How to Make a Vision Board

It’s a brand-new decade, ladies! Jumping into 2020 marks a great time to reflect on your goals and ambitions for the year (and your life) ahead.

We all have big dreams for our lives. But sometimes it can be overwhelming to think about how you’re going to achieve even one of the items on your “hopes and dreams” list—let alone all of them! How can you start to turn those ambitions into reality?
Enter… the vision board!

What Exactly is a Vision Board?

A vision board is a powerful tool that can help you define your life goals and make them happen. In its literal sense, a vision board is a collection of images, quotes, and keepsakes that are attached to a poster board and placed somewhere where you’ll see it every day.

But at the root of it, a vision board is an inspiring physical representation of all the things you want to do, be, and achieve in your life. Whether that’s graduating school, building a career, traveling the world, focusing on your family, or learning a cool new skill (or all of the above!). The idea is that when you get your ambitions down on paper through a tool like a vision board, it becomes easier to bring all of those incredible dreams to life.

Why Vision Boards Work

 So, what’s the deal? A vision board is more than just a craft project; the reason it works has to do with the focus and intentions you set when you make it.

You may have heard of something called the “Law of Attraction,” which is the ability to attract into our lives the things that we focus on. The idea is that your mode of thinking has a powerful effect on the brain, and that visualization, or feeling the emotions behind your dreams and goals, has the power to help make those goals a reality.

5 Steps to Make a Vision Board

1

Plan out your vision board.

Start by thinking about what you want your vision board to convey. Ask yourself questions like:

• What types of goals and desires do I want to reflect on my vision board? Examples: your values, career goals, family, travel, things you want to learn or do.
• What type of style do I want my vision board to have? Clean and organized or free-flowing and abstract? Do you want to include any decorative elements (like washi tape, glitter, stickers, etc.)?
• What type of images will I use? Magazine cutouts, your own photos, quotes, flyers?

2

Get your supplies together.

After you’ve planned out your vision board, it’s time to gather your materials. Here’s what you’ll need: 

• A poster board or cork board
• Magazines (if you’re pulling images from there)
• Printed photos or quotes you want to use
• Any keepsakes that remind you of your goals (for example, a concert ticket of your favorite band that reminds you of your goal of being a musician)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Colorful pens or markers
• Decorations (washi tape, glitter, stickers, etc.)

3

Set up a comfortable space to make your vision board.

Making a vision board is a time for self-reflection, much like practicing meditation or doing yoga. You’ll want to have a quiet, comfortable place to work, where you can focus on your thoughts without any interruptions.

Tip: Feel free to light a candle or diffuse some essential oils to help you feel relaxed and inspired!

4

Create your vision board.

 Now it’s time to get crafty! Go through your images and cutouts and begin to lay them out on your board. You can follow a pattern or just place them at random—it’s up to you! Once you’ve got everything in a layout you like, go ahead and glue them down.

Next, it’s time to add any writing (for example, you might write “travel to Paris” underneath a picture of the Eiffel Tower). Finally, add any decorations or embellishments to make your board feel like your style.

5

Hang up your vision board.

 Be sure to hang up your board in a place you’ll see it often, like above a dresser or by a mirror in your room. Remember to look at your board daily, and try to practice feeling the way you think you’ll feel when you achieve each goal on your board.

It’s time to get dreaming!

Note: If you’re not into cutting out pictures and hanging up a board on your wall, that’s totally okay! You can still make a vision “board,” but do it in whatever format feels right to you. Maybe that’s through a virtual Pinterest board, or writing down your goals in detail in a journal. Whatever the format, the key is to get specific about each of your goals and visualize how it would feel to achieve them.

Courtney Pellegrini is originally from North Carolina and is now proud to call New Orleans home. After graduating from Tulane University in 2018, she stayed in New Orleans working as a marketing coordinator for a technology startup. She has always been passionate about girls’ empowerment and reproductive health education, and she loves doing social media and brand management for Geaux Girl!. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, yoga, cooking, and playing with her sweet beagle lab mix, Beau.