How To Make A Vision Board | digital + print

 

Every successful person seems to agree on this one important factor: you need to visualize your future achievements not just in your mind, but on paper. Vision boards are one of the most powerful visualization tools to help you organize and embrace your goals.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A VISION BOARD?

A vision board is just a collection of vivid imagery that serves as a visual representation of things you want to achieve in your life. It helps you to envision what a fulfilling life may look like for you.
If you've always wanted to make a vision board or maybe it's a new 2018 goal of yours but you have absolutely no idea where to start, then read on girl because this post is for you.

Vision boards are one of the most powerful visualization tools to help you organize and embrace your goals. The activity itself requires you to actively seek out images and stimuli that can encourage you on a daily basis. The board gives you a chance to clearly lay out those general desires, and you can then turn those intangible emotions into real life goals and achievements. It can be materialistic, relational, spiritual, basically anything and everything you want in your life.

“Whether you look at it from a spiritual or scientific aspect, this world is a huge vision board. Everything that’s here is because it started as an image someone had in their mind,” Lucinda Cross, motivational speaker, and vision board expert told the New York Post. “You want to call it a blueprint, or a business plan? Fine. But first, they had to think about it and draft it. So a vision board? It’s like selling our own ideas to ourselves,” she said.

I have always been one for as far back as I can remember who dreamt about what's ahead and would and still do write lists on what I what to achieve and what I want to do this year, next year, even 10 years from now. As I've gotten older my process has changed as I've come to learn the importance of having your dreams in front of you, not just in a list or on a board on Pinterest.

Today we are going to talk about some actionable steps you can take to get started making your very own vision, dream, goal board or whatever you want to call it.

Vision Boards absolutely work; you have to have a vision and a plan to execute so that every step moves you in that vision... Oprah Winfrey

HOW TO CREATE A VISION BOARD? 

1 | Create the right time & atmosphere
Whether it's a whole afternoon, evening, or weekend, set aside some uninterrupted intentional dream building time. Once you have a time picked, you need to block out everything that is preventing you from really dreaming your life dreams and creating the authentic board that you deserve. So, turn on some of your favorite motivational music, or some Jazz or classical. Get yourself some coffee or tea, get cozy and just get REAL with yourself and your life.

2 | Ask yourself the 4 W's...WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY
Why are you putting this on your board?
What would you do differently when you realize your goal?
What dream would you pursue if time & money weren't an issue?
What would you do for work? Or would you work?
Where would you live?
What would you wear?
Where would you travel?
What type of vehicle would you drive?
What future do you want to provide for you & your family?
Who would you help?

You could also figure out your goals by using these 10 areas of life to guide you from Hal Elrod’s The Miracle Morning.

• Family and friends
• Personal growth and development
• Spirituality
• Finances
• Career/business
• Romance
• Fun and recreation
• Giving
• Health and fitness
• Physical environment

Whether you want to include all 10 of these areas is up to you but it gives you a really great idea of how to balance your goals.
Lastly, ask yourself what type of timeline is this board going to represent, for example, is it short-term goals, like 1-2 years or more for overall long-term goals of what you want to accomplish in 5 years.

3 | Physical or digital 
There are two ways to go about making your board, you can do it either digitally or physically. I like and use both. If you do it electronically, you can make it your screen saver/background image on your devices. You could also take a picture of the physical one you make, save it and make it your background.

I use a physical board to display my short term 2018 goals, and then I use a digital form to display my more long-term life goals.

A few digital options:

• Dream It Alive
• Fototalisman
• PowerPoint -(this is where I make my dream slides)
• Canva   -(I made my screen saver + iPhone background here) 
• Adobe Illustrator
• Photoshop
• InDesign 

Here are some screenshots from my dream slides which I created in PowerPoint. These are full of my long-term overall lifelong dreams. From travel to what I want for my future family to ministries & businesses I want to start. I also added some motivational music to the slides.

Below is an example of how you can create an iPhone background version of your vision board. 

I created this in Canva.

  

4 | Strategically and carefully choose images
Make sure the images you chose are ones that speak to you emotionally, and you instantly get inspired when you see them. Try not to become involved in how the aesthetics of the pieces you choose; make certain you’re choosing them for inspiration and not because you think it will make your board look “cool.” Also, do not, NOT put something because you are afraid of what others will say. This is your board, your dreams, and really your life. If you have a dream engagement ring PUT IT ON THE BOARD. If you want to receive a big bonus at work PUT IT ON THE BOARD. If you want to get fit and toned, then put a photo of a fitness buff ON YOUR BOARD. What you see you become. So don't waste your time putting things on the board that are just trendy or what you think you should put on there. If it doesn't fuel your passion it won't come true, so don't pin it on the board.

Go through magazines, Google, Pinterest, blogs, etc. Make sure your photos are congruent with your goals. Example, if you want to enter a certain career field, select photographs that represent what that career would mean to you. Same goes if you want to live a certain lifestyle, select photos that represent that life. Keep these three categories in mind when finding imagery:

• Visual - picture, words or phrases to increase the emotional response you get from them.
• Emotional - each photo should bring a positive emotion to help fuel your passion every time you look at it. 
• Strategical - locate your board where you will see it daily AND layout your images on the board in the best way that you will relate to. 

5 | Supplies
Depending on how you want to put your board together, these are the typical supplies you will need:

• Cork or magnetic board
• Contact, wrapping or patterned paper (I found a palm-printed background image on Pinterest and just printed that off to use as my background paper. Super easy!)
• Push pins or magnets (depending on your board)

6 | Appropriate placing of your board
By placing your vision board in a place where you’ll see it every day, you’ll be forced to stare your dreams in the face daily which will help you to subconsciously take the appropriate actions to eventually accomplish what's on your board. If you don't want to display it on the fridge for everyone to see, then hang it in your bedroom, bathroom, or office. I find it far more powerful a tool if you can see the outcome of your ideal life in front of you, so I recommend having it somewhere that it can be a constant reminder of what you are working towards. It doesn't matter where you put it as much as it matters that you use it.  

7 | Use your vision board to ACTUALLY achieve your goals
Creating the vision board, while a powerful motivator won’t help you to achieve that life if you don’t start to work on those goals. Use the images you have in front of you to create a plan of action to achieve them. For each specific goal that you have represented, work out what you need to do and by when you need to do it, in order to make it a reality. Don’t just let your goals become part of the furniture.

Do you believe in the power of vision boards? Do you utilize a short or long term board?