It has been said that a picture paints a thousand words, and I do believe that it is true. It is much easier to convince myself to work toward my goals when I see, not just imagine, the things that can motivate me to do my best. My vision board clearly reminds me of the things that I want to achieve, and the things I need to do to achieve them.
What exactly is a vision board; how to make it? What is a vision board good for? Before I discuss the important things that you need to know about vision boards, let me tell you a bit about imagining and visualizing things. Both of them may seem the same, but the other has a more profound effect on you and me.
Imagination vs. Visualization
When you imagine something, such as being an Oscar winner in the Best Actress category, you can be motivated to try your best to actually become what you imagined. However, it is only temporary. It is especially true when you don’t even have any connection with Hollywood. You see, imagination involves both the intangible and tangible aspects of life. It’s different from visualization wherein only the tangible aspects of life are taken into account. Also, you can imagine without any need for previous knowledge regarding the things that you are thinking.
When visualizing your goals along with the things that you want to achieve in your life, you put pictures and words on your vision board that best describe the things you want to reach and how to obtain them. You have prior knowledge about the things you are visualizing. In visualization, you can see yourself fulfilling your goals because you are aware that you have the skills and resources that can help you turn everything into reality. Your vision does not stay as mere pictures and words on the board – you can turn them into reality.
You don’t just put anything that you imagined on a vision board – you put the imagined tangible things that you want to fulfill and turn into reality. The pictures and words should motivate and guide you toward the fulfillment of your goals. You also need a bit of imagination when planning how to turn your vision into reality. Most people who attained success used the power of visualization. Successful people believe that they need to visualize, and then materialize.
What is Creative Visualization?
A mental technique called creative visualization is something that utilizes the power of imagination to help you make your dreams and goals come to life. You will be able to naturally attract wealth, success, and good health when you enhanced the quality of your life. Through creative visualization you will be able to:
- Pull in possessions and money
- Attract an abundance of work
- Establish connection with the right persons
- Create an improvement in your lifestyle
- Enhance your happiness and health
- Welcome new relationships into your life
- Change your living environment for the better
Creative visualization can effectively harness the power of your mind, which contributes a lot to the success of your endeavors. Keep in mind that visualization requires clear intention and structure since it requires conscious action.
The Power of a Vision Board
Do you often think of wanting more than you currently have? It is human nature to create a better life for you, and the ones you love and care about. I often envision my future self as my best version and that encourages me to make sure that it will come true. To do that, I need to create and set goals that will enable me to fulfill my heart’s desires. I also keep in my mind that working hard toward my goal is good but working smart is much better. With that in mind, I begin to create a vision board that allows me to see clearly the things that I want to achieve.
You may think that life’s everyday hustle and bustle tend to stir you away from your focus. You may even blame someone, your job, the surroundings, or anything that you thought made you lose your focus. It may even discourage you to pursue the goals that you have in mind. What can you do to avoid the traps that can lead to disappointment? You need to create a vision board that can constantly remind you of your goals and plans toward a future where you can see yourself shining brightly.
A vision board is a tool that can aid you in maintaining your focus and clarifying your specific goals so you can create a better life for yourself and your loved ones. Basically, a vision board is a board where you can put pictures or images that best represent your ideas and desires about the kind of person you want to be and possessions you want to have. Most of the time, seeing a tangible representation of the realization of your goals is better than merely picturing it in your mind. It provides an effective way to encourage and motivate you as well as keep you on track.
Your vision board is a powerful tool because:
It allows you to see a clear picture of the path to success that you intend to follow.
In creating a vision board, you should put images or pictures that best define your goals and plans to keep you motivated.
Think of the images and words that can immediately remind you of the things that you need to do to achieve your goals. If you feel that certain things lead you away from your goals, you can look at your vision board to take you back on the right track.
It persuades you to feel unsatisfied with your current situation because you deserve more.
