How to Create a Vision Board

This last week, my sisters and I took advantage of the fact that we were all in the same place for once (my older sister’s been living in Europe for awhile so we’re not often all together!) and since my older sister Natasha is a bit of a vision board guru, I asked her to help me piece one together just for fun. What I didn’t expect was how much it’d help direct me as far as planning out all my resolutions, goals, intentions or whatever you want to call them for 2019.

Full disclaimer – this isn’t my actual vision board, just a fun additional one (with some of my other goals!) for the year, but my big one that we worked on is officially full of everything that inspires me, is currently motivating me and that lights a fire underneath me for the year. Using some of Tash’s tips and what worked for me (since quite frankly, I had a really hard time finding tips online before we got started!) I wanted to share my tips on creating your own vision board! It’s such a fun, fluid and creative way to get inspired for the year, I really hope you guys try it out!

1. Brain dump your dream year

Even if you’re not really 100% on what you want to tackle, there’s nothing like just starting writing (even if it’s gibberish) for ideas to start to flow. I’ve recently started The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and have been following along with the daily work (which involves doing 3 “Artist Pages” a day, basically just free-flow writing to fill 3 pages) and I have to say, even in the short time I’ve been doing it I’ve resolved a bunch of things, sparked a ton of new ideas and generally just quieted my mind down. So kick this all off by just writing as much as you can about what your dream year would be like. Don’t spell-check, don’t correct and don’t limit – just be honest about everything you truly would love to have happen this year!

2. Create a Pinterest Vision Board

Go through steps 1-2 fast – this is really just to get your creative juices flowing and pulling together a general idea! This step might not be necessary for you but because so much of what I do is determined by imagery and it’s how I’m typically inspired, I really want to get a clear sense of the colours, places, pictures, activities, etc that spark some interest and joy in me. Whip together a quick Pinterest vision board to see what’s inspiring you, and if you have a good sense about what you want to do (maybe finish your first triathlon) then be intentional about finding images that resonate with you about that goal!

3. Gather Your Supplies

The thing about a vision board is you need to have it somewhere visible where you’re going to see it daily, so keep that in mind when you pick out your supplies – you might want a smaller canvas (like the one pictured above), or maybe you have space for a poster board! Just make sure you pick a canvas that you’ll be able to easily put up in your space. Now, because my mind really particularly responds to visuals, I love the idea of adding in key colours that inspire you – my sister did this with hers and I loved it so on my personal vision board currently hanging above my desk, I did some abstract ocean and sky since I’m inspired by life on the coast (which is handy since I live here), and a lot of my goals are centred around the ocean, whether it’s more surfing or ocean conservation. So if you want to add in some painting, grab your paints whether it’s acrylic, oil, crayons, pencil crayon, watercolour, etc!

4. Pick Your Colours

Inspired by the snaps I pulled together on my Pinterest board, I mixed together some tones that capture the most prominent colours in them and just did a quick background. This doesn’t have to be perfect since you’re pasting things over, and you can definitely skip this step if you’re not painting-inclined, but I do find either adding in some texture and colour or little sketches even helps add a bit more of you into the board and helps it come to life!

5. Pull Together Quotes & Goals

I have the world’s ugliest handwriting so I wouldn’t feel particularly inspired by my scrawl on an otherwise pretty vision board, so I decided to print out the goals, mantras, words or quotes that were really speaking to me this year in a nice font instead, but you can of course write yours directly down! You can also cut out letters or words from magazines for that cool collage, DIY effect. I like to pull my text together and glue them onto the page at the end but it helps me get clear on the exact photos I need to figure out what text is most important to me to have on the board.

6. Choose Your Images

Now, I typically go back to my Pinterest board and pick the images that speak to the text or that are just really inspiring me for whatever reason. Some are more just general inspiration, but most directly correspond to my goals (i.e. a place I want to travel to, a language I want to learn, a fitness goal I want to hit, etc). If you have a colour printer then you can just print out and you’re golden, but if you don’t have a printer you can also flip through magazines and cut out ones that you’re feeling!

7. Lay It All Out, Paste Your Images Then Paste Your Text

Exactly what the heading says! I like a nice aesthetic so I don’t paste as I go – I like to lay everything out until I’m really happy with it, snap a pic as a reference, and then start gluing things down, with text going over images (or if you’re writing it in, you can jot it down after images are down!).

8. Find a Place You’ll See It!

And you’re done! All that’s left to do is to find a place you’ll see it daily.

Earlier this year, I found a note book I used to write my goals and plans in every single lunch break while I was at the job I had before I left it to follow the blog full-time, so from maybe 4 years ago or so. I hadn’t even remembered writing down any of these goals years later, though I did remember I used to scour over that notebook all the time, adding in notes. Every single one of my goals had come true, and I remember at the time how far-flung and wild they seemed (like working as a travel blogger).

For me, that can’t be better proof personally of how effectively putting out an intention and goal into the universe can work. Being a visual person, I can only imagine how seeing something that’s also visually appealing to me will help this year, particularly because it’s hanging over my desk where I spend a ton of time! I really hope you guys try this out and have fun with it. For now though, I’m curious: what are you looking to accomplish in 2019? Tell me in the comments below!