There’s a reason vision boards have such a prominent place in our society and that’s because they’re not only fun, accessible and easy for anyone to create, but they ACTUALLY work! 

Each year, I sit down with my team and we create vision boards together. I even make them with my kids and husband because I really believe in the behind this exercise. When you put energy into the things you want to manifest and you are constantly reminded of them, they come true. One study even showed that for athletes, visualization was almost as effective as physical practice.

I also run a bi-annual multi-day vision casting workshop where we dive even deeper into the different categories of your life to create your vision book. This workshop is an intense, immersive time together where you will uncover dreams you never thought were possible and cast your vision for them to all manifest into your life. If you are interested in the workshop check out this link.

Let’s get into how you can make your own vision board.

Here’s What You Will Need:

• A poster board or large piece of white paper
• Various magazines or printed words and pictures
• Glue or tape
• Pretty stickers, ribbons, flower petals, and other things you enjoy looking at
• OR
• Canva, Photoshop, Procreate, Pinterest, or another digital tool if you prefer to make a digital vision board… it *is* the 21st century after all.

Getting Started

First, think about two or three main goals that you want to work toward right now. It’s best that your vision board be more dialed in rather than a broad view of all of the various goals you have right now. Don’t overthink this, just choose the first few things that come to mind. What things in your life feel like they need to change? What is standing in the way of your happiness? Don’t censor yourself; answer honestly and see what comes up for you. You might just surprise yourself!

As you do this, be careful not to put restrictions on what is possible. So often, we stand in our own way because we’re thinking too small. We’re asking ourselves questions like, “What’s a logical direction for me to go in my career?” or “What is reasonable to expect as far as romantic partners in my area?” or “What kind of house can I actually afford?”

Now comes the fun part. Make yourself a nice cup of tea or coffee and set aside an hour or two of uninterrupted time to assemble your vision board! 

Traditional or Digital?

You can either create it the “old fashioned” way with magazines and a large piece of paper or posterboard. Or, you can create a digital vision board. Years ago, the quote unquote vision board experts would advise against creating digital vision boards. They thought that the intentional act of going through the magazines, following your intuition, and then assembling the board with your hands helped to solidify the vision. They were also concerned that you wouldn’t spend enough time looking at a digital vision board for it to be effective.

But, we all know that these days, our devices are ALWAYS with us. A coaching client of mine recently sent me a gorgeous vision board that she made in Canva! I love that she did this, and of course, she will see it all the time because she can set it as the background of her laptop, her tablet, her phone… she’ll probably see it more often than she would see a physical vision board hung up in her home!

Start Assembling!

If you’re going to go with a traditional vision board, gather up all your old magazines and spend about an hour cutting things out that align with your chosen goals. If you run out of magazines or can’t find what you are looking for, you can also search for images online and print them out for your vision board. Don’t forget to look for powerful words and quotes to stick in between your images!

Not sure what photos to use?

As you’re looking for photos for your board, resist the urge to overanalyze everything you see. Maybe you feel a strong emotional pull toward a photo but you can’t explain WHY you feel that way.

Just cut it out and include it. You might not know why yet, but the universe has something in mind for you. Trust your gut and trust how your body feels as you go through your magazines looking at images.

Play with Placement

Once you have a bunch of stuff cut out, go ahead and start arranging them on your paper or posterboard. Play around with the placement until you’re happy and don’t forget to add stickers, glitter, flower petals, washi tape, and anything else you like to make it even more pretty.

Do Your Best, Don’t Obsess

Remember, you’re going to be looking at this for a while so you want to spend some time on it. You could even do washes of watercolor over some of the images or use metallic gel pens to draw frames around some of the photos. Have fun and let your creativity soar. But, don’t let perfectionism take over.

Put it on Display

Once all your glue dries, you’re going to find a special place to hang your vision board. Put it somewhere you’re going to see it often, like on your refrigerator or next to your makeup vanity. You should also take a photo of it and make it the screensaver on your phone so you can see it often, even when you’re not standing directly in front of it.

If you created a digital vision board, you don’t have to worry about where to put it. You’re going to see it all the time, which is great, but you also want to make sure you set aside a minute or two each day to spend some more intentional time with your visions and goals.

Remember: your vision board is a visualization tool; it’s meant to help you more easily see yourself existing in the life you want to have! To do that, you have to pretend like it already exists for you.

I recommended a book called #FutureBoards by Sarah Centrella. I love it because it dives deep into the before, during, and after of vision boards so if you want to take things to the next level, and I highly suggest you do, pick up the book and set aside some time to read through it. She gives super actionable tips and helps get you out of your own head so you can let go of the worry and the control and just trust the process.

For more check out www.hellohappyceo.com