Vision boards are a trending topic at the start of every year because most people feel fresh, motivated, and excited about the year ahead. The New Year offers an opportunity to make up for the previous year’s failures, approach life with a new perspective, and create meaningful change.

You may think, “Well, I’ve tried making a vision board before, and it didn’t change anything,” or you may want to try one but have no idea where to start. If you’re a sceptic, I want to show you that vision boards aren’t just something pretty to look at. It’s a tool to help you imagine the future you deserve. And if you’re at a loss, allow me to teach you how to make a vision board that will put you on the right track.

No time to read the whole post? Read the summary here.

The Ultimate Guide to Vision Boards That Change Your Life

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is a collage of images and words that showcase what is important to you. It’s often done to visualise your ideal future or a goal you’d like to achieve. Before the digital era, it was done with some paper and magazine cutouts, but today, the options are endless.

You may want to plan a trip, change a few habits, or pursue a new hobby. You could also be getting ready for a significant change, like going to university or starting a new job. Vision boards can help with all those milestones and more.

Why do vision boards work?

Vision boards have been used by therapists, career counsellors, and teachers as a creative way to help clients and students achieve their goals. But why choose this specific tool? Here are a few theories to explain why they work.

Lessons from narrative theory and therapy

Personal narratives are stories we tell about ourselves. They highlight our experiences and allow us to give them meaning. How we construct our stories says much about our world perspective. Two people can experience the same adverse event and relay their stories differently. For example, a pair of students might fail their first chemistry exam. One student may focus on the failure and construct a narrative of hopelessness and despair. At the same time, the other tells a story of resilience, of learning from their mistakes and putting more effort into their next exam.

Narrative therapy aims to shift problem-centred narratives to ones that emphasise positivity and possibility. One technique is externalising problems so that we can view them apart from ourselves, deconstruct them, and reframe them.

Vision boards do something similar. They help us visualise and externalise our imagined world. You have the opportunity to see your daydreams as something material and get to create a positive future narrative. They can also help you challenge self-limiting beliefs and quiet your negative internal voice.

Identity-based motivation

Identity-based motivation theory states that people are more likely to act in ways that align with their identity. For example, if you believe you are a good student, you’d act the way you think a good student should – doing homework, studying, and participating in class.

Vision boards allow you to explore your identity through images. Remember that externalisation we talked about earlier? A vision board is the externalised version of your ideal identity. This is why self-reflection is essential during the vision-boarding process. If you reflect deeply on your values and desires while making your vision board, the result will motivate you to act accordingly.

Why some vision boards don’t work

Peer Pressure

It’s sometimes silly to think that even adults succumb to peer pressure, but the need to belong and be accepted into a social group is a survival instinct. The problem is that we sometimes overlook how that can set us back.

I’m sure you’ve been in a friend group that planned to follow each other to the same high school or university. You may even have given up a great opportunity to stay close to your family or partner, which is not necessarily bad if that’s what you value. But sometimes, we hold back or walk away because we think it’s what we’re “supposed to do”, even when it goes against our deepest desires.

Wrong source of motivation

You can have the best vision board with the most detailed goals, but if you lack the motivation to achieve them, you might as well have spent your time counting sand kernels.

For most people, motivation is flighty and always slightly out of grasp. Much has been written about motivation theory, but it ultimately comes down to one’s source of motivation. Is your source of motivation external, like the need to impress others or get an award? Or is the goal something you identified as a crucial part of yourself and your values? That could be the difference between pushing past an obstacle or giving up.

If you want to read more about motivation, you can read this article.

Forgetfulness

The great danger of making your vision board on a random sheet of paper or a document that gets lost among your other files is that you’ll forget to look at it. When life gets busy, it’s easiest to ignore the excitement and motivation you felt when making your vision board. And once you forget about it, you’ll forget your goals or why you made them, too.

Whether you decide to make a physical or digital vision board, it must be somewhere you can see it often. More on that later.

Structural or institutional barriers

Ideally, we would all have the essential resources to achieve our dreams. Sadly, the reality is far from that. In addition to constraints on material resources like computers or tuition fees, there are also structural and institutional barriers, such as structural racism, xenophobia, and a lack of infrastructure, that are out of our control.

Often, success relies more on who you know and where you were born than hard work and determination. This should not discourage you, but be aware that you may face more obstacles than someone from a privileged background who is on the same path as you.

Your Vision Board: How to do it right

Step One: Define your goals

When you think about your goals or ideal future, they should align with your identity and be positive and meaningful to you. Your goals should be ambitious yet attainable, optimistic but realistic.

In this article, I’ve written a section on how to set goals that matter. Please read it and write down your ideas. You can use the SMART goal-setting framework to help you outline your goals.

