Author: Zeenat Ahmed-Peto

In a previous post I talked about why I like using vision boards and how they have helped me to think and feel differently about my goals, and in turn, achieve them. You can read more about this here. In this post I will give you guidance to make your own.

Preparation

 As you will need to find lots of images to stick onto the board, collect a variety of magazines to cut up. I also like to draw my images or find them on Google. (As you are only using them for your personal use, you don’t need to worry about copyright.) You will also need a board of some description – I use A4 or A3 thick card or you could use a cork noticeboard for a larger version. A very powerful image to use on your board is one of yourself. Choose a photograph that you like and one where you felt happy and look great. Grab some glue, pens and embellishments of your choice and you are ready to start.

Step 1 – Collecting

If you have a clear goal…

 You may be very clear about your goal and already have a vivid picture of what it would be like if you gained it. In this case, searching the internet maybe easier because you can use Google to find the specific images that you need. Before you begin take a moment to ask yourself what you want and sit quietly with this intention in your mind. Now you are ready to start a collection of images which inspire and excite you. 

If you are unsure about a goal but want to find direction…

A vision board is also very useful to help you find out what you want. In this case, flick through the magazines and pull out pictures of anything you like and are drawn to. They may not mean anything to you currently, or even consciously, just allow your imagination to have fun. You can ask yourself ‘what do I want?’. You may just feel a one word answer like ‘beauty’ – collect images which reflect this for you.

Step 2 – Selecting

This is where you look at the collection of images you have amassed and discard any which no longer create interest or hold meaning for you. As you look through them, note down any words that pop into your head, as they can be added to your board to give another dimension. If you are unsure why you chose certain pictures, ask yourself – ‘what is this telling me?’. Chances are you will know the answer. If you don’t, but still love the picture, use it anyway.

Step 3 – Assembling

Stick your images onto the board using your intuition as a guide. Add colour, texture, pattern, glitter, words – whatever makes your goal more vivid and desirable. A photograph of yourself stuck in the middle of the board can be a simple way to create a link in your mind between you and your desires.

Step 4 – Displaying and observing

The final step is to display your board where you will see in regularly. I used one of my boards for a long-term goal on my bedside table. I saw it before I went to bed each night and when I woke up every morning.

* I would love to hear any comments you have about vision boards or about your experiences with using them. Please get in touch if you have anything to share. Thanks. *

The concept of vision boards to help you plan your future goals has been around for a long time. If you don’t know what one is, it is essentially a board with cut-out pictures stuck onto it (from magazines or the internet) which illustrate a goal or goals that you have. Usually you would have a photo of yourself somewhere on the board too.

I think that if your brain knows what your goal will look like when you have it, you are more likely to be able to achieve that goal and that when you bring parts of your subconscious thinking and conscious thinking together, they can work together more easily. They also keep each other in check so that you actually work towards your goals, rather than just wishing for them. This is different to ‘The Law of Attraction’ because it incorporates the ‘how will I get there?’.

If you have made one before, do you think it helped you to achieve your goals? What tips could you offer someone else who might want to plan for the new year? Here’s what I found out about vision boards.

The first time I encountered vision boards was slightly by accident. On the last day of my old job, I gave a little PowerPoint presentation instead of a leaving speech (mainly to give me something to focus on and help me not to cry, and secondly because I thought it would be a nice way to share some photos from over the years). So I gave the presentation which mainly consisted of pictures of my lovely friends and some humorous stories.  Now the last page was the most interesting to me, because although the old memories were great, I needed to make the future compelling and exciting enough for me to want to leave in the first place. I also wanted to show my colleagues and friends what was in store for me and so they could wish me well on my journey.

On the last page were various pictures of my future goals:

•  A trainer presenting in front of a big crowd (This was the new job I was about to start – but it was a big promotion and was way out of my comfort zone)
• Myself with my partner smiling in a photo
• My darling cat
• Photos of plane tickets, maps of various places, passports
• A picture of a cute house and garden

 The presentation went well; people laughed, there were a few tears. The thing that has stuck in my mind since that day was the last page featuring the bright and compelling future. I did not have a time frame set around my goals, and at times I wondered if I would be able to pull any of them off, but amazingly enough I achieved them all over the next 18 months!

