Making a vision board is one of the easiest ways to turn your goals into reality. The idea behind vision boards is similar to what William H. Mcraven said about making your bed:
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another.
If you can turn your goals into tangible things, even if they are just pieces of paper, felt wall panels, or magazine clippings, you derive a sense of accomplishment. Suddenly, your goals are no longer nebulous apparitions. They exist in the physical world, and you can see them with thine own eyes.
What Are Vision Boards?
Vision boards are visual manifestations of your goals. You can represent your goals either physically or digitally and use various materials to contribute to your vision board. Vision boarding involves collecting images or objects that speak to the future you want by arranging imagery in stimulating ways on a board for tangible reminders of where you want to be. They can either be constructed as a solo project or collaboration.
Do Vision Boards Really Work?
Vision boards work on the principle of clarity. Without clarity, we amble through life without a defined purpose. Without a defined purpose, we can’t achieve goals. After all, you can’t get what you want if you don’t know what it is that you want.
Visually manifesting your goals in the form of a vision board serves as a daily reminder of where you want to be in life. However, the only way a vision board truly works is if you adhere to the principles on your vision board and you exercise self-discipline.
How to Make a Vision Board
1. Consider What Matters to You
Vision boards only work if you identify what truly matters to you. If you fail to identify what drives you, your vision board might as well be empty. Don’t just make a vision board to be trendy. Your goals have to specifically address your needs and wants in a way that ignites you.
The images contained on your vision board should prompt visceral feelings of ambition and enthusiasm. If you’re in the planning phase and you’re not excited, re-evaluate what motivates you.
2. Gather Your Materials
You can use a number of materials to create your vision board. Magazine clippings and the internet are popular choices. Additionally, you can hang your clippings and images on a material that further ignites passion, such as colorful, meaningful designs made from felt wall panels.
In this case, the felt wall panel design adds another physical layer to your desires, making them more three-dimensional. The more immersive your vision board, the more likely you are to adhere to its properties. When considering materials, it’s okay to go overboard a little bit. Remember, you have a grand vision full of sparkling detail and imagery, you get no points for playing small. Let your imagination manifest your ambition.
3. Place the Board In a Visible Location
This one might seem self-explanatory but it’s one of the more critical steps. Your vision board should be one of the first things you see when waking up. Hence, the name vision board. If your vision board gets stored in a location where you can’t see it, it loses its raison d’etre. Prominently display your vision board so you are consistently confronted with the visual representations of your desires.
Displaying your vision board in an easily viewable location will help weave its way into your subconscious mind. The conscious and the subconscious mind are deeply interconnected in ways we don’t often consider. If you are constantly surrounded by things that remind you of the life you want to live, your subconscious mind naturally assimilates to that environment. Additionally, if you reinforce the subconscious with conscious affirmations, your conscious mind interweaves with your subconscious mind.
4. Update Your Vision Board
Change is constant and we must adapt. Embrace your Darwinian self and understand that your goals are not static. Biologically, we are bound to adapt our goals as environments change.
You may think you want a specific salary number and reach it, only to find you were really looking for more freedom in your job. You may think you want to get married only to realize you’re only engaged to someone to appease your parents.
Vision boards reveal all about your goals, good and bad- there’s nothing wrong with that. The beauty of vision boards is that they can evolve, as your goals evolve, over time. They are simply there for reminders of where you want to be in life at that given moment. Avoid placing them on a pedestal and understand that your vision board should not stay the same for long.
Conversely, you shouldn’t change your vision board every time you experience a shred of doubt regarding your goals. That shows indecision and lack of conviction. Vision boards are there to help you make a balanced effort, neither driving you mad with greed or disheartening you when things don’t come true right away. Stay balanced in your approach and the vision board will do the rest.
How Often Should You Update Your Vision Board?
How often you update your vision board depends on how much change you’re enduring at that given time. Perhaps you realize the career you’ve committed to isn’t all that you hoped. Perhaps you move, only to realize you crave your hometown. While you shouldn’t constantly change your goals, evaluating them periodically is an excellent routine.
Key Takeaways
Vision boards manifest your goals into tangible things, one of the most critical steps to achievement. You can’t achieve something without knowing what it is. However, vision boards are only the first step. You must put your vision into action with self-discipline, perseverance, and strategy. The more immersive your vision board, the more likely it is that you will derive benefits from it.
