A while ago, Liz Robson from Glow Coaching introduced me to the concept of Vision Boards. I made my own shortly afterwards (see photo above) and it sits proudly in my living room as a constant reminder of the life goals I am working towards in my personal life. When I started my board I didn’t really know what it would end up like as I wasn’t really sure what I wanted. It turned out in such a lovely way that I often look at it and smile as I get closer to my goals every day.
Vision Boards are great for starting to visualise your future goals. You might have a clear idea of what you want or you might not, it doesn’t matter. It is a process and it helps formalise your thinking into a kind of creative, visual action plan to refer to now and again.
Go through your magazines and tear images from them. Don’t commit to using any of them just yet. Have fun looking through magazines and pulling out pictures or words or headlines that you like and make you feel good. Make a big pile of images and phrases and words.
Go through the images and begin to lay your favourites out on the board. Throw away any images that no longer feel right. This step is where your intuition comes in. As you lay the pictures on the board, you’ll get a sense of how the board should be laid out. For instance, you might assign a theme to each corner of the board. Health, Job, Relationships, for instance. Or it may just be that you want the images to go all over the place.
Once you’re happy you’ve got it how you want it, stick everything onto the board. Add writing if you want. You can paint them on, or write words with markers etc.
Leave space in the very centre of the vision board for a fantastic photo of yourself where you look radiant and happy. Paste yourself in the centre of your board.
Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it often.
- You’re very clear about your goals
- You want to change your environment or surroundings
- There is a specific thing you want to manifest in your life (e.g. starting a business, career, a new home)
With your clear goal in mind, set out looking for the exact pictures which portray your vision. If you want a house by the water, then get out the Dwell magazine and start there. If you want to start your own business, find images that capture that idea for you. If you want to learn guitar, then find that picture. Following the five steps above, create your vision board out of these images.
The Opening and Allowing Vision Board can be a powerful process. It goes deeper than just focusing on what you think want. It can teach you a little bit about yourself and your hidden passions/desires.
- You’re not sure what exactly you want
- You have a vision of what you want, but are uncertain about it in some way
- You know you want to a change but don’t know what it is
Go through your magazines. Tear out images that delight you, make you feel good. Don’t ask why. Just keep going through the magazines. If it’s a picture of some flowers that make you smile, or a cosy bed, then pull it out. If it’s a cottage in a misty countryside, then rip it out. Just have fun and be open to whatever appeals to you. Then, as you go through Step 2 above, hold that same openness, but ask yourself what this picture might mean. What is it telling you about you? Does it mean you need to take more naps? Does it mean you want to visit the countryside more? Most likely you’ll know the answer. If you don’t, but you still love the image, then put it on your board anyway. It will have an answer for you soon enough.
Have fun creating your vision of your future.
Alice coaches those who want to change career but don’t know what they want to do instead. She offers Career Coaching designed to help graduates, early to mid-level career-changers, and parents returning to work gain a clear vision of what career is right for them, and how to achieve it. She is also an accredited Coach Supervisor, and host of The Career Change Diaries podcast.
