How To Make A Vision Board & Reach Your Dreams

A vision board is a powerful tool to help you create your dream life. 

Vision boards help you keep your goals top of mind so you can stay on track and make persistent progress towards your dreams, no matter what is happening in the world around you.  

I have used vision boards for decades to achieve my biggest goals in life. When I was first starting out as a success trainer, I set myself the ambitious target of making $100,000 in a year. 

To help stay focused, I created a gigantic picture of a $100,000 bill and taped it to my bedroom ceiling so it would be the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes every morning. 

And you know what? By the end of the year, I had made $97,000. 

I was three thousand dollars shy of my goal but I didn’t feel like I had failed because that was so much more money than I had ever made and it helped me understand that my dream was absolutely within my reach!

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is a collection of pictures, magazine clippings, words, and quotes that visually affirm your goals in life. 

By creating a visual representation of your dreams and putting it somewhere you can see every day, you make it easier for yourself to remember your goals and prioritize your actions accordingly.

Vision boards work because what you focus on expands. They help you activate the Law of Attraction and attract the people, resources, and opportunities you need to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true. 

Purpose of a Vision Board

Vision boards—also known as a “goal board” or “dream board”—act as a compass to keep you moving in the direction of your dreams, no matter what is happening in the world around you.

When you make your vision board and display it where you can see it every day, it helps remind you of the bigger picture and what your ultimate purpose in life is.

Benefits of Using a Vision Board

Images convey a huge amount of complex information to our brains in an instant. This is what makes vision boards so powerful.

By representing our life goals and desired future in such an impactful way, vision boards activate our subconscious mind to make decisions that support our top priorities.

They also make it easier for us to identify the resources in our environment that will help us make real progress toward our dreams. 

A few of the benefits associated with using a vision board are that they: 

• Ensure your goals are the first thing you think of every day
• Make it easier for you to leverage the Law of Attraction in your life
• Create a powerful, meditative process that brings clarity on what you really want your life to look and feel like
• Inspire you and boost your mood
• Expand your sense of what’s possible
• Remind you about what’s most important and to not sweat the small stuff
• Can be shared with others to enlist their support in helping you achieve your goals
• Are fun to make! It’s a great bonding activity to do with family & friends

Goals of a Vision Board

The goal of having a vision board is to give yourself a powerful daily reminder of the reality you want to create.

Vision boards can give you…

• Motivation – Looking at images that represent your dreams every day gently pushes you forward to create your best life.
• Intention – They visually depict the reality you intend to create and the commitments you have made to yourself.
• Inspiration – A vision board encourages you to believe that anything is possible!
• Clarity – Vision boards help you remain clear on your goals and priorities even when everything else is uncertain and unclear.

Do Vision Boards Really Work?

Yes! When you create a vision board and put it somewhere you will see every day, you’ll be more likely to achieve your goals.

This is because visualization is such a powerful success tool. 

According to Psychology Today, daily visualization work can increase motivation, confidence, and even motor performance. In fact, in one study, researchers found that for athletes, visualization works almost as well as actual physical practice.

I know countless highly successful business people, athletes, authors, artists, and more who say their vision board helped them get where they are today.

Visualization is Powerful for the Brain

Your reticular activating system (RAS) is the “filtering station” of your brain. It helps you focus on what’s most important to you while tuning out distracting thoughts and elements in your environment that might prevent you from seeing the opportunities that will lead you to your goals.

A daily visualization practice also helps you orient toward your goals and provides you with clear direction on how to accomplish them every day. 

If you don’t have a clear direction of where you’re headed or where you want to go, it can be very easy to get caught up in things that aren’t actually good for you. 

Creating a vision board is a powerful way of getting to know yourself and what it is you truly want to manifest and call into your life.

What to Include on Your Vision Board

Creating a vision board is a totally personal and customizable activity, so there’s no one “major rule” or “best way” to do it. Everyone is going to have a unique way of bringing their vision to life.

That said, generally speaking, you’ll want to make sure you have a decent-sized poster board, corkboard, or even a metallic display board to act as the backdrop of your vision. 

Then you’ll want to gather magazines or newspapers to source photos, words, and phrases from, as well as any other images you may find useful. 

