Go beyond just making a resolution
The new year started very recently, and I’m wondering if you made any resolutions. This year I did not make any resolutions at all. Instead, I made a vision board.
Are you familiar with vision boards? Basically, the idea is to give yourself the opportunity to create a clear path for the general or specific direction you want your life to take. Some people he equated with manifesting things, or “putting it out into the world.”
Let me pause right there in case you’re not really familiar with the term manifesting, at least as it refers to this type of thing. Basically, it’s the idea that you attract what you really want into your life by focusing on it and thinking about it in the right ways. Of course, it’s not magic and a fairy godmother isn’t going to Bibbidy Boppodity Boo it into your life. Whether your dreams and goals are simple or complex they are going to just manifest and materialize on their own. Achieving them – realizing your potential – takes effort.
Having a vivid, detailed vision of your goals and a belief in your ability to create your future helps to convert the visualization into actions, and the steps into reality. And from action to reality. You have to be able to focus on keeping sight of those goals. Vision boards help quite a lot with that.
Other people look at it as making your kind of make goals more specific, figuring that specificity makes things more reachable. Still, others appreciate creating a visual reminder of the things you’re hoping to achieve.
Okay, so what exactly is a vision board?
Vision boards are a collection of images or objects chosen and arranged in a specific way to help you manifest your goals or vision. The board can be physical or digital, or both
The pictures on the vision board are like a personal shorthand. For example, you might utilize a picture of some healthy meal to remind you to take the time to make better food choices in whatever way “better” means for you. You can highlight aspects of your dream life, your professional goals, your health goals, your relationship goals, or all of the above. You can have a monthly vision board, one for six months, a year, or even a multiyear plan. It’s your decision. You can even create more than one, for multiple time frames.
When you create your vision board, choose pictures that are meaningful to you. You want images that make you feel a certain way or inspire you. Feel free to include quotes or famous sayings.
Are you asking again how some kind of craft project can help you set and reach goals? Again, it’s not magic so you don’t need a magic wand or fairy dust. It’s all based on the proven concept that thoughts come before the behavior. So the right mindset can drive you to behave in ways that lead ultimately to the outcomes you seek. Vision boards are a straightforward, visual reminder of your priorities and intentions. It gives you a clear and touchable direction.
Are you a person who believes in the power of keeping a diary or journal? Then think of a vision board as being the visual representation of the journal.
How can you create one?
Just as there are literally endless ways to express your dreams, hopes, or aspirations, there are also lots of ways to create a vision board.
1 Go old school! Get a piece of poster board at the drugstore and glue onto it pictures you cut from magazines or printed off your computer.
2 Instead of buying posterboard, use regular printer paper as your base. Yes, the end result will be more physically flimsy, but you can then attach that to cardboard or slip it in a picture frame.
3 Create a Pinterest board and let it live online. On this platform, it’ll be more like putting together a collection, but that works well for many people.
- Create your board using a program like Canva. That’s what I did this year. I actually put mine together in the little pieces of time on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the day after that. That brings me to another point –
You don’t have to create your vision board as a New Year’s thing! You can create your vision board in February or March. Make more than one if you like, to focus on different parts of your life.
You don’t need artistic talent to do this
Don’t overthink the creation of your board. You’re not getting a grade or ranking; it’s as unique and individualized as you are. You also don’t have to impress anyone. This is for you.
The base of your board can be a posterboard, a whiteboard, a chalkboard, a wiring board, wood, cork, cardboard, or anything else that you either have around or that works for you. Choose an assemblage of pictures as I mentioned in step one. By the way, you can think of this as a collage, if that helps to picture it. Based on what type of board you use, decide how you want to affix things to it. You could use clips, pins, glue, thumbtacks, wire, tape, or little stick-on magnets. If you’re making a physical board, you can also add decorative embellishments like ribbons, glitter, or other trimmings.
When you finish your creation, put it somewhere you can see it regularly – daily if possible. Hang it on the wall of your room, in the corner of your mirror, by your front door. If it’s a physical copy, take a picture of it so you can carry it with you. I created mine digitally through Canva and ordered a copy to be sent to me. It cost $11.
If you already made a vision board or you do so after reading this, consider sending me a picture of it to frominhere@gmail.com. I will pick one winner at random from all the boards I see between now and February 19th, 2023. Remember, it doesn’t have to be an artistic masterpiece!