Why Use Vision Boards and Learning the Basics
“A picture is worth a thousand words” – Unknown
Are you motivated to take your dreams and desires to the next level? Do you need a real and visual reminder of those dreams and desires? A vision board is important to organizing and utilizing those visuals effectively.
Vision boards are a simple but powerful way to visualize what you want to manifest from your dreams. Many highly successful people, including Oprah Winfrey, have used vision boards for generations.
Jack Canfield, the New York Times bestselling author of the series, “Chicken Soup For The Soul,” has said, “Creating a vision board is probably one of the most valuable visualization tools available to you.”
Vision boards are a way to see and plan what you want your life to be like, the things you want to do, places you want to go and the items you want in your life.
What is a vision board? A vision board is simply a tool you can use to help you clarify and maintain focus on a specific life or business goal. It can be an online collection of images or an actual physical piece with images. The board allows you to display images that represent what you want to do or have or are working toward.
They can be created in a variety of ways including apps and digital images, poster board with pictures cut out of publications or other sources, drawings or phrases or created with online graphics programs like Canva or through Pinterest boards.
Some examples of what to include on your vision board might be:
- Images of places you want travel
- Pictures of your dream home or car
- Your business goals
- Inspirational quotes
- Thoughts, feelings, emotions
- Anything you love or want to achieve
You can create a vision board for business goals, career goals, or personal goals, or whatever goals you dream of achieving. The boards are versatile and can be used for any topic.
By creating a visual statement of your goals, with pictures and images, you are strengthening your resolve and motivating your emotions. This is because your mind responds incredibly strongly to visual stimulation. According to the law of attraction, your emotions are the vibrational energy that activates the Law of Attraction.
Throughout this report, you’ll discover more reasons to use a vision board to pursue your goals and dreams. You’ll also experience the benefits of using a board and the different types you can create. In addition, you’ll also learn what to include and how to get started creating your own board.
Ready to begin? Let’s get started.
Why a Vision Board is Important
Why do you need a vision board? How important is it for reaching your goals in life, business, and career?
The famous author of a popular personal development book, “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill said “Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true.”
He believes our “thoughts are things” meaning it is important to pay attention to your desires and seriously pay attention to them. Whatever you focus on, whether it’s the good or the bad things, it is what you produce more of.
Whatever occupies your mind determines the decisions you make every minute of the day. For example, if you focus on succeeding and achieving every goal you set for yourself, you are more likely to achieve it. On the other hand, if you focus on thoughts of how difficult the work is, how others are luckier than you, or the “nothing ever works out for me” thoughts, then you’ll be less likely to achieve your goals.
That’s where vision boards come in handy. Each board is a visual representation of your thoughts, desires, and goals. They are a tool that can motivate and inspire you to take daily action toward your biggest and most important goals.
- A vision board helps you focus on the direction of your dreams and keeps you motivated to follow through. For example, imagine you want to change your career to one you love that pays well. Using a vision board, you use images of inspiring quotes from magazines that highlight success and inspire resilience. Then you add images of people in your career interests that are happy and confident. Each time you look at your vision board, you are reminded of your goal as well as what you need to do to achieve it.
- Putting together your vision board forces you to sit and really think about what you want your life to be like. Documenting your wants in a visual way forces you to go beyond just thinking about your goals to actually focusing on them.
- A vision board will help you get unstuck when you get in a rut or everyday life routines get in the way of your dreams. It can help you see what you should be focusing on. They are an effective way to get creative with your time when you’re in a funk or the robotic routines of your life aren’t taking you in the direction you want to go.
- A vision board is your daily visual reminder of your dreams and aspirations. Visualization is a powerful and effective mind trick that you can do to manifest your desire. When you see your vision board every day, you stay on track even when there are setbacks.
- The practice of creating a visual of everything you want has psychological effect. It makes everything in your head seem more manageable. You can see your dream life and how you can achieve it.
- Seeing your goals in a visual image every day gives you a psychological boost. It removes the procrastination and encourages you to keep moving toward your goals.
Creating and using vision boards to reach your goals and desires is an important part of the process of succeeding. Placing on where you see it every day inspires and motivates you to stay on the path towards a life you are fulfilled with.