To piece everything together, use scissors, glue sticks, tacks, tape, or magnets – whatever you need to create a collage of words and images that depict your vision for the life you most want to live.

In terms of the visual aspects you may want to include or address in your vision board, here are some ideas to consider:

1: Areas of Your Life

Your vision board should ideally represent a comprehensive view of all areas of your life, including your health, career, finances, relationships, home, hobbies, personal growth, and travel goals. 

Be sure to add anything that’s important to you.

2: Your Dreams

These can include your biggest, most ambitious dreams of your life, such as finding your “true love” or becoming a published author.

You can also consider smaller goals that you know will increase your happiness levels on a daily basis, such as decluttering your garage.

Be sure to dream big but always make sure your dreams accurately reflect what YOU want in life – not what someone else thinks you should want.

3: Spiritual vs Materialistic Goals

Remember that your goals can be spiritual, mental, or personal-growth based, as well as materialistic. 

For example, if one of your biggest desires is to feel more connected to other people and the world around you, look for images and words or phrases that bring this idea to life for you.

4: Number of Goals

People sometimes ask me if there’s an “ideal number” of goals they should include on their vision boards. 

The short answer is, no!

Include as many goals as are truly important to you. I’ve seen vision boards focus on only ONE goal as well as vision boards that include 60 goals on them! 

It really depends on you and how focused you are. Your priorities and dedication will determine how many goals you want to focus on at any given time.

How to Make a Vision Board

Your first step to making a goal-setting vision board is to schedule a time to do it.

Your next step is to decide whether you want to create a physical vision board or a digital vision board. Both are effective and have their advantages. 

A physical vision board takes more time and effort to create but can be more impactful and attractive as a result – while a digital version is easier to have with you at all times, either on your phone and/or your computer screen.

Setting your digital vision board as the wallpaper for your screen is an effective way to make sure you see it multiple times a day. Just make sure you remind mindfully aware of it and don’t start to tune it out.

I personally prefer to create physical vision boards because I enjoy the process and outcome more. Here’s the six-step process I use whenever I want to make a new vision board for my life:

STEP 1. Create a list of goals you’d like to achieve in the next year

To create a vision that embodies your goals, first, you must know what they are. 

Spend some time getting clear on exactly what you want your ideal life to look like, and what you need to accomplish in the next 12 months to launch you closer to your goals. This goal-setting article is a good place to start. 

STEP 2. Collect a bundle of old magazines with beautiful pictures

If you’re not a magazine reader or currently don’t have any magazines at home, ask your friends if they have any they don’t want. You should also be able to pick some up for just a dollar or two at your local thrift store. Or you could check out your local recycling depot. 

Ours has a “free stuff” corner where you can pick up all the magazines you could ever want at zero cost. Maybe yours does, too?

STEP 3. Find pictures that represent your goals and inspire you

Go through the magazines and cut out pictures that represent your goals and speak to your heart in some meaningful way.  Look for those that immediately make you say, “Yes! That is what I want in my life!” 

They don’t have to be physical objects or literal interpretations of what you want in your life. Instead, focus on how the images make you FEEL.

For example, if you’d like to move to a home with waterfront property, don’t worry if you can’t find a picture of your perfect “dream home.” Perhaps a picture of an idyllic ocean sunset will be enough to inspire you. 

Or if you’d like to attract a new romantic partner into your life, instead of hunting for a picture of a man or woman who meets your physical ideal, find a picture that represents love to you – an image of two people holding hands, or even a picture of a heart. 

Remember that you are in control of your destiny and can manifest any outcome you imagine! 

STEP 4. Make a collage out of your photos

Once you have collected enough photos, words, and magazine images, it’s time to bring everything together and start gluing! 

Arrange your personal collection of cut images into an attractive display on your poster board. 

Then glue, tack, or tape your pictures to hold them in place. 

STEP 5. Add motivational “affirmation words” 

Your vision of your ideal life shouldn’t be focused on “stuff” so much, but instead on how you want to FEEL. 

That’s why I like to add to my poster board words representing my goals that describe how I want to feel, such as: “joyful,” “abundant,” “powerful,” “fearless,” “loved,” “strong,” “healthy,” “loving,” or “financially free.”

