’s easy to become distracted, lose hope, or even forget about them. A vision board is a solution for all of these challenges. Regular use of a vision board keeps your goals fresh in your mind. Using a vision board also associates positive feelings with the achievement of your goals.

Visualizing what you really want in life can be one of the most powerful ways to manifest your dreams. A vision board can be a simple and yet truly powerful tool in visualization.

A vision board is a craft project – a collage that includes pictures and words that reflect your life goals. The board can address your life in general or one or more specific areas you choose. A vision board shows what you’re seeking in life. It prompts you to consider what you want. Before starting your board, ask yourself what your goals are. What do you want your life to be like?

Vision boards are also known as goal maps, goal boards and treasure maps, and the concepts behind them have been used for generations. Still, they’re gathering renewed interest as people realize how powerful they can be in bringing dreams to life.

Nearly anything can serve as a vision board. Ideally, your vision board will be portable enough to carry with you. Then you can use it at any time. Poster board, cardboard, or even a spare wall can suffice. You might choose to use a notebook.

Preparing to Construct Your Vision Board

Follow these preparation steps:

Gather supplies. Use a large square or rectangle of poster board or foam core board as the base of your vision board. You’ll need colored ink markers, magazines with plenty of words in headlines and pictures, scissors, and glue.
Ponder what you’ll include in your board. Decide the life area(s) you wish to address: all aspects, such as prosperity, relationships, family, sports, health, school, jobs, and careers or just 1-2 of your most-sought-after goals. You’ll use pictures and words about the things you desire, the place(s) you want to live, and anything else representative of the lifestyle you seek.
Plan time to start work on your vision board. Schedule a day and time to make your board when you’ll be uninterrupted. Allow yourself 3-4 hours. You might not complete it in one sitting. That’s okay. It’ll take some time to browse through magazines and select images to clip and use.

Create a Vision Board That Works

Reflect on your most important goals. Set a timer for 20 minutes and clarify to yourself what you want in life. Right now, what’s important to you? What do you want to pursue? It’s okay if you’re not sure. But give yourself time to think about it. When you emotionally connect with your goals, you’re more likely to achieve them. This is often the most challenging part. For best effect, limit yourself to a few goals. Perhaps your goals are a fit body, a new car, and a vacation to Hawaii. It’s up to you. What excites you?
VISUAL: Find the pictures you want to use. A picture is worth 1,000 words and there are plenty of sources for images. Your subconscious tends to work in terms of images and pictures, and so your vision board should be as visual as you can possibly make it. Browse through magazines and clip images that reflect your goals and dreams. Then, without gluing, arrange and re-arrange the pictures on the poster board until you love how it looks. Leave a space somewhere on the poster board to place a favorite picture of you. Once you have a pleasing arrangement, affix your collage with glue.
EMOTIONAL: Include words to express goals and desires. Every image on your goal map should evoke some type of positive emotional response out of you. Seeing it should fuel your motivation to achieve your dreams. Write words that connect you with the pictures. Express your thoughts and emotions using markers. You might choose to clip words from magazines (larger print is best) and glue them on your vision board. A suitable word might be “Porsche” or “Honolulu.” Also consider how you’ll feel when the goal is achieved: “Excited,” “Grateful,” “Proud.” What qualities will you need to achieve these goals? “Committed,” “Powerful,” or maybe “Optimistic.”
Glue on a picture of yourself that you like and voila, you’ve just created your vision board!
Recognize it’s a process. You might start out making your vision board about your career and discover you’re really more interested in deepening friendships or making money from a job you’ve never tried. That’s okay; switch gears on this board or even construct another board later.
STRATEGIC: Display your vision board. This tool should be placed strategically in a location where you receive maximum exposure to it. Seeing your vision board as often as possible will help you stay focused on your goals and dreams. Hang it in your den, bedroom, or somewhere you’ll see it every day. Stop and look at it, touch it, and say out loud, “I’m working for that!” Let yourself get excited about the prospect of achieving your goals. Your vision board needs to emit positive energy. If you think that you’ll be criticized or forced to justify yourself for your vision board, then keep it in a private location so nobody else can bother it or you.

Making a vision board keeps you oriented toward your life desires. Construct a new board later as you reach current goals and add new ones. Motivate yourself to attain your goals and dreams through making your own vision board.

Beyond these basic guidelines, let this tool be whatever you want to make of it. Ultimately, it’s yours to design, develop and utilize as you see fit. You can add to it and change it over time as your goals and focuses change.

Using Your Vision Board Is Just As Important As Creating It

Keep your vision board where you’ll see it at least twice each day. On the nightstand is a great location. You’ll see it in the morning and at night. If you’re comfortable doing so, you could mount it on the bathroom mirror.
Spend a few minutes each morning using your vision board. This can set the tone for the rest of your day. Reminding yourself of your goals each morning will point your brain in the right direction. You’ll see opportunities to help make your dreams come true. It’s then your job to seize those opportunities. Look at each word and picture on the board. Take your time and visualize having those things in your life.
Using your vision board before bed is just as important. Your brain is highly active while you sleep. You brain spends all night churning away, trying to find solutions to your requests. Give your brain the information it needs. Look at the items on your vision board and imagine possessing them. Experience how that feels. Part of your brain will spend all night trying to make your vision board a reality.

Denise is committed to providing quality education & coaching services to the bariatric community. She is credentialed as a Bariatric Support Group Leader, a Success Habits Instructor, a Back On Track Facilitator, and a Bariatric Health Coach.

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Denise Roden, NBC-HWC

National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Bariatric Center for Success, President

Create Your Vision Board

Thanks to our friends at SolacePath, we are able to bring you this step by step guide on creating your vision board so you can stay focused on your goals.

How To Make A Vision Board Reflect Your Life’s Goals

Visualizing what you really want in life can be one of the most powerful ways to manifest your dreams. A vision board can be a simple and yet truly powerful tool in visualization.