The Benefits of Vision Board
As you’ve already seen, vision boards are an important part of succeeding in your goals and dreams. However, there are several other benefits to using vision boards as a life goal planner.
Here are five benefits for using vision boards:
- Vision boards increase your chance of succeeding by forcing you to get clear and concise on your goals and wants. Unlike writing vague goals on a sheet of paper, a vision board consists of images and that forces you to be more clear and concise about what you want. So instead of saying you want a better life, you instead find images of exactly what a better life for you looks like.
- Vision boards speak to your emotionally. Seeing your board will passionately see your goals. It can help you course correct when you take a wrong turn. When you are passionate about your goals and can see where you are headed, you are more likely to take inspired action.
- They keep you focused, productive and motivated by creating an emotional connection. If done right, a vision board can motivate you. Instead of just images of what you desire, including the emotions connected to the vision can motivate you. Include the emotions, sounds, sights, and smells associated with certain parts of your vision.
- Vision boards are a fun way to showcase your deepest desires. No one else has to see your vision board so have fun with it. It doesn’t have to be organized, a beautiful or perfectly analyzed. Put your images on the board in any random way that feels good to you. There are no rules on how organized or pretty it has to be. It just has to be an inspiration to you.
- Vision boards help you believe the dream you desire is real and possible. Making what you dream in your mind clearer and more visual makes it feel more attainable since you start to believe you can make it happen. A vision board done right transforms your inner belief system into one that is self-motivated, confident, and positive.
The benefits of creating and using vision boards in your life far outweigh the time it takes to create them. They are a constant reminder of what you really desire your life to be like and a motivation to take the action to achieve your goals.
Vision Board Basics
It’s great to know how a vision board can benefit you, but how do you use them? How can you make one? Are they difficult to create? Will they take a lot of time to create?
Let me assure you, vision boards are easy to make. The tools you need to create a vison board are simple to find. In fact, you probably have most of what you need already. In addition, a vision board can be created in less than a day.
- Begin by getting clear on your focus and your biggest goals. Are you creating an overall board for your life goals? Will you be focusing on business or career goals? Write down your biggest and most important goals for every area of your life. It can be short-term goals, long-term goals, or a combination of all. Your goals should be your top goals that are motivating to you. Focus on all areas of your life including Wealth, Health, Career, Relationships, Personal (which includes travel and home). Ask yourself some tough questions about how you want your life to look to help you with your goals. Here are a few to help you get started: What do you want your life to look like in the future? What words or quotes represent your goal once it’s been achieved? Why do you want this goal?What do you want to create or what do you want to be known for in the future?
- Decide on the type of board you want to create. There are many types of vision boards. It can be the traditional type created on paper with cut out images. Another type is to create one digitally through an app such as the Hay House vision board app (https://www.hayhouse.com/hay-house-vision-board-app) specifically for creating vision boards. Alternatively, it can be on a digital sharing website like Pinterest with a secret board. Will it be a journal-type notebook, a flat sheet of paper with images, or a sketch of your favorite things? Decide on the type that will work best for you. If it doesn’t work well for you and you don’t use it much, modify it to increase your enjoyment.
- Gather inspiration for what you want to put on your board. Browse magazines for inspirational images. Look on Pinterest for ideas of what to put on your board. Think of words, quotes, or inspiring thoughts that are in-line with your goals. Write them down so you have them handy. Will you have images of your future home, your dream car, or your business office space? Do you want to include how your body will look (health-wise), products you want to create, or places you want to travel to? Are there images of things you want to focus on like mindset, spiritualty, and exercise? Consider everything about how you want your life to look like and add these to your vision board.
- Gather your supplies. If you are going to create it on paper or corkboard, you will need some type of poster board, card stock, or corkboard that will fit all your images. A good size is 24 x 24 inches. It doesn’t have to be professional looking unless you want it to. You’ll want to cut out good images from magazines, print images from the internet and maybe create inspirational words in a word doc that you can print. Markers or other art supplies for writing on your board, tape, pins, or glue to affix the images to the board, and scissors are the only other basic supplies you’ll need. To get fancier you can add stickers, washi tape, yarn, or any other embellishment that catches your eye.
