SETTING GOALS & ENVISIONING YOUR FUTURE WITH VISION BOARDS
What is a Vision Board?
A vision board is a tool that helps you focus on specific goals in your life. Have you ever made a collage? Have you ever created a board on Pinterest? If so, you have made a type of vision board.
While some people use journals and the written word as a way to set personal, financial, or professional goals, others use a vision board to do the same thing. A vision board is a visual representation of your dreams, goals or your future.
In this blog, you will learn more about vision boards and why you might consider creating your own. You will be prompted to think about the various categories you can include, guided about how to create and achieve goals with a vision board, and offered a step-by-step guide for getting started with your vision board.
Why Create a Vision Board?
There are multiple reasons and benefits to creating a vision board. Frequently, people create multiple vision boards for different areas of their lives. As you start creating, you will find many benefits as you discover what vision boards can do for you!
Here are some primary benefits:
1. Visualize Your Dreams
Visualizing dreams through a vision board takes those thoughts and goals you have in your mind and puts them right in front of you, so you can see what your hopes and dreams would look like. You can easily find and use pictures and images of anything you want to have someday – a new job, a healthy relationship, freedom from debt, or finding more meaning in your life. Goals can be more specific like an exercise goal, a vacation you want to go on, or the type of home you want to live in. The great thing about visualizing your dreams with a vision board is that it can be done for every facet of your life.
2. Prioritize
Another great reason to create a vision board is that it can help you to prioritize. This works in a few different ways.
Just setting up your vision board and choosing what you want on it gives you an idea of what is in the forefront of your mind. This doesn’t mean other items you didn’t choose right away aren’t important to you but that you have certain priorities. It gives you an idea of what you might want to start working on first since that is where your imagination is currently focused. When you made a list of what to include in your vision board, did you immediately think of a personal goal, a health goal, a business goal, or a financial goal? This is the start to finding out what your priorities are. Another way the vision board helps you prioritize is by letting you see what areas to focus on first, then organize your time and create task lists to achieve your goals.
3. Set Goals
This is one of the best benefits of creating a vision board! Everyone has goals, whether small or big, short-term or long-term, personal or professional. Think of what you want to do someday, where you want to be, and who you want to be with. These can give you an idea of what your goals are.
a. Set Goals with the Vision Board – You can start by adding pictures of where you want to be or what you want to accomplish, which allows you to see what your biggest life goals are.
b. Visualize Your Goals – Vision boards provide amazing ways to actually visualize your goals, including what tasks you will complete to achieve it, and what the results will be. You can visualize how your life will change after you accomplish those goals.
c. Use the Vision Board for Tasks – You can also use the vision board to have an idea of what is needed for your goal. You can have a vision board specifically for one goal in your life, then have each section be a picture or text representing what you need to get done to achieve that goal.
4. Motivate and Create Better Incentive
Think about when you look at one of your Pinterest boards, and how you feel different emotions and even motivation while looking at it. This is similar to a vision board, though a digital version of it. In fact, this is likely where Pinterest got its idea! With a vision board, you have a better incentive. It lets you see what you want out of life, gives you clear goals you want to achieve, and helps keep you motivated and on track.
5. Gain Focus and Intention
As you might have guessed by now, the vision board is also a wonderful tool for having more focus and acting with intention. You look at your board every day and have a better understanding of what your priorities are and where your time and attention should be focused. You act with intention and purpose, by completing tasks related to these goals you have on your vision board.
WHAT’S NEXT
As I blog here, I will be writing more about vision boards. I will include additional ideas and guidance about how you can integrate the use of vision boards into your own personal and professional work.
Action Steps:
- Begin by identifying 1 category or several categories/facets of your life that you want to consider for your vision board — ie….family, career, friendships, finances, vacations, hobbies, dreams, etc…
- From your list, prioritize a few that really resonate with you.
- Notice and ask yourself why these categories feel important right now
- Begin to identify your dreams, hopes, desires, or goals that are associated with each category
- Next, spend time choosing images and design elements that help you visualize these facets of your life and the dreams and goals that are emerging. You can look to magazines, online images, Pinterest, or newspapers to cut out or download an image to use on your vision board.
~ In this blog, I write about various practices that I have found helpful to my personal and professional development. My hope is that readers might integrate these practices into their personal and professional lives. My hope is that this blog will support all readers, especially clinical social workers, clinical supervisors and their supervisees, and therapy or coaching clients.