A vision board is a tool used to help you focus on your goals. Most vision boards are created with a 1-5 year plan and they often include things like getting married, buying a house, having children, getting out of debt, and taking a vacation.
I have a vision board specific to Travel, and I like to call it my BUCKET-LIST. My vision includes, trekking to Mount Everest, Hiking the Inca Trail, Exploring Antarctica, taking a cruise through the Northwest Passage, and taking my family to enjoy a Safari in South Africa and a historical tour of Europe. I found inspiration for my vision board through my passion for travel and I have created a poster with my top 6 bucket-list destinations that I plan fulfill over the next 5 years.
Here are 5 steps to creating a vision board:
1) Brainstorm what you want and give it clarity
It is OK to be more generic in the beginning with statements such as “I want to be more financially stable” or “I want to Travel”, but after you’ve brainstormed your list, give each more clarity and be as specific as possible in this part. For example, “I want to earn X amount year over year. My 5 year goal is and this I show I plan to achieve it…”. “I want to take 3 vacations. Vacation 1 / Vacations 2 / Vacation 2”. List the objective and then clarify define each one.
2) Collect magazines, newspaper articles, and pictures from the internet
The idea is to collect magazines and articles of all kinds that have bright, colourful and pretty pictures. If you’re not subscribed to any print magazines or articles, ask a friend, colleague or local businesses to give you any they no longer want or need. One of my favourites is National Geographic. You can even get some colourful books from your local dollar store and if you have a community “Free Library”, you may find some great resources in there too (just remember to replace a book if you take a book).
3) Find images that represent your goals
This is one of my favourite parts! Schedule a couple of hours here because time will fly by while doing this step!
I love looking at the beautiful images in all of the magazines and articles I have collected (probably because they are often travel related magazines, travel brochures, and national Geographic). When you’re looking at all the images, be sure to cut out ALL of the images that call to you – you’re absolute favourite ones that say “YES!...This is is! This is what I want!”. You can sort through them all later to pick you the best one (or two) that represent the goals you defined and gave clarity to in step 1.
4) Create a list of affirmation words
List words that mean something to you and will keep you in a positive mindset. Theses should be words that will help you achieve your goal and define who you are. These words should also describe how you want to feel and do not have to reflect how you currently feel. For example:
YET (I can’t do that….YET!) – this is one of my favourites!
Fearless
Loved
Healthy
Financially Free
Confident
Peaceful
Joyful
Excited
Search for these words in the magazines, the same way you did for your pictures. Look for them in all different shapes and sizes, they do not have to be uniform. Personally, I like to make it fun and unique by cutting out letters and making words.
5) Make your collage
Once you have your pictures and your words, it’s time to create your vision board. Lay them out and make your collage. Be as creative as you want, overlap the photos, put them sideways, straight, define them by area of your life or scatter them around. This is your vision and you can be as creative as you want with it. A cork board is great for this as you can reuse it every year, however, another alternative and one that I use is to buy a canvas from my local dollar store, place them and then glue them down. This makes the board easy to hang and replace every year.
Make sure you hang your vision board somewhere that you can see it every day and where it will frequently remind yourself of your goals. Spend time at least once a day visualizing your goals and how you plan to achieve them.
Most importantly, HAVE FUN creating your board!
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