During that time I got married and went travelling around the world for 6 months. My new home has been decorated to reflect my personality and make space for another to share with me. Having learnt so much from that new job, I decided to finally live my dream of travelling, and opened my mind to the possibility of starting a completely new career. And so on went my journey… and it continues still 🙂

Don’t get me wrong- I am sure I would have achieved all of those things without my goals being illustrated on a PowerPoint (!), but I am aware that I respond well to images and visuals (my memories are vivid pictures and moving films) and even though I was not intending it that way, the pictures helped me to form my goals in a way that made me really want to achieve them. I realise now that to me, vision boards are like an extended and more permanent version of a list, or a mind map.

I use a combination of  techniques to help me plan, organise and even to make decisions- including mind mapping, brainstorming and making lists.

 A mind map (of sorts) to solve a problem

A more traditional mind map – a diary of a weekend away Example of brainstorming ideas for a training day

The humble list – a useful tool

*Tony Buzan’s Mind mapping books are a great way to learn more about how we organise and plan our thoughts. *

Planning your future

I like to plan some things but I also like the flexibility of being able to be impulsive and ‘live in the moment’. The latter has taken me a long time to learn to do. It did not come easily to me and I have now learnt some ways to be able to bring myself back to the present – one of them is setting long-term goals and making them more vivid in my imagination by using vision boards.

If you call a taxi to take you on a journey, you need to know where you are now and where you want to go. Obviously you need the funds to cover the cost of the journey. You might want to find out more about the taxi driver or the journey (e.g. the estimated journey time or what car to look out for). You don’t really need to know how you will get from point A to point B at this stage (although if the driver is taking you the long way around, or is completely off the route, you will need to know that so you can intervene). You also need to know when you have reached your destination. You might even tweak the journey it a bit, or have an extra stop, like asking the taxi driver to stop at a cash point.

How will you know when you have reached your destination?

Where am I now? Where do I want to go?

So if point A is the present (where you are now) and point B is the future, (where you want to go) you just need to want to go to point B at this stage. If your future goal(s) at point B are desirable, compelling, strong words, images and feelings you are more likely to get there if they are foggy and unclear. What if they are foggy and unclear?

A vision board can help you gain clarity about what you want to achieve.

Sometimes we focus so much on how we will get from A to B that we struggle to get there. 

If you focus on the future – what you want to achieve, making bright, clear, attractive, warm pictures, your sub-conscious mind will work out the how.

There will be more on the steps of making your own VB later!

An Example of a Vision Board I have used

One of my long term goals has been health related and although I can’t say that I never experience the issues I used to have, they seem to arise less often, and when they do, they are less of a problem. I know I feel so much better because my attitudes towards my own health have changed. Instead of being angry and frustrated about feeling under-the-weather, I take responsibility for my well-being by having enough rest, taking exercise, eating well, enjoying myself and keeping my brain as well as my body happy by making time to enjoy my hobbies. I no longer look at the situation as if I am ‘a person with illness x’, I am not ‘ill’. By changing the way I speak about my health (as opposed to my illness) I have changed the way I think about it, and in turn feel about it.

I used to have a bad feeling about the physical symptoms I had. Now when I experience the physical symptoms, I remove the bad feeling. The feeling about the feeling has changed! So it feels less of a problem. It is what it is, nothing more and nothing less. By acknowledging it, sometimes that’s enough to make it go away. If it doesn’t, I ask myself why it’s there? I have learnt to trust my subconscious to help me. The vision board below has been on my bedside table for a year. It has been the last thing I have seen at night and the first thing I have seen in the morning. Both consciously and subconsciously it has helped me to remember my goal and keep working at it. I am going to keep this board nearby as a reminder and make some room for my new year boards.

Example of a vision board I have used for over a year

I’d love to hear your questions or thoughts on vision boards – please drop me a line or leave me a comment below.