My Love for Vision Boards

I first learned about the concept of vision boards when I was a senior in high school after watching vlogs on Youtube. I would see these people living accomplished and aesthetically-pleasing lives and documenting it for the world to see. I looked at my own life, which was about to switch on a dime when I began college, and decided I wanted to have some control over those changes that were about to take place. 

I headed to my parent’s unfinished basement where the art supplies were kept and started flipping through the basket of old magazines we kept in a huge stack in our fireplace room. With my shadow of a little sister copying everything I did, she sat there with me and we both probably used up an entire Elmer’s glue stick each pasting on images of things we wanted to bring into our lives in the new year. 

In the first few years I made these boards, not much thought went into them. I more so looked for pictures in magazines that matched my Pinterest board and all-in-all it was a glorified collage that stood on my dresser for twelve months. When I had friends over, no one seemed to know about the concept of a vision board and it was hard for me to explain it to them because I frankly had a vague idea of it myself. 

It should really come as no surprise that nothing came about from these boards then as they basically acted as decoration. But when I had to seriously start thinking about what I wanted my future to look like as I got farther along in college I started to do real research on vision boards and really take it more seriously as I put together a visual representation of what I wanted my life to look like. I even made a post about it for Miami’s fashion magazine back in 2019. 

I learned that the vision board acts more as a visual framework for the mindset I needed to have and the journaling I needed to do. I really am an avid journal-er and instead of simply going through my day-to-day I started to practice being more intentional with the entries I was making daily and began to write as if I already had the things I wanted and was living the life I wanted to live. Doing this helped me really gain more insight into what it was that I wanted and when I finally sat down to make my vision board for 2023 I knew exactly the things I wanted to include.

When it came down to physically making the board I still went back to my old faithful stack of magazines and prized Pinterest boards. But I emphasized selecting images that matched the specific words and phrases that I wanted to bring into my life, like: financial freedom, downtown apartment, joy, new friendships, etc. I added the actual words onto it as well and when it was done I taped it to my wall right across from my bed so it was the first thing I saw when I woke up every morning. It sounds a little extreme, but it was the top tip I saw when I was looking up how to make vision boards effective. I kept it up all year and every single thing I put on that vision board actually happened to me in 2023. 

It’s not as if the vision board holds some magic power and that whatever is put on it comes true. The board acts as a visual representation of continuous work and determination towards your goals. The way I think about it, if I wake up and immediately set into the motions of my daily life, I end up accomplishing my daily tasks but those end goals I have can get lost in the back of my mind. But having a constant visual reminder of those things, big and small, that take time and effort to accomplish helps keep them at the forefront of my mind and I end up working on them in my spare time instead of sitting on my phone or wasting it in front of the TV. 

It’s clear to me that the vision boards I’ve made for the past seven years have kept me on track with my goals and inspired me to make even more lofty ones. I’m not the biggest fan of inspirational quotes but you can do anything you set your mind to is something that I’ve come to believe.