Going through a lot in life and trying to find a solution but aren’t reaching anywhere, like you’re on a treadmill? Your efforts toward the life you envision seem to go in vain, and you feel stuck.
Something that can help you a lot through a journey is a vision board. A vision board is a collage of images, phrases, and symbols that represent the experiences, feelings, and things you want to attract into your life. When vision boards are created with intention, they become one of the most scientifically sound and emotionally transformative tools.
If you have probably dismissed a vision board as a craft project for teenagers or a Gen-Z trend that doesn’t belong in the real world of bills, schedules, and responsibilities, this guide is for you.
Why Does Vision Board Work? The Science Behind Them
Learning the “why” behind what you are doing helps you achieve better results. When you know how and why a vision board works, it will benefit you more than someone who doesn’t know the science behind it.
Your brain is a powerful supercomputer, and you can consider vision boards as a software update to that computer. Deep in your brain stem lies a bundle of nerves called the Reticular Activating System that filters out the billions of bits of data coming at you, so you don’t lose your mind.
The Reticular Activating System (RAS) lets in what it thinks is important to you. This is why, when you decide to buy a specific red car, you suddenly start seeing that red car everywhere. Even though those cars were always there, you didn’t notice because that information was not important to RAS previously.
Similarly, when you look at your vision board frequently, they get marked as important. You’ll notice a networking event, a book, or a conversation that aligns with your goal.
How to Create an Effective Vision Board?
Just dumping some photos on the canvas doesn’t make a vision board. Creating one that actually helps with your goals is a task on its own. Here is a step-by-step guide for creating a vision board:
Step 1: Start with Reflection and Intention
Sit in a quiet space with a journal. Don’t think about what you can have; think about what you long for. Write everything and answer every question in your mind without imposing conditions.
Step 2: Focus on Feeling, Not Just the Thing
If you put a picture of a diamond ring on your vision board but don’t address the feeling, you feel empty even after getting the ring. So, don’t just put pictures, focus on feelings too.
Step 3: Choose the Right Images
Don’t just throw random images; find one that evokes the emotion you want to experience. Search magazines, Pinterest, Unsplash, and other stock photo sites to look for:
- Colors that make you feel the way you want to feel.
- Landscape photos of places that feel like home.
- Representations of your future self
Step 4: Trust Your Intuition
If you find an image of a vintage typewriter and it sparks something in you, even if you aren’t a writer, put it on the board! Your subconscious often knows what you need before your conscious mind can explain it.
Craft Your Dream Life With a Perfect Vision Board
Now you know what a vision board is, the science behind it, and how it helps with manifestation. Let’s talk about the types of vision boards and which one is best for you.
Types of Vision Boards
Traditional Poster Board:
Traditional poster boards are made by cutting out real images, pasting them on the paper, and writing notes yourself. It is a therapeutic experience and perfect for those who need a screen break and enjoy crafting.
Digital Vision Boards:
Digital vision boards can be created on phones, laptops, or tablets using tools like Canva or Pinterest. They do offer templates, and you can create a beautiful digital collage of your own.
Word-based or Affirmation Boards:
Some find more power in language and feel more motivated with words than images. They can go with a board filled with quotes, powerful single words, and written affirmations.
Vision Journals or Notebooks:
If you want to deep dive into the details of each goal, a vision journal is perfect for you. You won’t have to display it on a wall, showing your dreams to every guest coming to your place.
Seasonal or Life Area Specific Boards:
There can be separate boards for different phases or different aspects of your life. You might have a “Career Board” in your office and a “Wellness Board” in your gym space.
How a Vision Board Helps with Manifestation?
Manifestation requires a lot of focus, and this world is full of distractions, so you can stray from the path leading to your goals. A vision board acts as your focus protector in such situations. It helps you:
Clarify Desires:
You might be manifesting promotion, but what you actually want is the freedom associated with it. While choosing the right images for your vision board, you identify your true desires.
