All of us have goals that we want to achieve.
Some are short-term goals, like learning a new skill, making time to read more books, or adding gym time to your weekly routine. They aren’t always easy, but they are goals that can be achieved in a relatively short time period. This could mean a week, a month, or by the end of the year. But essentially, it’s the stuff you want to accomplish soon.
Related: How to Create a Home Gym That Won’t Break the Bank
Other goals need more time, though. If you have goals that need a year or more to achieve, these are your long-term goals. The end of the tunnel isn’t as close as with short-term goals. These are the ones that require a lot of planning, effort, and continued motivation.
And sometimes, it can be hard to keep up all that motivation and effort over an extended period of time. So, how do you keep going to reach those long-term goals?
For many people, a vision board is a great option for reaching them without losing enthusiasm.
Manifestation and the Law of Attraction
Before we dive into what a vision board is, let’s talk about manifestation first.
Manifestation techniques are based on the law of attraction, which is the philosophy that whatever you focus your energy on will come back to you. In other words, positive thoughts will bring positive results into your life, while negative thoughts will attract negative experiences.
We want to take that idea and apply it to our goals. Manifestation is exactly as it sounds: we’re going to manifest them into reality! It is the practice of thinking aspirational thoughts with the purpose of making them manifest, or become real.
Don’t get it mixed up, though. Manifestation isn’t magic. You can’t think about a billion dollars and just expect it to show up. I am not able to simply think myself into a month-long vacation through Europe.
However, if you stay focused on what you want and continue to work hard enough toward that goal, you do have the power to materialize your dreams. That month-long European vacation is attainable as a long-term goal. With enough planning, discipline, and hard work, you can save up the money and get there. Manifestation just helps keep you focused so your hard work doesn’t dwindle!
Related: Realistic Ways to Become a Morning Person
You can certainly lean into manifestation all on its own, but enlisting the help of a vision board is beneficial for many people. It can keep you reminded of what you’re working towards. And I know that everyone is different, but I’m a visual person, and these kinds of visual representations help me way more than just thinking about my goals.
What Is a Vision Board?
So now, we finally get to talk about those vision boards!
Vision boards are a lot like our dreams and goals: they can vary widely depending on the person making and using it. It’s personal to each unique individual.
However, all vision boards or dream boards share a few commonalities. They are comprised of images and words that represent a person’s wishes or goals. It serves as a visible reminder of your long-term goal(s). Being able to see it front and center means it serves as inspiration or motivation on a regular basis.
It might sound kind of like a mood board, and I like to think of mood boards and vision boards as cousins of sorts. While a mood board works as a planning tool used for aesthetics, a vision board works as a planning tool for your life direction.
Some boards are meant to focus on a singular idea or goal, while others deal with the bigger picture of what you would like your future to look like. In both cases, the idea is to craft something that will help inspire you to realize your dreams and goals.
Okay, now let’s focus those minds and achieve those long-term goals!
How To Create a Vision Board
Using a vision board to test out the ideas of manifestation and the law of attraction is probably a lot easier than you think. And if you like being crafty, you’re going to enjoy putting your vision board together almost as much as you’re going to enjoy reaching your goal! You will need a few necessary supplies, but you might have them lying around the house already.
Consider What Matters the Most
Start by taking a moment for self-reflection. Think about what is most important to you, and where you would like to see change. Are you going to focus on a future trip, a five-year plan, a career move, or better habits? The possibilities are endless, and it can be anything that matters to you. Whatever you want to achieve, you need to set clear goals to be successful.
Brainstorm Ideas
From here, think about the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. Grab a notebook or paper and jot down a list. This way, you can start planning! You’re going to find it much harder to achieve your goal without focus and planning. This list of ideas on how to reach your goal will also help inspire the images and words you use for your vision board.
Collect the Supplies
Think of your vision board like a giant scrapbook page. We’re getting crafty, so it’s likely that you have some of these simple supplies in your home already. I’m talking about glue sticks, scissors, old magazines, a printer, markers, and more. It’s kind of open-ended, because it depends on how you want to put it together and the materials you have access to. Here are some suggestions:
- Foam board, poster board, or a large piece of cardboard
- Scissors
- Glue
- Cardstock, construction paper, or scrapbooking paper
- Old magazines
- Computer or tablet with a desktop printer
- Washi tape
- Stickers
- Pens, pencils, markers, and/or colored pencils
- Ribbon
Flip through magazines and cut out anything that speaks to you. It can be images, phrases, or single words. If you don’t have a lot of magazines with relevant material, you can also take advantage of a desktop printer and images you find on the internet.
Map Out How to Arrange the Vision Board
Before getting started, some people do best when they have a good idea on how they would like their vision board arranged. After collecting images and other materials, try laying everything out on the poster board or cardboard to see how it might look. By doing this before breaking out the glue, you can keep moving things around until you like it.
Put Everything Together!
The only thing left is to put it all together! This is the fun part, right? Break out the glue and get to work. Remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be inspiring. Get all those cool materials on your foam board (or other large board material) and have fun with it.
Hang Your Vision Board
Where you place your vision board is just as important as what you put on it. The idea isn’t to hide it away, but to put it where you will see it most often. It needs to be front and center so that it catches your eye. The key is to look at it as often as possible. This might mean hanging it in the living room next to the TV, or in the kitchen. Stick it in your home office, or above your nightstand. If you want to get extra with it, take a photo of your vision board and use it as your laptop’s background, too.
Make Updates
Don’t be afraid to make updates to your vision board when necessary. People are always changing and so are our dreams. Your vision board doesn’t need to be static or set in stone. Don’t be afraid to come back and take things off, add things, or even start from scratch on a new board if you feel like it.
Digital Vision Board Options
While I am a very hands-on, crafty person, I know that not everyone is. If you really have no interest in breaking out the scissors and craft paper, you can make a digital version of a vision board. You just have to be at least a little tech-savvy to do it this way.
Digital vision boards don’t involve nearly as much mess, and it’s easier to come back and finish it later if you can’t finish in one sitting. Depending on how you create your digital vision board, it might also be easier to change if your goal evolves.
The easiest way to make a digital vision board is probably by utilizing Pinterest. The site already has boards, where you create a collection of pins. These pins can be searched for on Pinterest, and you can upload images to create your own pins, too.
Similarly, you can use Tumblr or other blog sites to build a vision board. Create a separate blog specifically to serve as a vision board, and upload images and words to build it.