Step Two: Choose your materials

Physical Vision Board

1. Choose a canvas, e.g. paper, cardboard, corkboard, etc.
2. Something that sticks, e.g. glue, double-sided tape, cello tape
3. Words and images, e.g. magazines, a printer, stickers
4. Decorations, e.g. glitter, markers, colouring pencils, washi tape, highlighters

Check out our Pinterest page for more ideas for a physical vision board!

Digital Vision Boards

Canva

Canva is a digital design platform that allows you to create various types of visual content. It offers multiple design elements and templates to create something unique. I’ve used it for years to develop everything from presentations to Pinterest pins. The free version includes a decent set of elements to get you started. Some of you might even have access to premium features through your school or university.

Here’s how to create your vision board with Canva:

Sign up for a free account.

Follow the above link (not sponsored) to sign up for a free account.

Then, search “vision board” in the search bar.

You can use free Canva images and elements or upload your pictures to personalise them. There are so many tools at your disposal. Here is an example of a vision board I made with one of the premium templates:

Notion

Notion is a popular workspace and productivity tool that helps you organise and manage various aspects of your life. It can be used for almost anything. Although it has a slight learning curve, tons of free templates are available to get you started. Notion is free to use, and updated paid versions are available.

Here are a few vision board templates you can browse and use to create your digital vision board. These are the first few free ones on the results page:

Step Three: Find your images

The more personal your images, the better. You could use pictures of your role models or photographs of landscapes or locations. It’s important to use images that evoke the five senses. You can add texture with beads or fabric, spritz your paper with perfume, use bright colours, or add audio to your digital vision board. (Remember to credit your sources if you plan to share your vision board online).

These websites have open-source images if you’re worried about copyright:

• Pexels
• Unsplash
• Pixabay

Step four: Visualise and Materialise

This is the most essential step to making your new tool work. Place your vision board somewhere you can see it every day. You can put your physical vision board on your desk, use it as a poster on your wall, or keep it on your mirror. Your digital vision board could become your phone wallpaper or lock screen. You could pin it to your Twitter profile or on your notion dashboard.

Your vision board isn’t just something pretty to look at. It requires effort to keep the dream alive. After creating your vision board, take things one step further.

Grab your journal

Vision boards and reflective journals are both tools in your success toolbox. Vision boards remind you of the big picture, but journaling helps you plan your future and sort out the minute details of your journey. You use it to plan, track your progress and document your milestones and emotions.

Here are some journal prompts to start you on your reflective journey:

1. What story are you trying to tell with your vision board?
2. How would you feel if everything on it came true?
3. What are some barriers you’ll face? How will you overcome them, and who will help you?

Additionally, setting goals isn’t enough. You need to make time for the tasks that will move you forward. This article provides a step-by-step guide.

Find an accountability partner

Sometimes, sharing your vision board with someone else—especially someone you know—can be embarrassing. We all fear judgment. However, like therapeutic relationships, receiving feedback or having someone echo your ideas can improve the outcome. Choose someone you trust, someone who supports your best interests, and ask them to check up on your progress now and then.

If sharing it with someone close to you feels too daunting, join our Discord or email us. Then, you can share your vision board with one of our team members in a judgment-free environment.

Good luck!

Summary

Vision boards can seem superficial and ineffective, but some theory supports why they work. Some vision boards are useless because we base our goals and vision on external factors or give in to peer pressure. It’s easy to remember goals when they’re fresh and we feel motivated, but setbacks and structural barriers can leave us feeling demotivated.

Still, you can make a life-changing vision board in just four steps:

1. Create clear goals that are meaningful to you, ambitious but not unrealistic
2. Choose your medium: it could be physical or digital
3. Find your images and make sure they evoke the five senses
4. Keep your vision board visible and do reflective work to keep the dream alive.

Conclusion

Life is about the stories we tell. A vision board is the physical manifestation of the climax of your narrative. If you are thoughtful and reflective about your approach to vision-boarding and use the right tools, your path from A to B will be much more apparent. Use your vision board as a tool in your journey to your best self.

References:

Benedict, B. C. (2020b). Using vision boards to reflect on relevant experiences and envision ideal futures. College Teaching, 69 (4), 231–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2020.1850411

Burton, L., & Lent, J. (2016b). The use of vision boards as a therapeutic intervention. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 11(1), 52–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2015.1092901

Gale, D. D., Mitchell, A. M., Garand, L., & Wesner, S. (2003). Client Narratives: A theoretical perspective. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 24(1), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840305306

Scott-Poe, D. S., & Patel, K. S. (2024). Changing narratives with virtual vision boards. In Routledge eBooks (pp. 107–114). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003289920-23

Waalkes, P. L., Gonzalez, L. M., & Brunson, C. N. (2019). Vision Boards and adolescent Career Counseling: a culturally responsive approach. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 14(2), 205–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2019.1602092