You should not convince yourself that you are fine with what you have when you know that you have the power to get more than that. Your vision board will constantly remind you that you don’t need to remain in the same situation for the rest of your life. If you think you’re not getting enough, it can motivate you to do more. If you feel satisfied with what you have right now, it can push you to aim for bigger goals.
It allows your mental goals to take a physical form.
Imagining your future self in your mind is quite risky due to the possible occurrence of distortion set by your creativity as you try to create an amazing portrayal of your future self. As mentioned earlier, imagination involves both the tangible and intangible aspects of life. On the other hand, visualization only involves the tangible aspects of life. The pictures or images that you put on your vision board will not be subjected to any form of distortion because they already have the physical form, unlike the imagined images in your mind.
It constantly reminds you of your purpose so you can remain on the right track.
Without a purpose, it is almost impossible to do things seamlessly and do them with conviction.
If you have a clear purpose for doing what you are doing, you can think of another alternative in case it is not possible to push the decisions and actions that you initially have. Expect some bumps along the way, and you need to be prepared. If you have a purpose, you can draw a clear alternative in your mind to reach your goal.
With the help of visualization, you can look forward to better performance.
With the help of a vision board, you can clearly see the goals that you have set and the things you need to do to make them happen. The board will always remind you of your purpose and get you back on track whenever you start diverting from the original plan.
You may need to acquire some skills that can help you achieve your goals at a faster rate.
What Do You Need to Make a Vision Board?
There are no strict rules that you need to follow when creating your vision board. You create your vision board according to your preference, although the materials or basic supplies that you will use are the same as the others.
If you are new in vision boarding, you need the following materials to get things started:
Board
You can use any kind of board as the base.
The material may be a magnetic whiteboard, wire board, corkboard, or any base that is suitable to hold the pictures and images that you will put.
Scissors
Use a pair of scissors that are sharp enough to cut through the materials that you are going to use. Make sure to handle sharp tools with care.
Cutter
It is better to use a cutter knife when cutting your board base to the size and shape that you want. It is more convenient to handle than scissors when cutting the base.
Adhesives or other mediums that can help secure the pictures and images
You can use or any medium that can help secure the pictures and images that you will put on the board.
Depending on the type of base that you have, you can use push pins (ideal for cork boards), clips, magnets (for magnetic boards), glue, or adhesive tape.
Magazines and other sources of images and pictures
Magazines are the most common sources of pictures and images that you need for your vision board. You may also use photos, printouts, quotes, and others. Choose the images or subjects that resonate with your goals and purpose.
Stickers and others
You can also use colored pens, markers, stickers, and other things that you want to use on your vision board. You must make sure that the other materials you intend to use can help create a meaningful board and not mere decorations, which may not be helpful at all. Instead of focusing on the goals depicted on the board, you may find yourself fussing over improving the appearance of your vision board by adding more decorations.
Once you have gathered the necessary materials and supplies to make your vision board, you need to first determine what goes on your vision board. After that, you can:
– Start choosing and cutting the images and pictures that best describe your goals and objectives.
– Arrange the pictures and images on the board (do not put adhesive yet) and see which layout, arrangement, or appearance resonates best with you.
– After determining and find the most suitable appearance or layout for your board, you can start securing the pictures and images on the board. Use the most suitable material to secure your pictures and images.
– Once it is done, you can now decide on the most suitable location to put your board. You need to put it in a place where you can always see it to remind you of your goals and motivate you to do your best to obtain your goal.
What goes on a Vision Board?
What you put on your vision board solely depends on your preference. The important thing is that your vision board can help you achieve better conditions or situations for yourself that include financial status, health, relationships, and life.
The many vision boards share these commonalities:
– Values
– Desires
– Goals
– Other things that you need or want to add into your life
How to Make a Vision Board?
To assemble an effective and successful vision board, consider the following:
1. Set a definite purpose and make sure that your intention is clear.
You can make as many vision boards as you like at once for different purposes that you have. However, you must make sure that the vision boards don’t contradict each other, vie for time, or exhaust you. Otherwise, all of them will fail.
