What is a Vision Board?

What is a Vision board? That is the first question I get when I talk about vision boards. A vision board is any type of background that will hold pictures of goals that you want to achieve. The board itself can be a poster board, a dry erase board, a large sheet of paper, even a ripped up cardboard box. (Yes I did make a vision board with a ripped up cardboard box. I was in a hurry!) This is one spot to put all of your ideas for what you want to achieve, to do, to be, or to have.

Your timeline for accomplishing these goals can be any amount of time, but usually it’s 1 year, 5 years, or lifetime goals. You can choose any amount of time for your time frame of accomplishing these goals. You can even make several vision boards, one for each amount of time. For example, you can create one vision board for everything you want to accomplish this year, and one vision board for everything you want to accomplish in your lifetime. (Kind of like a visual of your “bucket list”.)

Take this time now and think about what you want. Meditate on what you want to achieve and the type of life that you want to live. Pretend for the moment that you can have whatever you want, or be what ever you choose to be, or go wherever you want to go. Get a notebook and pen and write down all the things that came to your mind. This is the start of your goals. These are the things that you want to find pictures for and place on your vision board.

Why Do I Need a Vision Board?

This is the second question I always hear. You need a vision board because it helps you to sort through all the amazing possibilities for your life. A vision board helps you to decide what you want and then puts a visual reminder in front of you of what you want to accomplish. Making your goals visual, greatly increases the odds of attaining your goals as well as attaining your goals much quicker.

The person who takes the time to think about what he or she wants to do, and then takes the time to write out his or her goals, accomplish way more in his or her lifetime. This person also lives a happier life because he is doing what he choose to do instead of just going with the flow. You know what they say, if you don’t have a plan you are working for someone who does. Take the time to meditate on your goals and choose for yourself what you want to do with your life. You will be thankful that you did.

Vision Board Ideas

So now you know what a vision board is and why you need one. Let’s take a look at some vision board examples.

These vision boards have pictures of goals and several sayings that are also called affirmations. Affirmations can guide you to a particular result or they can help you to replace any negative thinking. For example, a person who is unhappy and sick a lot might choose the affirmation, “I am healthy, happy and prosperous.” Any time this person begins to feel sick or depressed about something, they will tell themselves, “No, wait a minute. I do not want to feel that way anymore. I am healthy, happy and prosperous.” Having this affirmation on a vision board is a silent but powerful reminder to this person that they do not choose to be sick or depressed anymore. They have made a new positive choice to be happy and healthy and prosperous and this affirmation will help to remind them.

Think about what you want to change in yourself and your life. Write each one down in a notebook.

Vision Board Pictures

In a previous step, you thought about everything you wanted to have and be and do. Now you need to find the pictures of these things. You can find pictures for all your goals by doing a google search of images. Scroll through all the images until you find the one that fits what you pictured in your mind. That is the picture to print and tape on to your vision board. Find at least one picture for each goal that you wrote down. You might find several pictures for one goal. Print them all and place them on your vision board.

You can also find pictures in old magazines or books. Cut out any picture that fits what you visualized for your future.

Vision Board Affirmations

Now choose some affirmations. Think about what you want to change in yourself and your life. Look for affirmations that “affirm” your choice. On the Bright Side, is a book of affirmations that helped me through a difficult period. This set of affirmations were so remarkably helpful to me, that I put them into a book and published it to help other people. These reminders speak to your subconscious mind and really make a difference.

Here are some affirmations from On the Bright Side:

• The battle is won in the silence of your soul, my dearest friend.   St. Gertrude
• Thoughts are things and things are thoughts. What one thinks, materializes.   C. Haanel
• As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.   J. Allen
• The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is  possible.   R. Devos
• Imagination is the process of imaging these things in or on your mind and this process is nature’s method of creation.           C. Haanel
• Whatever you believe with conviction becomes your reality.   B. Tracy
• Look within, within is the fountain of good and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.   Unknown
• Thoughts are causes and conditions are effects.   J. Allen
• The thoughts you think and the things you do NOW will determine your future destination. Are you on the right course to get from where you are now to where you really want to be?   W. C. Stone
• If thou are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing which distrubs thee, but thy own judgement about it.                   M. Aurelius
• Don’t merely dream, but create.   B. Tracy
• Every one of us is the sum total of his own thoughts.   E. Nightingale
• I worked for a menial’s hire, only to learn dismayed, that nay wagges I had asked of life, Life would have willingly paid.         J. Rittenhouse
• In any and every given moment of your life, you ar either in command of yourself… or you are being commanded.   G. Finley
• Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.   W. Shakespeare
• Thought is a magnet; and the longed for pleasure of boon or aim or object is the steel; and its attainment hangs but on the measure of what thy soul can feel.   E. Wilcox
• I am in charge of my life. I am responsible for the outcome.   V. McCarthy
• A mans’ life is what his thoughts make of it.   M. Aurelius
• People with goals succeed because they know where they are going.   E. Nightingale
• Human beings can alter their life by altering their attitudes of mind. If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly ascertain it.   W. James
• To become convinced that you can succeed is the first requisite to success.   W. Wattles
• We become what we think about. What is your vision of your future? We grow into our expectations. As you think – so shall you become.   E. Nightingale

Create Vision Board

You have thought about your goals. You thought about what you want and what you want to change. You wrote down all your goals in a notebook. You found pictures that represent what you visualized for your future. You found affirmations that mean something to you. This is all the things that go on your vision board. No two vision boards look alike. No two people are alike. We all have different dreams and aspirations. Make your vision board exactly what you want it to be. The more you think about what you want, the more specific you can be. This will affect your focus. What you focus on, you obtain. It’s as simple as that. What you think is what comes to be. Make it what you want!

Conclusion

Vision boards work! Vision boards help you to sort through all of your choices and actually choose what you want your life to look like. Once you choose it and place a representation of your choice on your vision board changes start to happen. I think it’s the subconscious mind becoming focused. It’s like putting an antennae out in space looking for all the things you want. Your vision board is the beginning of getting what you want.

Now place your vision board anywhere that you will see it several times a day. I have mine on the wall in my home office. This will be a daily reminder of what you have chosen for yourself. You will see that things start to happen and little by little your vision board becomes your reality. It has for me.

Let me know how you do. I would love to hear about your results and see your vision board. Just use the comment section below.