How to create a vision board for the new year

Vision boards are a fun, creative way to set and prioritise your new year goals. Your vision board is meant to motivate and remind you to keep your eye on the prize. Here’s how to create your own!

What’s a vision board?

A vision board is usually a collage of images that represent goals and dreams. It can include cut-out pictures from magazines and words that help inspire you to manifest your dreams and get to where you want to go.

Defining your goals

Do a brief 10-15-minute reflection on the areas of your life that are important to you right now (eg. family, relationships, hobbies, well-being, finances). Think about what excites you and what you’d like to achieve this year. This can include doing well at school, teaching, traveling, finding a job, or starting a business. If you aren’t feeling crafty, the same exercise in a journal is just as effective.

Collect materials

Depending on what’s available to you, you can use any of the following materials to make your vision board beautiful:

Magazines, postcards, stickers, shop catalogues, wrapping paper, fabric, ribbons, leaves, flowers

Posterboard, in any size you prefer

Scissors

Glue sticks

Markers

Fabric or ribbons

Stickers, gems, sequins, metallic pens or crayons.

Find pictures that represent your goals

Start cutting out images that speak to you and gather visuals of things that align with the goals that you’ve identified. Be creative. You can use not only pictures, but anything that speaks to you. The point is to have fun while dreaming about the life you want, so don’t rush it.

Add affirmations

Your vision of the year ahead shouldn’t be focused just on images alone. Add words that describe how you’d like to feel every day, such as: joyful, abundant, powerful, fearless, loved, strong, healthy, loving, or financially free. You can either search for these words in your magazines or write them yourself.

Put your vision board up

To get the full benefit from your vision board, it’s important to place it somewhere you can see it every day. You can take a few minutes to look over your vision board at least once or twice a day. Look at it in the morning and every night before you go to sleep. That way, you'll wake up with motivation to succeed and focus on the opportunities that’ll bring you closer to your goals.

As you continue to grow, evolve, and expand, your dreams will too. If you didn’t meet a particular goal in a month or a year that you hoped to achieve, that’s okay. Enjoy the journey!

If you or a friend need advice or help, you can contact me here on Ask Choma, send a Facebook message or a Twitter DM, or a WhatsApp Message (071 172 3657).