How to Make an Inspiring Vision Board that Works

Curious about vision boards and whether they really work? Read on to learn how to make an effective vision board that can help you get closer to the life of your dreams.

Isn’t it fun to daydream about the life you want to lead? The home you’ll live in, the job you’ll have, and the family members around your table. But what if there was a way for you to see these things even more clearly – with every detail of each element revealed. You could get closer than ever before to creating exactly what you’re dreaming of.

This is where a vision board comes in. Vision boarding is an effective, simple, and yes, a crafty way to articulate your goals and dreams and put them down on paper. When someone has a clear picture of what they want their future to look like, it makes achieving those things that much easier.

I know it sounds all woo-woo and new-agey but I wanted to show you how making a vision board can help you get to the life of your dreams.

What Exactly Is a Vision Board?

Simply put, I like to think of a vision board as a visual representation of your goals and dreams that helps you to create a plan to build the life of your dreams. It is a tool for manifestation and can be an engaging way to ease into practising the laws of attraction.

A vision board typically conjures up images of pictures and words cut out and stuck on a piece of cardboard or poster board. While it can certainly be that, a mindless dumping of pretty images can’t really be called a vision board. Creating an effective and inspiring vision board requires thoughtfulness and visualization, which can then be translated into images and words.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Make Your Vision Board

Before you go all snappy with the scissors and start tearing out images from magazines, I would strongly recommend you to take a step back and ask yourself what are even hoping to bring alive through your vision board. Because really, a vision board without an actual vision driving it would be kind of pointless.

As a starting point, you can use the following questions to guide your vision:

• What has made me the happiest in the last 12 months?

Look back over the last 12 months and ask yourself what is already making you happy and bringing you joy. Maybe you’ve been volunteering at the animal shelter and spending time those animals is fulfilling you in ways you’d never imagined. Perhaps, it could be one of those things that you want more of in your life.

• What has gotten you down in the last 12 months?

In total contrast to the last question, it’s also important to understand where you are struggling currently. Are you feeling stuck in any area of your life? Are the people around you getting you down? Being mindful of these feelings of frustration can guide you towards either working on those problems or eliminating them from your life.

• What do I want more of and less of in my life?

On a similar vein as the last two questions, ask yourself what is it that you are seeking more of and less of in your life. Start making a list and put down whatever comes to your mind.

• What kind of person do I want to be?

This has to be one of my favorite self-discovery questions. All of us have an image of the kind of person we are and the kind of person we want to be. Being able to articulate that will help you to put together a more focused vision board.

• What kind of life do I see for myself in 1/2/3/5 years?

Depending on what time frame you’re making the vision board for, ask yourself how do you see your life at the end of the time frame. Having an end objective in mind definitely helps in the whole creating process.

All of these questions will force you to be more specific when you actually get down to making your vision board. Though mind you, this is not a time to think of the related actions that you need to do to achieve your big picture goals and dreams. That part of the process comes later.   

READ MORE: 52 Powerful Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery

How to Make a Vision Board

With that little self-reflection exercise, you would now have a good idea of the things that matter to you and what you want to focus on in your chosen time-frame. Now comes the fun part – actually making your vision board.

Step 1: You will need a piece of poster board, canvas, cardboard, or corkboard. The size can vary depending on your preference. If you wish to display it around your house, you can go big. I especially love making my vision boards on a 12X16″ sized corkboard. At the other end of the spectrum, you can make it in a smaller size to fit your journal or planner.

Step 2: Gather your supplies. You will need:

• Scissors
• Magazines/postcards/catalogs to get pictures and words
• Glue/tape/pins to secure your paper clippings to the base of your choice
• Pen or markers
• Extra embellishments like twine, stickers, ribbons, washi tape etc.

Step 3: Start collecting images and words from your paper sources that represent your goals, aspirations, and dreams. For example, if you’re trying to get healthier, put pictures of healthy foods or people exercising

Create your own graphics if you want. Write down affirmations or empowering phrases on a piece of paper or journaling card.

You can also print images from the Internet. Pinterest, Unsplash, Pexels are all fantastic sources of images. (quick note: be mindful of copyright matters when using images from Pinterest)

Step 4: Now that you’ve gathered a bunch of images and words that are true to your vision, start placing them around in an order that makes sense for you. A few ideas: you can choose one image/phrase per goal, or divide your board into 4/6/9 sections to denote various aspects of your dream life and place images accordingly, or you could totally go for a free-flowing collage.

Once you’re happy with your layout, start gluing down your images.

Step 5: Place it someplace where you’ll see it every day. By your work desk, or in your home office, or your bedside table – all of that works, as long as it’s someplace where you can see it daily. You can even take a photo of your vision board to save as your phone’s or laptop’s background image.

Does It Really Work?

Okay, so you’ve finally made your vision board. Does that automatically put you on the fast track to your dream life? Ummmm, not so fast, dear friend! It’s not a magic pill, after all. For a vision board to work, and for true actualization of what you put on your board, the key is really ‘inspired action’. And of course, it’s not going to happen overnight.

The universe doesn’t give you what you want in your mind;
it gives you what you demand with your actions.

Steve Maraboli

Say you’ve created your vision board, filled with bright and inspiring pictures of your dream life, which includes a large and loving family, ditching corporate life to become a freelancer, and a milestone epic birthday celebration in the city of your dreams. With this board out in front of you, in your daily line of sight, it can serve as a subconscious reminder to take action that brings you closer to making your vision a reality. So perhaps, you actively start saving for your birthday trip, ramping up your skills to start your freelance life, and actively go out on dates to find yourself a partner. As Gabby Bernstein says, it really begins with one little action.

To take it one step further, once you’ve got your vision board done, you can make a note of the specific items in a notebook or journal, and start writing down the various steps you can take to achieve all of your dreams. Don’t get too bogged down by this part though. You’re not expected to know the exact path that will lead you to your end of objective on day zero, but yes, your vision board can inspire you start chipping away in that direction.

Taking inspired action is a way to infuse more positive energy into your goals and dreams and in time, you will find your dream life manifesting itself into reality.

Vision Board Supplies

Disclosure: If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I use and trust and that will be valuable to you. Thank you for your support!

To make your vision board process even simpler, I’ve put together a list of some handy and pretty supplies that you can use to create your own vision board (ps – click on the image to take you through to the product page):

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I hope this helps you in creating a fabulous vision board for yourself and your dream life! If you have any more tips or have your own personal experience with vision boards, let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.