Why You Need a Vision Board (And How to Make One)

If you’ve ever tried driving down the highway at 75 mph blindfolded

I’m willing to bet you found out pretty quickly that it wasn’t the best way to get to your destination on time.

Ok, so maybe your not silly enough to try driving blindfolded, but let’s not pretend you haven’t driven while doing…. something else. Texting, applying makeup, changing the radio station, yelling at your kids…. You might have been able to take your focus off the road for a moment, but get distracted for too long and you may find yourself in an unpleasant situation. Let’s just say…you got off track.

Have you ever tried to travel to a new place without using a map? Or gone to the grocery store and forgot to take your list with you?  I bet it was frustrating at best, and maybe you even got lost, or had to stop and ask directions, or you forgot something important at the store you need for that night’s dinner and had to go back. And all that adds up to a lot of time wasted. Sure, you were busy. Busy trying to figure out what you needed to do, instead of actually accomplishing anything.

So let me ask you, are you trying to live your life without a strong vision of where you are going?

Hopefully, you have goals and a vision for your life already, but just as importantly as having goals is keeping them before your eyes.

In a study conducted by an Ivy League professor, researchers randomly asked people what their goals were. Here is what he found:

85% said they didn’t know (in other words, they didn’t even have goals)

12% had written goals, but they didn’t look at them every day

3% had written goals, and they carried their goals with them at all times. Those 3% were all millionaires.

If that doesn’t convince you to get your dreams in front of you, I don’t know what will!

And a great way to keep your dreams alive is to create a Vision board.

 

Why A Vision Board?

It’s great to have your goals written down so you can read them daily. But your mind thinks in pictures, not in words. (In this case, you could definitely say a picture is worth a thousand words 🙂 In fact, the more specific you are in the images you use, the more likely you are to stay focused on them and to actually get what you want.

You become what you behold. So let me ask you, how do you see yourself?

If you are dealing with an illness, do you see yourself getting better? or worse?

If you are struggling financially, do you see yourself getting out of debt, having enough money to pay your bills, or do you see yourself filing for bankruptcy, or losing your home?

Having a vision board helps you to see yourself with what you really want.

 How to Create a Vision Board

This can be as personal as you are! When I started dreaming again in my 30’s, setting goals, getting vision for my life and learning success principles like creating a vision board, I realized that I had a vision board as a teenager and hadn’t even realized it! In high school I took a piece of poster board, cut out pictures from magazines and put them up on my wall. They were just things I liked, pictures that were health and fitness related, (I was obsessed with health/wellness even in high school), peaceful images, and such.

Now, I’m a little more high-tech. I’ve been using PicMonkey to create my vision boards. I just drop the images onto the collage feature and then I can print it right out! PicMonkey is a free online photo editor that is a ton of fun to play around with!

What you need:

A “board”

It can be as simple as the poster board I used as a teen, or even just a piece of paper. Bulletin boards, a magnet board, like my current vision board, or one of those cute fabric covered boards with the crisscross ribbons, or even fancier! You can also create a virtual vision board, although I think an actual physical board is best to keep it before your eyes. In fact, having more than one board is a great idea! Put one on your fridge with your fitness goals on it to remind you of what you really want when you’re tempted to reach for that midnight snack. Put a career vision board at your desk at work to remind you of where you want to be in five years when you’re tempted to waste time surfing the internet instead of working.

Pictures/images, quotes, etc.

If your vision is to remodel your kitchen, grab a home improvement magazine and start clipping!

Fitness goals? Find pics of healthy people doing things to get fit, like the girl doing yoga on my vision board here.

Want to eat better? Find images of healthy meals and put them on there!

An electronic vision board

I think it’s a great idea to have more than one vision board! You can keep your vision board electronically. Start a vision board on Pinterest and pin images and articles that relate to your vision. My gardening board on Pinterest isn’t just a collection of information I’m saving but it also reminds me of what I want my garden to be. I use an app called Houzz to keep images of my dream house together. It’s fun to go in and look through those images and make plans!

I created the vision board on the right using images I collected from the web and putting them onto a collage using a free software program called PicMonkey. I saved it and am using it as the background on my computer desktop- so every time I sit down to the computer to work, my vision is before my eyes. Vision of things I want to own, to do and to be, and a few quotes to inspire me to reach those goals!

Do you already have a vision board?  If you haven’t started a vision board yet, I want to encourage you to get started today! They are super fun and a great way to keep your dreams and goals alive and in the forefront of your mind so get creative!