There’s something about visualizing your goals that make them seem all the more attainable. Do you aim to buy a home in the next year? Have you been putting off a renovation project that you finally want to get to? Are you itching to run a half marathon?

Well, with just a few supplies and a Pinterest account, you can achieve these goals.  A vision board is a powerful tool used to—you guessed it—visualize your future. You can create a generic one, with imagery and words related to all of your goals, or you can make specific boards for each individual goal. Use the following tips to get started.

CARVING A PATH

A vision board can take the physical form of a poster board with printed out images, quotes, words, and mantras to help you pinpoint exactly what you want to achieve in the next year, five years, or even ten years. Or you could create a vision board digitally using a website like Canva, which has templates for a collage, a business website, desktop wallpaper, or simple poster designs to help you get started. Pinterest is a great tool whether you’re creating a physical or digital board. With curated images tailored to you and your lifestyle, this social media platform makes it easy to create boards for any type of professional or personal goal you can imagine.

Once you create an account, you can start saving pins to boards and naming them after specific goals you have. For example, if you want to run a half marathon in the next few months, you could name aboard “Half Marathon” and start searching for images that relate to that goal. Or, for a more generic approach, name your board “Vision Board” and save images that relate to all of your goals. Either way, this digital approach is an easy way to create a board if you’re not DIY-inclined. To produce a physical vision board, you could still create collages digitally and then print them out and tape or glue them to a poster board. If you have old magazines lying around, page through them and cut out anything that stands out to you. The best thing about vision boarding is that there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules—it’s all about constructing something that makes sense to you and your future. You’ll know you’re done when you look at your board and feel inspired.

THE BENEFITS

You may be wondering: if you know your goals, why go to all the trouble of cutting out images or making a digital collage? Simply put, it encourages you to actually follow through with your goals. A visualization is a powerful tool.

Your mind can help you visualize and affirm where you see yourself in your future and

what you see yourself doing, which is a way to cognitively manifest your goals into existence. By putting your goals onto a physical or digital board, you're taking this manifestation one step further. This is why vision boarding can be especially useful if you’re someone who typically struggles to stick to your goals. By turning them into something you spent time creating and that you’ll see often, it will be easier to remember your aspirations.

For a vision board newbie, it may be more helpful to have one central board focusing on different areas of your life, such as your career, health and wellness, home, finances, travel, personal relationships, and spirituality. Or, if you're feeling ambitious, you can split these categories into separate boards. Either way, your intentions will be set. For example, a health-focused board could include images, motivational quotes, and words related to fitness, nutrition, mental health, and wellness trends you follow. Maybe you struggle with eating too many sweets, so you might include images on your board of green juice, fruits, and veggies to be reminded of the healthier eating habits you want to implement. Or, as mentioned earlier, if your goal is to run a half marathon, your board may be more word-centric, with infographics and specific running times you’re aiming to hit as you train.

The best thing about vision boarding is that there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules—

It’s all about constructing something that makes sense to you and your future.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE To create a physical vision board, choose from the supplies below:

      All included

1. Foam board or Posterboard
2. Scissors
3. Magazine clippings, Photographs, Images
4. Glue or Tape
5. Markers
6. Double-sided tape, washi tape, a glue stick, or pins, depending on the type of board
7. Pens or markers
8. Decorative elements, such as glitter, memorabilia like ticket stubs, plane tickets, ribbons, etc.

As you craft your physical vision board or sit down to digitize one, put on a playlist of your favorite songs and put careful thought into your board. Once you finish, place it somewhere you’ll see it often. For example, a physical one can be put on your nightstand or hung on a wall, and you can make a digital one the wallpaper for your phone or computer.

Oprah Winfrey once said, “Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life because you become what you believe.” A vision board brings you one step closer to making that vision a reality.

Inspired by Rebecca Poole’s Envisioning a Better Future