Dream it into existence. Visualize success. Picture a future where you have accomplished your biggest goals. All of these pieces of advice have something in common: images. A vision board takes these images and compiles them into a smorgasbord of dreams.
Have you noticed that many companies, including Swift Kick, have visions for their futures? It’s no coincidence! Envisioning where you want you and your team to progress by a certain time actually works. It’s another goal-setting technique. Like SMART goals, visualization can work wonders on making your dreams into realities.
Sitting behind a desk and daydreaming about what successes you want in your life is not enough, though. Thoughts are fleeting, and simply thinking about doing something doesn’t actually accomplish anything. One way to take visualization beyond the confines of your own head is by creating a vision board.
What is a vision board?
It’s exactly what it sounds like: a board of some sort filled with images. Some people use cork boards and pins. Some people use white boards and their own drawings. Even your fridge can be a vision board with enough magnets and pictures. The actual board is all up to your personal taste, and creating one can be as DIY or store-bought as you need it to be.
Okay, but how does it work?
The major principle behind a vision board is focus. By focusing on what you want to accomplish, you are more likely to work toward your goals every day. Vision boards give you an aesthetically pleasing way to do just that.
Since there is typically not a lot of space in any vision board, it requires you to get specific about what you really want to accomplish. It would be hard for me to put every place I want to travel to on my vision board; there are just so many! However, I narrowed down my travel dreams to two specific places that I could feasibly go to relatively soon. This allowed me to get specific with myself and focus my energy toward accomplishing goals.
Vision boards also offer you a way to make your goals more tangible. Do you daydream of decorating your own apartment one day? Throw some ideas of what you’d like it to look like onto your vision board, and your dreams are no longer just dreams. They’re realities!
Tips for Making a Great Vision Board
Are you sold on the idea of vision boards? Do you want to try making your own? I have some great tips I’ve compiled from my own experiences with vision boards below!
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Focus on goals
It can be tempting to fill a cork board with pretty pictures and not much else. However, using a vision board as a goal-setting tool means focusing on your goals while creating it. Is one of your goals, graduating from a university program? Slap a picture of people tossing up their graduation caps onto your vision board. Are you trying to be more outdoorsy this year? Pin a picture of beautiful mountains you’d like to hike or trails you’d enjoy walking. Stray away from purely inspirational photos with no relation to goals. Those can be more distracting than helpful in the long run.
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Make it personal
Adding too many photos of other people can make you feel inadequate on bad days. Remind yourself that you’re making a vision board for you by throwing on a picture or two of yourself. Make those pictures of you ones you’re proud of: maybe photographs of you winning an award or performing on stage. Don’t be modest! You’re trying to make YOUR dreams a reality, so this is a perfect time to revel in just how great you really are.
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Be concise
Wordiness is distracting. Limit the amount of words on your vision board to those that truly matter. The main point of vision boards is that they’re visual, so make sure you’re not crowding your space with too many words. Words can definitely be inspiring, though, so don’t shy away from them! Maybe a poem or certain song lyrics encourage you to be the best version of yourself. Has a leadership quote ever resonated with you? Add it!
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Divide and define
Many vision boards have different sections. Perhaps you’d like your vision board to focus on your career, your health, your relationships, and your hobbies. Divide your board into these four sections, but make sure you take the extra step and define your goals along the way. What do you want to accomplish in your career? Do you want to get a promotion or become an entrepreneur? What specific hobbies are you trying to develop? What skills do you want to master, and what are you okay with just doing for fun? Ask yourself questions like these, and you’ll have a cohesive vision board in no time!
Vision boards can be powerful goal-setting tools. Ready to make your own vision board? Let us know if you do, and make sure you include photos!
