You may be familiar with how to make a vision board; but do you truly understand what they can do for you? Many of the world’s most influential leaders have found that using specific exercises can help turn anyone’s dreams into reality.
Hard work is the first step, but clear organized goals are another required tool for success!
It takes a great deal of time for the creation of a successful business. Business plans, co-opetition research, financial support and so much more. Studies have shown that proper research, hard work and a valuable, intelligent, supportive team/collection of collaborators is necessary.
Vision boards are a creative version of goal planning. Some people call it creative manifestations. There is a process for manifesting that begins with setting your intention, believing that it becomes a reality, and then taking active steps towards making that concept come to fruition.
Learning how to make a vision board successfully can be about personal goals like learning how to play guitar, learning to be a better listener, working on a personal relationship, saving money, finding a new job vision boards can also be about starting a new business, starting an offshoot of your current business and anything in between.
What is a vision board you ask? It’s really just a physical creation of the goals you want to achieve. They can be created on any kind of materials and of any size. I prefer sheets of paper around 16×24 and heavy paper material. These contain visuals such as images and text that you are trying to accomplish.
This is NOT a mood board. Mood boards are more of a decorating tool than a personal goal board. They are used for aesthetic planning, like decorating a room, house, office or a party scheme. You might use a mood board to create a color palette for your social media campaigns or rebranding your business as well.
There really isn’t any rhythm or reason in making a vision board. I prefer something visual and colorful and engaging every time I look at it. I hang my finished product somewhere where I can see it and stay inspired by my goals. You want it to inspire you and help you realize your dreams and goals on a daily basis. Some boards zero in on a specific idea while others can look at the bigger pictures of what you are hoping your future will look like.
Does it really work? Is it worth learning how to make a vision board?
According to various websites and blogs, putting your goals on paper in this kind of visual format can actually help you reach your goals!
Even more studies show that the more people you tell and the more you say it outloud, the more you make yourself accountable for the goal and get it done!
Oprah Winfrey apparently used to use vision boards for her goal planning and became so good at manifesting her successes she no longer needs to use them. There are numerous studies on the power of manifestation and its successes.
I remember as a young gymnast having our coach do visualization exercises with us. We started with preparing to compete, the entire competition and the aftermath. All the way to visualizing getting that “perfect ten” Many, many famous athletes use visualization and believe that it’s almost as effective as physically practicing. Psychology Today has an article on these mental practices as well.
There are Psychological Benefits of Goal Setting and Vision Boards
As someone who practices play and art therapy in my private practice I love to incorporate fun arts and crafts into an activity and get a great visualization of my clients goals as a reward. Many people go home and show people, they hang it in a place of pride and talk to me about it in future sessions.
Let’s say you want to create a more organized kitchen set up. Your board would have cut outs or drawings of organization tools, new shelves, baskets with various items in them. You would put pictures of kitchens that you find attractive. Some pictures may have a cabinet you like, or a pantry that has the coolest clear containers with cute labels. You would add words like, “clean, neat, organized, peaceful, productive” All things that make you feel happy and at peace with your new kitchen. Perhaps you even place the board on your fridge as a daily reminder of your goals and reaching them.
When you set goals, you are triggering your brain to work towards new behaviors. You cannot determine your achievement of your goals if you can’t measure and see your successes. I am a HUGE supporter of checklists. I have a running checklist on the front section of my planner.
I LOVE writing things I need to do down and then crossing them off. I like to go back and look at all my check marks and highlighting and it gives me a sense of accomplishment and how I am completing my tasks but also being successful. When you have these goals written down you are improving your performance. Your vision board is simply another visual representation of your goals. (some of my vision boards actually allow for me to mark off the things I accomplished and see my progress)
Psychology Today’s article I mentioned earlier also says that “if athletes and chess players use this technique to enhance performance, how can it enhance the lives of the “average Joe”?
First, study results highlight the strength of the mind-body connection, or in other words the link between thoughts and behaviors—a very important connection for achieving your best life. While your future may not include achieving a great physique or becoming the heavyweight champ or winning the Masters Tournament, mental practice has a lot to offer you. Try it here!”
“Begin by establishing a highly specific goal. Imagine the future; you have already achieved your goal. Hold a mental “picture” of it as if it were occurring to you right at that moment. Imagine the scene in as much detail as possible.
Engage as many of the five senses as you can in your visualization. Who are you with? Which emotions are you feeling right now? What are you wearing? Is there a smell in the air? What do you hear? What is your environment? Sit with a straight spine when you do this. Practice at night or in the morning (just before/after sleep). Eliminate any doubts, if they come to you. Repeat this practice often. Combine with meditation or an affirmation (e.g. “I am courageous; I am strong,” or to borrow from Ali, “I am the greatest!”).”
How do you get started on a Vision Board?
On the website lifedreamery.com they have a list of places to find the materials you need for a good vision board. The website lists the following places to search for your images and text:
- Magazines.- That’s my favorite spot to look for the most inspirational materials but also the most time consuming and you have to promise yourself to stop reading the articles and just do the searching.
- Then there is the question of where to get them? The article also gives suggestions for this as well.
- You buy them, you already have them, you have subscriptions to magazines, you get the old ones from doctors offices, you post online asking for them, thrift stores and possibly online sales. I find posting on FB is super successful and I get way more than I need.
- Online- it’s super easy these days to google an image of “mansions” and find a few to print or use on a digital vision board you are making. It’s so much faster than the traditional magazine version.
- Online vision board quotes are good to grab too. Here are a few websites that I have found some good ones. Here is one, and another, and yet another. I could go on and on but you get it.
- Draw it yourself- You don’t have to be Picasso to draw a new car or a cute puppy dog.
- Take photographs- Take pics of a car dealership, pictures of money, pictures of children at a daycare that you are researching for your own child care company.
- Vision board kits- that’s right there is a DIY kit for making a vision board. It’s a complete and easy to access kit to get you going successfully.
Now you know WHERE to find your materials. If you are doing it digitally, just pull up your favorite processing program and find a blank page to get to work. If you are doing this manually her is my shopping list of things to have, (most can even be found at the dollar store):
- 16 x 24 heavy paper
- Glue sticks I prefer sticks to liquid. With liquid the paper tends to wrinkle and get too wet and possibly tear.
- Scissors
- Markers, color pencils, crayons, pens and pencils
- Magazines of all kids, old and new. I even throw in the neighborhood magazine and advertisements. You never know where you will find your next inspiring picture or quote.
- Music or a book on tape- I love to sing along to some awesome jams or listen to a good book or podcast. But, I am ADD so that’s how I roll. Lol
Spread out on a surface and get started on your vision board. Some people focus on one goal and put it somewhere on the page and work around it. Some will section the paper out into quadrants and do different goals in each section. Like travel, finances, relationships and work. Writing or adding manifestations and pictures to each as inspiration. There are SO many ways to accomplish this cool activity. Don’t rush. You may have to walk away and finish another time, or process your goal more before continuing.
Don’t forget to hang it up for you to see every day! Happy creating!
