Every year, I create a vision board to guide my intentions towards achieving small and big goals. I do this because I’m very much a visual person, and for something to stay at the forefront of my mind, I need to be able to see and touch. If you’re like me, then creating a vision board is a great way to visually represent your goals – making them appear more tangible and achievable. In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps to create a digital vision board that you can then print out (if you want) and keep as a guide.

Here are the steps to making a vision board:

What you’ll need:

• Online photos or quotes (Pinterest, Unsplash.com, Google, etc)
• A template to add photos and words to (Canva free template, Word doc, etc)
• A printer

1. Source photos that represent your goals or motivate you. I like to use Pinterest and create a board on the platform to add “pins”. You could also use stock photo sites such as Unsplash.com etc.
2. Once I have all the photos I want, I save them to my compute and upload to Canva to create a cohesive layout. Thankfully, their platform provides free templates where you can simply drag and drop photos into.
3. When I have a completed layout, I print it out and glue it into my notebook. You could also use sticker-backed paper. You can add the vision board to your planner, your journal, or a separate notebook to track your goals. I use an Archer & Olive notebook specifically for goal setting and tracking. [Affiliate discount: code “CAROLA10” at Archer & Olive]
4. Periodically look at your vision board and reflect. I like to set monthly intentions to get closer to each goal or at least keep thinking about what I want to achieve. I feel that the more I think about a goal or outcome, the more I’m aware of opportunities that could get me there.

Optional: add photos and words clipped out from magazines and other ephemera once you have a vision board. Update the board throughout the year if you want, and feel free to replace photos if they no longer inspire you.

If you’d like to see the images that inspired my vision board, here is the link to my Pinterest Board.

Final Thoughts:

A vision board is meant to inspire and motivate you to manifest your goals. Make it look any way you want and revisit it often so that it doesn’t become stagnant or outdated. At the end of the year, I like to reflect on the steps I took to get closer to my dreams and plan out what I want to aspire towards in the following year.

In past years, I’ve reached my goals through incremental action coupled with unexpected opportunities. I attribute my vision board to my accomplishments because it has always served as a way to focus my intentions and remind me what opportunities to look for. If I didn’t have a vision board to guide me, I may have felt lost or turned down ideas, not knowing that they could lead me to something far greater.

You can find more on my Instagram feed: @fromcarola

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