Take some time to come up with a list of words or inspiring quotes that describe how you want to feel. You can search for these words in your magazines or write them yourself. 

As you create your vision board, mix these words in with the images in a visually attractive way. This will help you keep your motivation high even when the world around you is in chaos. 

STEP 6. Take a few moments to contemplate your vision board every day

To get the full benefit from your vision board, it’s important for you to place it somewhere you can see it every day. I recommend taking a few minutes to look over your vision board at least once or twice a day. 

I like to review my vision board every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep. 

This prompts my subconscious mind to come up with new ideas on how to achieve my goals so I can wake up in the morning bursting with motivation to succeed.

Tips on Using Your Vision Board

As you brainstorm vision board ideas and gather your images, be sure to consider ALL areas of your life and make sure your vision accurately depicts what YOU want for your life, not what you or someone else thinks you should want.

Ideas to Consider

Exactly what you add to your goal-setting vision board depends on what you‘re trying to manifest in your life. For example: 

• Financial Goals: If you’re hoping to attract more money into your life, you may want to include images of actual cash or the items you would like to buy with that money (such as your own home, a car, an e-bike etc.).
• Relationship Goals: Are you looking for romantic love? You may want to include images of happy couples doing romantic things, such as enjoying a fancy dinner, going for walks in nature, traveling, cooking together, and snuggling up on the couch. Choose whichever activities you dream of enjoying with a significant other.
• Happiness Goals: If you are looking to experience more joy in life, add images that evoke that sense of joy in you. These could be images of nature, or happy people laughing, or cute animals – whatever causes you to feel the emotion you want to experience.
• Spiritual Goals: To find greater spiritual understanding and contentment, include images that evoke the kind of spiritual enlightenment you seek. These could be images specific to your faith tradition, or they could be serene images from nature that awaken the sense of harmony you’re looking for.
• Travel Goals: If you want to experience more travel and adventure, include images of the exact places you would like to travel to and the types of experiences you would like to have when you go.

Theme Board Ideas 

You may also want to create specific theme boards that focus on specific events or different aspects of your life, like a career-specific board or wedding day-specific vision board if you’re getting married soon.

By featuring images and other elements that express the places, things, and experiences you want to manifest in your life, you will unlock the power of the Law of Attraction and find it easier to attract the resources and opportunities required to make your dreams come true. 

Just be sure to check in with yourself first and confirm that your vision board ideas are in full alignment with your goals in life – otherwise, you could find yourself manifesting situations that aren’t in harmony with your vision and purpose.  

Maximize the Impact

To maximize the impact of your vision board on your life, follow these tips:

• Look at your dream board often and feel the inspiration it provides.
• Read your daily affirmations and inspirational words aloud.
• Close yourself and clearly visualize yourself living the life represented by the images on your vision board. 
• Feel yourself in the future you have designed.
• Believe it is already yours.
• Be grateful for the good that is already present in your life.
• any goals you have already achieved.
• Recognize the changes you have seen and felt.
• Appreciate the presence of God in your life.
• Accept the Law of Attraction at work in your life.
• Look at it just before going to bed and first thing upon rising.

Use it to amplify the power of your dream board and leverage it to stay on track toward your goals to make your wildest ambitions come true!

Vision Board Examples

If you’re interested in vision board examples, here’s what my personal vision board looks like a few years ago.

As you can see, I have a picture of myself on the cover of Time Magazine, headlines of sold-out events with waitlists, a picture on the cover of a best-selling book I published that year, Chinese symbols, and more. 

You can use my vision board as an example and template to create your own inspiration board.

Reach Your Dreams with a Vision Board

If you’re ready to make a vision board to keep your goals and dreams top of mind, I encourage you to go for it!

Schedule time to gather together your poster board, magazines, scissors and glue or tape, some fun markers, and any other materials you’ll need to create a vision board. 

Then grab a cup of tea or glass of wine, put on some relaxing music, and enjoy a stress-free hour of creative play as you bring your inspiration board to life!

Looking for resources to help you take the next step? Check out my free Vision Board Checklist!

It’s designed to give you the step-by-step directions you need to create a vision board that will help you stay focused on your goals and create the life you want.