To be safe, start with one vision board at a time and create another one when you have achieved your goal for the current vision board that you have. You can ask, “In my life, what are the things that I want to possess?”
Your clear purpose and intention will guide you in creating the vision board that can help you change your life for the better.
2. Determine the path that you want to take.
What kind of life will you have in five years, ten years, or in a year? Take some time to analyze the direction you are leading your life to and be honest to admit whether you are happy with it or not. If you are not happy with it, you can take a different path and change your life for the better. If you are already happy with it, you can do something more to make it much better than it is.
Taking this into consideration can help a lot in forming your vision board. Take note that you are not supposed to change the goal that you have set in your vision board to avoid conflict. However, you may change some of your plans in fulfilling your goal if the change can help you fulfill your goals faster.
3. If you want to change something, think carefully about it.
If there are things that you want to change in your life, think carefully before plotting anything on your vision board. You set goals to obtain things that you lack. You may need to change a part of your life to get something better to fill what’s lacking. For this reason, it is advisable to think about it carefully.
You also need to ask yourself whether the change that you want to take place is necessary or truly the one you want to take. Once the changes have been made, you may not be able to take them back when you suddenly realized that you don’t want to alter them at all.
4. Don’t put too many goals on your vision board.
Once you set your goals, you can now turn them into visions. You may be excited about coming up with so many goals, but it isn’t a good idea to stuff them all on your board. Focusing on one goal at a time may be the best course of action for you. To avoid being distracted with the other goals on your board, it is best to just put a goal or two on your vision board. Choose the best images or pictures that best capture the essence of the goal that you want to fulfill.
5. Make the pictures or images of the most important points in your vision board bigger.
If you want to emphasize a certain point that you always want to remember or the first one you will notice each time you look at your vision board, make the image or picture that represents it bigger than the others.
The secret to a successful visual boarding is to make your images or pictures practically come to life. Use your five senses to fuel your imagination and be able to choose the right images and objects for the pictures you are going to use. Choose the words and quotes that you are going to use and make sure that they will be able to motivate and encourage you to see it to the end.
Vision Board Goals Ideas
You may use separate vision boards for the different goals that you have. Here are some vision board ideas that you may find interesting:
– Learning goals, such as the certificates you want to obtain and the courses you want to try
– Affirmations that can help you shape a better form for yourself and your life
– Attaining the best life that you can think of, such as owning real estate, writing a best-selling book, or other things that you can achieve within your ability
– Overcoming the things that you are afraid of
– Reading books
–Self-improvement goals
– Career goals
– Weekly, daily, monthly, or yearly cleaning goals
– Dreams you have that you want to turn into reality
– Places you want to explore
– Family goals (number of kids to raise and how to do it, building a house, and others)
– Emotional stability (how to get less anxious, avoid being envious, control social anxiety, and others)
– Health goals (stop smoking, learn to lift weights, start a diet plan, lose weight, etc.)
– Decorate your home (decorate each room in the house, decide whether to adopt the minimalist design, etc.)
– Be empowered by words (think of the words that can motivate you to do more, words that cheer you up, etc.)
– Mindfulness or Meditation goals
– Amount of earnings you want to obtain
– Money you want to make to be debt-free
– Tasks that you need to prioritize or make a schedule (you can also create a vision board about the things that you need to prioritize for the day or week, not just about goals)
– Vacations you have been dying to take
– Things you can contribute to help create a better world to live in (talk about trash segregation, recycling, repurposing, etc.)
Final Thoughts
You can create three vision boards at once. One could be about losing weight that you can display in the kitchen or dining area. One could be about meditation that you can put in your bedroom. The last one could be about the family vacations that you can put right beside your enormous piggy bank.
If you are tech-savvy and prefer a vision board that makes use of a computer or android phone, you may want to try Trello or the different vision board apps. A vision board is good for visualizing your goals that have physical forms so you can clearly see what’s in store for you in the future and give you the motivation to do your best.
