Want to learn how to create a meaningful vision board for the new year? Read the post that includes a free planning template to make yours!
Download your FREE Vision Board Template here
I’m sure you’ve heard of creating a vision board before or perhaps created your own. I’m guessing you’ve spent some time cutting magazine scraps that attracted you and pasted them to some poster board. If this describes your experience, you can put that past behind and learn to create a meaningful vision board today!
No one knows for sure, but some speculate vision boards came about during the 1800s or at the start of the pre-victorian era. People then were superstitious and so creating a vision board was their way of ensuring certain aspects of their future.
Today, we look at vision boards as a goal-setting tool, a wish list, or a manifestation of our future. Either way, putting what you want down on paper does 2 things:
- Helps you visualize what you want and need
- Creates a reminder to stay motivated and inspired
A vision board is personal. It is a gift to yourself that is sacred, to provide you hope as you visualize your future.
Creating a Meaningful Board
When I talk to my clients about their vision boards I hear the same thing repeatedly. They had “fun” finding random pictures in magazines and gluing them to a poster board. Like a craft project. I shake my head because creating a vision board is not a craft project. It is a YOU project and needs to have more meaning than what pictures you were attracted to in a magazine.
You are important, so we need to be sure there is meaning in this project that is personal as you think about the new year.
The Vision:
Your vision is not dictated by a magazine. It starts in your beautiful brain. Close your eyes and think about 2021. Think about the first 6 months…
What do you want things to look like?
How do you want to feel?
What images pop up in your head?
Write those down…do the same for the 2nd half of the year.
Now you are ready to move on planning your board! Download the template a the top or bottom of the page and move onto getting your board ready! Let’s go…
Step 1-Your Themes:
Using the template, you’ll see the top part is broken up into 3 sections. These sections will define your theme and include the following…
- Need: What do you need in the upcoming months (or year)? Pick 1–3 things that you need. An example of 3 items considering this year may be self-care, exercise, and gratitude. Think carefully about what was missing this year for you and affected you by not having it.
- Mantra: This will become your motto. Some ideas for this may be, “Chin up!” “I am loved!” “I got this!” I encourage you to only have 1 mantra so it’s easy to remember daily.
- Support: Who is going to support you? Choose 1–3 people who you can depend on, feel comfortable sharing your vision with, and who can hold you accountable to take the steps toward your goals.
How do you feel about what you wrote? If it feels right, you are ready to move onto Step 2.
Step 2-The image:
You’ll notice the bottom of the template split into 5 parts. These 5 parts are various aspects of our lives that will encompass our goals and visions at home, at work, and within ourselves. You’ll simply write down some words that describe what your vision is for these areas.
- Health: How do you envision your health in the new year? Maybe it’s yoga, running, eating better, beating cancer, etc.
- Wealth: Do you want to save, buy something in particular? Start a 401k or savings account? This is what would go in this section.
- Personal: Think about your personal goals, self-care, or spirituality. Write those here such as meditation, long walks, starting a journal, etc.
- Family: How do you envision family life? Maybe it’s dinner at the table, road trips, playing with kids more, etc.
- Career: What career goals do you have? If you’re not working, this section may be goals for managing your household or finding a job. If you are working, maybe it’s to be promoted, work less, ask for a raise, or start a side hustle.
Now we have our “outline” you will use to actually create our vision board, woohoo!
Step 3-Putting it all together:
For this part, you will need to grab a sheet of poster board, foam board, or large sheet of paper. I like to cut it in half so it’s more manageable, however, feel free to use the whole board if you wish. At the top center, you are going to write the time period, for example, “2021” and your mantra from Step 1. Feel free to get creative here with that mantra and choose colors and fonts/handwriting that speak to you. I want you to be able to look at it and feel happy about 2021!
Next, break out those old magazines, colored pencils, markers, whatever to start cutting out or drawing the other parts from Steps 1 and 2. If you can’t find something relevant to what you wrote on the template, feel free to draw it or write text. There are no rules to what you can use on your board. I’ve seen people get extra creative by gluing sand to their board for a beach or spraying with glitter because they want their life to sparkle, so go for it!
Once you have your images ready we can now put it all together…
So you’ve prepped the meaning of your board, so putting it all together will be cake. Use your template as a guide for where you put the images on your board. Some people like to write out the headers like on the template and others just use the images in the same areas, whatever works for you. It only matters if you know what it means.
Step 4-Putting Your Vision to Work:
Once your board is complete, work through it starting with your mantra and the different areas of the board. Get excited and place this board someplace where you can look at it daily as a reminder of what your goals are.
The idea is that the more you see it, the more you’ll reach out to support, take accountability for reaching your goals, and continue to remind yourself what this board is all about for you. There’s also the woo woo thought that once it’s there and you think about it, it will start to manifest into your life. Go ahead universe, start manifesting for all of my vision boarders here!
Here’s to you and your dreams! Clink Clink