Strengthen Self-Belief:
A vision board lowers your fear barrier. Every time you look at your vision board, it creates a sense in your mind that you have already been there, and it increases self-belief.
Keep Goals Top-of-Mind:
You will surely feel motivated on January 1st or on Monday every week, but vision boards are a way to give you a daily “why” behind your effort, even on the rainy Wednesdays.
Align Your Energy with Goals:
Manifestation is about matching your frequency with what you want. When you look at the vision board, your mood shifts to match that vibration, making you more likely to act on your desires.
How To Use the Vision Board? Daily Or Once in A While?
If your vision board is sitting behind the sofa, in the cupboard, under the bed, or lost in your phone gallery, it is of no use. To manifest change:
- Placement of the Vision Board is Everything: Place it somewhere you can see it as the first thing in your Alpha stage. It is the state between wakefulness and sleep, like when you get up in the morning or plan to sleep at night. Your brain is most receptive to new ideas in that state.
- Practice Daily or Weekly Check-ins: Each morning, or at least every week, stand in front of your board and pick one image. Close your eyes and imagine you are inside that image. What do you smell? What do you hear? That moment of joy motivates you more towards your goal.
- Pair Vision Board with Affirmations & Journaling: Speak or write your goals. Telling yourself that “I am scoring well in the exams”, “I am worthy of a soft and easy life,” or “I am achieving everything,” eventually makes it happen. You will get good grades, an easy life, and everything else.
- Take Aligned Actions: After looking at your board, ask yourself what I need to do and what I need to change in my life to be on the path leading to my goals. Also, practice asking daily, “What is one tiny thing I can do today that my Future Self on this board would be proud of?” Then, go do it.
Real-Life Shifts Vision Boards Can Support
When you align your life with your purpose through tools like this, the changes aren’t always overnight miracles.” Instead, they are beautiful, steady shifts:
- Confidence and Self-Belief: You stop asking for permission to be yourself and the person you must be now leading to your future self.
- Career & Purpose Clarity: You feel sure about which career path aligns with your goals and find it easier to say no to things that don’t fit your vision.
- Emotional Healing: Your mindset shifts, and you begin to forgive your past self for not knowing what your future self now knows.
- Relationship and Personal Growth: You’ll start having “weird coincidences,” meeting the right person and right opportunities at the right time.
Confused How To Create A Vision Board? 1:1 Session With A Life Coach Can Help
Sometimes the hardest part of creating a vision board isn’t finding pictures; it is identifying what you truly want. A 1 on 1 session with a certified life coach can help you gain clarity that you are missing. Have a look at how a life coach can elevate your vision board experience:
You Get To Know Your True Desires:
Your desires are usually based on something that looks successful and impressive or on what others expect from you. A life coach helps you uncover what you genuinely desire.
You Break Through Limiting Beliefs:
If you underestimate yourself, thinking you are not capable enough, this silently sabotages your dreams. A coach helps identify and tackle limiting beliefs so that your board isn’t built on doubt.
Your Dreams into Actionable Goals:
A vision board is just a set of images without actionable goals, and a life coach helps translate each image into practical next steps needed to achieve your dream life.
You Stay Accountable and Consistent:
You can create a vision board with full motivation, but you can’t stay motivated for long. A coach provides accountability and encouragement to keep you aligned with your vision.
Your Vision Is Valid & Purposeful Life Coach Can Turn That into A Board For You
Your desires are actually what your life is. Creating a vision board helps you long for a more purposeful, joyful, or peaceful life. Just start where you are, use what you have, do your part by getting clear and taking action, and you will eventually reach your future-self who’s already waiting for you on the other side of that vision.
If you feel inspired by the idea of vision boards but are overwhelmed about where to start, you don’t have to do it alone. At Purposeful Life Coach, Dawn Attanasio offers one-on-one sessions that can help you move past the stuck phase and give a step-by-step guide on “Why” and “How” to create a vision board.
