How to Create a Vision Board That Inspires Action

Amid countless distractions and daily obligations, it’s easy to lose sight of our aspirations. Vision boards are a powerful tool that can significantly enhance our personal and professional growth—by ensuring those aspirations stay front and center in our lives and by strengthening our commitment to them.

The Science Behind Vision Boards

Once viewed as “woo-woo”, today vision boards have claimed their place in the mainstream as a scientifically valid tool for self-development. Neuroscience research shows that mental imagery activates the same neural pathways as actual performance, reinforcing goals while fueling motivation and preparedness—essentially “priming” the brain for success. Many prominent athletes and business professionals attribute their achievements to their use of visualization techniques.

Just as athletes plot their path to victory before stepping onto the field, anyone can use a vision board to map out their personal vision of success, clarifying their goals and training their brain to recognize and pursue opportunities on life’s playing fields.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to make a vision board and use it to maximum effect to reach your goals.

How vision boards boost growth, in a nutshell:

• Providing clarity: vision boards sharpen your goals and organize your aspirations.
• Acting as a daily reminder: vision boards keep your dreams on your radar.
• Strengthening commitment: vision boards help you bridge the gap between intention and action.
• Reinforcing a growth mindset: vision boards shift your focus from limitations to possibilities.

Sound like a winning formula? Then it’s kickoff time!

How to Make a Vision Board in 6 Steps

Step 1: Define Your Goals

Start by identifying key areas of life you want to improve: Career, Health, Relationships, Finances, Personal Growth, Hobbies, or Spirituality.

Write a list of goals and narrow it down to ten (you can add more later, if you like).

Ensure that five of your dreams meet the SMART goals framework: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The other five can be “wildcards” which are hard to put a timeline on.

SMART goals will reinforce your motivation in the short-term as you achieve them, while the wildcards will keep you dreaming big, letting your imagination roam outside the bounds of what you think is possible right now.

Step 2: Gather Supplies & Choose Your Format

Decide whether you want to create a paper or digital vision board:

• Paper Vision Board: Use a poster board, magazine cutouts, glue, markers, and printed images.
• Digital Vision Board: Use platforms like Canva, Pinterest, PowerPoint, or Google Slides to create a virtual version.

Pros & Cons:

• Physical boards are fun to make and you won’t have to stare at a screen as you meditate on your goals.
• Digital boards give you access to tons of images, portability, and easy updates.

Step 3: Collect Your Images

Find visual representations of your goals.

These can include photos of:

• Dream destinations
• Career achievements
• Ideal lifestyles

If your goal is professional advancement, look for images of your dream office, role models in your industry, or even objects that represent your idea of success.

Tip 1: Choose bold and emotionally engaging imagery that resonates with you deeply.

As you flip through magazines or scroll through stock images, notice:

• How do the images make you feel? Are you joyful, excited, confident? Feeling emotion significantly enhances the imprint of a thought in the brain and will not only make your vision board more effective, it will be more fun to engage with.
• Are your senses triggered? As you gaze on your future swimming pool does your skin tingle? That’s a good sign! Our brains process information more effectively when multiple senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) are engaged, so choose images that inspire you at a sensory level.

Tip 2: Include inspirational quotes and affirmations. Powerful phrases that reinforce your beliefs can help shift your thinking and keep you focused on your goals.

Step 4: Arrange & Design Your Vision Board

Research in cognitive psychology suggests that organizing information into meaningful categories reduces mental effort and improves recall, so consider organizing your images and words into sections or themes:

• Career & Finance on one side.
• Health & Well-being in another section.
• Personal Growth & Relationships in a separate area.

Tip 1: Use color psychology to further enhance your engagement and emotional connection:

• Blue stands for calmness and confidence.
• Green for growth and financial prosperity.
• Yellow for positivity and creativity.
• Red for passion, energy, and determination.

Tip 2: Ensure your layout is visually appealing to keep engagement high. You want to feel a positive resonance with your goals and a sense of excitement every time you look at your board.

Step 5: Put Your Vision Board in a Strategic Location

Decide where to place your vision board:

• Bedroom: Start and end your day with visualization.
• Workspace: Stay inspired throughout the day.
• Laptop or Phone Wallpaper: Portable, “on demand” inspiration.

Do you want colleagues and houseguests to see all your dreams and ambitions? When deciding whether or not to put your vision board on display, keep in mind that while sharing your vision publicly can create a sense of accountability and inspire support from others, it may invite unsolicited opinions, which could affect your confidence in your goals.

You can also create different vision boards for different places: one for work and one for home—or find a way to cover it up as needed. But don’t forget to uncover it again: engaging with your vision board regularly is critical.

Step 6: Use Your Vision Board!

It’s one thing to know how to make a vision board, it’s another to know how to use it (and stay committed to it). But trust us—and the thousands of success stories out there—it’s worth the effort!

Here’s a checklist for optimally leveraging your vision board:

Work with It Daily & Weekly

• Spend 5-10 minutes daily visualizing and experiencing your goals as if they are already achieved. Fully engage your senses and positive emotions.
• Set weekly intentions to align actions with your vision board aspirations.
• Celebrate small wins, feeling your gratitude.

Bonus: Repeat a personal mission/purpose statement or mantra that captures the essence of your aspirations as you meditate on your vision board, e.g. “I am building my dream career while maintaining balance in my personal life.”

Be Strategic

• Break down your SMART goals into manageable tasks.
• Create an action plan with deadlines to maintain accountability.
• Track your progress using a journal or planner.

Update & Adapt Your Vision Board

• As goals evolve, refresh your vision board to reflect new aspirations.
• Schedule a quarterly review with a reminder. Assess your progress and make necessary changes.
• Remove outdated images to keep your board relevant and inspiring.

Your Future Awaits…

By consistently engaging with your vision board, you’ll enhance your focus, motivation, and commitment to your goals. You can even use your vision board as part of a larger accomplishment strategy that includes coaching, journaling, and habit tracking to maximize your potential.

But before you run for scissors and glue, remember that your vision board is not about what anyone else thinks you should want. And it’s not about what you think you want. It’s about what you know you want. Knowledge is power: just the process of deciding what goals you want to put on your board and which images best represent those aspirations will bring you more clarity and focus about who you are and what you want—and put you on that trajectory to success.

Happy visioning!