- Set aside time to begin putting your images on your board. This can take anywhere from an hour or more. Use a variety of colors, textures, and different types of content to make your board visually appealing.
- Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it every day. Take the time to look at it and envision how it would feel to achieve everything on your board.
The basics of creating and using your vision board journal are simple and can be completely as quickly or slowly as suits your needs. The important thing to remember is that it is personal to you. It should reflect your wants and dreams. It doesn’t have to be professionally designed or organized. Whatever style fits you is the best vision board you will create.
Vision Board Success Planning
What you choose to put on your board and how you display it should reflect you and your emotions. Ask yourself how your future feels? Is it empowered, loving, prosperous, peaceful, healthy, successful, accomplished? Are you feeling respected, complete, fulfilled? Then find images that represent that feeling you want to move into.
Certain elements, such as words, colors, or the arrangements can evoke a specific feeling. You can arrange your images, phrases or words on your vision board so that it has an emotional connection to what you envision.
It’s a good idea to add your own writing and drawings to accentuate your board to draw attention and focus to your board. Get creative and experiment with what feels positive and right for you. Your vison board should capture your dreams as well as your imagination. Let it be the spark that ignites an emotional charge within you.
Your vision board is meant to renew your passion for your goals whenever you look at it. As you get closer to your dreams, some of the images might not make the same emotional response as before. If this happens, update your board with new images that inspire your dream.
The vision board you create now will change over time. It should always be a work in progress. As your longings and desires change so should your vision board.
Do’s and Don’ts for Vision Boards
A vision board is your image of your future life. It can be as creative or organized as you want. You have free reign when creating it. However, there are a few things you shouldn’t do when creating your vision board.
Here is a list of do’s and don’ts for vision boards:
Do: Be as messy or as neat as you want! Use paints, markers, crayons and glitter if that’s what you love! Your board needs to make you happy, motivate you, and be an inspiration when you get off track. It should also be neat and clean for maximum effect. Whatever fits your personality.
Do: Take the time to consider some important questions before you begin. What do you want? What are your values? What do you need?
Do: Enjoy the entire process. This is your future. Have fun letting your dreams and imagination come out.
Do: Be sure to set aside a quiet place and time to work on creating your vision board if you work best alone. Otherwise, invite some friends over and have a vision board party. Provide the supplies, the music, and the food while having fund socializing and creating together.
Do: Put your board somewhere you will see it daily throughout the year. It doesn’t have to be placed on a wall for everyone to see but needs to be where you will see it every day.
Don’t: Get in a hurry to complete it. Take your time, considering all the questions and your goals.
Don’t: Be embarrassed by it or feel silly by what you put on it. You can keep it a secret that you’re creating a vison board if you want. This is your personal thoughts and you don’t have to share them unless you want to.
Don’t: Follow a template unless you absolutely cannot create your own. Just remember, this is yours. It reflects your personality, needs, wants, and desires. It doesn’t have to be perfect or look like everyone else’s does. It simply has to look and feel like it’s a vision of your true self.
Don’t: Hide or ignore your board. It’s meant to be a guide, a road map if you will, to get you where you want to be and make your goals a reality.
Although we’ve given you some do’s and don’ts about vision boards, in reality the vision board is yours alone and you can create it any way you like. The main thing to do is be open. Give yourself the freedom to create.
Vision Board Creation
Vision boards are a constant reminder of what you want from your life and why you want it. Just by choosing the right images and phrases, you are focusing your mind and clarifying how you see your ideal life as being.
Creating a vision board is an important step in the journey of turning your vision into reality. It can help you see any roadblocks, get you back on track when you veer off-course and help break any limiting beliefs that might keep you from getting what you desire.
When it’s done well, your vision board turns a thought or vague idea of your dream into a visual image, which feels like a very real possibility. Placing your board where you can see it as soon as you wake up or in your home office or work cubicle, every day motivates you when you feel off-track.
To begin creating your vision board you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. What are your goals? What does your ideal future look like?
