Vision Boards: A Powerful Tool for Achieving Your Goals
Originally posted on Entrepreneur.com
Here’s how to create a vision board that will motivate you to achieve your goals.
Have you ever noticed how picturing what it would be like to achieve your goals can push you even harder to work toward them? There’s something so motivating about envisioning success. Now imagine if you could make that vision more tangible.
That’s where a vision board comes in.
The concept of creating a vision board may seem corny or bogus. However, according to a TD Bank Survey, people who keep images, photos or vision boards of their goals are almost twice as confident that they will achieve them than those who don’t. What’s more, an astounding 82% of small business owners who used a vision board from the start reported having accomplished over half of their goals so far. Impressive, right?
When it comes to achieving your goals in business and in life, a vision board is an undeniably effective way to make it happen. It’s a visual representation of your goals and aspirations. Think of it as a collage but with purpose. It’s essentially a variety of cut-out pictures and words related to your goals that you can either pin to a board or glue to a large piece of paper. When complete, it serves as an inspiring visual reminder of all you’re aiming to accomplish.
The benefits of having a vision board
A vision board is an incredibly effective tool for attracting the results you want into your life. When you have a visual representation of your goals, your mind can more easily focus on them, which helps you to better come up with strategies for achieving them.
Here are some specific benefits of a vision board:
- Promotes positive thinking: Vision boards can help you imagine what a positive future would look and feel like, thus increasing positive emotions and optimism. And positive emotions often lead to opportunities and increase your chances of success.
- Reduces stress: The prospect of achieving new goals can be incredibly stressful. After all, charting unfamiliar territory is scary. However, when you have a daily visual reminder of your goals, the unfamiliar becomes familiar. This will go a long way in helping you feel more focused and less stressed.
- Creates clarity: Oftentimes, one of the hardest things about goals is clearly defining them. Making a vision board can help. As you start to pick out images for your board, you will likely notice that some naturally thrill you, while others leave you feeling uninspired. This will make it clearer what’s important to you, so you’ll know exactly what to work toward.
- Improves motivation: Sometimes it’s hard to get the motivation to keep working on your goals. But with a vision board, you are regularly inspired and reminded of what you want to achieve, which can give you the drive you need to keep going.
Getting the most out of a vision board requires that you create and make use of it with the right mindset. Here’s how.
1. Explore your values
Begin by exploring your values. If your vision board doesn’t align with your personal values, achieving the goals it represents won’t fulfill you. Ask yourself what’s truly important to you and what gives you purpose. Who do you want to be? And how do you want to make use of your time? Keeping these value-based questions in mind will help you move onto the next step of deciding your goals.
2. Choose your goals
When selecting images for your vision board, don’t go into it blind. Decide on your goals ahead of time. It’s fine if you refine these goals as you start selecting, but you should at least have something defined before you get going. Think big but also specific and write everything down. Last but not least, make sure your goals are SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
3. Select your images
Go through magazines to find images that correlate with your goals. The best method is to select ones that evoke how you want to feel. Don’t worry about keeping all the images aligned — keep it fun and creative. Once you have enough images selected, glue or pin them to your board of choice. You can arrange them in any way you want. You can either choose to add the images at random or organize them ahead of time. Do whatever feels right.
4. Display the finished product
Display your vision board in a place where it’s easily visible. Try to look at it for a couple of minutes first thing in the morning and right before going to bed. When you do, visualize yourself doing the work it will take to achieve your goals and imagine yourself enjoying the outcome.
Keep your eyes on the prize
Whatever your goals are, if you want to turn them into reality, a vision board is a fun yet impactful strategy for success. It’s important to remember that you still need to put in the work to get where you want to go. Map out the steps you need to take to get you closer to your goals and use your vision board to keep you focused, optimistic and inspired.