Next, you want to determine what type of vision board you want to create. Is it for a personal goal such as weight loss or healthy life? Is it a career goal such as a promotion or career change? Is it a business goal such as the launch of your business? Will it include your health, happiness, career goals, mindset, and spirit goals for your future self?
The next step is to begin finding images that fit your goal and bring you some kind of emotional response. These images can be found in magazines or online through Google images or Pinterest.
Then begin assembling your board in the way that feels right for you. It can be messy, organized or somewhere in between.
Finally spend time each day looking at your board, saying positive affirmations that go with your goals and taking action toward your goals.
Why Use Vision Boards and Learning the Basics Worksheet
Using vision boards along with your goal setting practice is important to your success. Use this worksheet to help you figure out why you need a vision board in your own life and the basics of how to set one up.
Why do I need a vision board? How will it help me reach my goals?
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What can I do on my vision board to help me focus on my goals? How will it help inspire ideas when my creative thinking is nowhere to be found?
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How can I use visual reminders to achieve my important goals?
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What do I want my life to look like in the future? How would it be different?
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What goals do I want to achieve? What are the benefits of achieving them?
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What do I want to be “known for” in the future?
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What type of vision boards will work best for my needs?
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What apps do I want to try and which work best for my needs:
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Pictures/images I want to include & how they inspire/motivate me:
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Short quotes & mantras to add:
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I will organize each board by:
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What supplies do I need for each board?
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What date and time can I create my board? When will I do maintenance? Where will it be located and why?
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Why Use Vision Boards and Learning the Basics Checklist
A vision board is a powerful tool for helping you achieve the success of your dreams. Use this checklist to help you take all the necessary steps to use your vision board and learn the basics.
What is a Vision Board
I decided to use vision boards to envision and plan my goals in these ways:
- I clarified my goals on my vision board.
- I used my vision board to maintain focus on specific goals.
- I used images that represent what I want to create in my life.
- I created a vision board for specific areas of my life
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Importance & Benefits of Vision Boards
I found these benefits and aspects to be most helpful to me:
- Vision boards enable me to personalize and focus on what I want
- Visuals of my goals, desires and wants, make them more memorable.
- My vision board keeps me motivated to follow through
- I’m more motivated to take action and make my vision a reality.
- My vision board helps to keep me from get stuck in a rut.
- My vision board consistently reminds me of my goals.
- The process reduces stress and makes everything more manageable.
- I’m inspired and motivated to keep moving forward and stop procrastinating.
- Boards increase my success by making goals clear and concise.
- My vision board evokes emotions and has special meaning for me.
- It helps me maintain focus, productivity, and motivation related to my goals.
- My vision board is fun, so I am more apt to enjoy making plans and progress.
- My goals seem more attainable with a vision board.
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Vision Board Basics
I have considered and/or implemented these basic tips for more success.
- I have identified what focus my board has.
- My goals are clear and are prioritized by what’s most important.
- I chose several life areas where I want to begin making changes.
- I know what I want my life to look like at various life stages.
- I know why each goal selected is important to my success.
- I’ve determined the words that represent the outcome I want to achieve.
- I know what I want to be known or remembered for.
- I’ve chosen the type and style of board I want to create.
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I have investigated possible apps to use and have tested these out:
- Hay House vision board app (https://www.hayhouse.com/hay-house-vision-board-app)
- Dream Cloud (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dreamcloud-goal-setting-vision/)
- Mind Movies
- Dreamboard (https://www.dreamitalive.com/account/whatisadreamboard.aspx)
- Corkulus (https://www.corkulous.com/)
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Vision Board Emotional Prompts
My vision board makes me feel:
- Empowered
- Loving
- Prosperous
- Peaceful
- Healthy
- Successful
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Do’s and Don’ts
I have considered these tips from experts as I created and used my vision boards.
- My vision board can be messy or neat, although it should still be effective.
- Plan what supplies or resources you need to make your boards.
- Make the process of creating the vision board fun and enjoyable.
- Set aside a quiet place to work on my board
- Invite your friends to show them how to create vision boards.
- My board is where I can see it daily.
- Don’t get in a hurry to finish.
- Don’t be embarrassed or feel silly about it.
- Don’t’ follow a template unless you want to.
- Don’t hide your board.
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Notes:
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