Crafting your ideal Vision Board for a productive year

What's a vision board?

Vision board is a digital or physical collection of images that represent aspirations you'd want to achieve within a determined time period, usually within a year. Even though people get it in Jan, as long as you set up personal timelines, a vision board would be just as good. The aspirations can be a milestone in a larger goal, like finishing the rough draft of the novel you're writing, or it can just be an item to cross off of your bucket list like getting a tattoo. It can also include the theme or a quality you'd want to adopt for the upcoming year- like courage, kindness, growth, decluttering. Any quotes that you'd want to live by, or even a picture that makes you happy. Essentially, it's a screenshot that snaps you back to your happiness. It's essential you keep in mind that even though you keep the goals at the forefront of your vision board, enjoying the action steps that lead you to those goals keeps you sufficiently motivated but detached from the outcomes of those actions. Hence irrespective of the outcomes which may not even be in your control, you'd stay on the track, which would shape you in unexpected ways!

Why a vision board?

Researches confirm that just the act of writing the goals rather than having them in mind increases the chance of achieving them by almost 80%. Imagine what can having a detailed plan, along with written goals and inspiring images that can be visually appealing and appearing in places you consciously or subconsciously look at, do to your chances of working towards achieving them! They also serve as reminders, and given you'd put it up where you spend most time, as you stroll through the TikTok lanes there's chances that you'd feel the slightest guilt for ignoring the self created route to your definition of a successful life. How do I know? I did it all! With higher chances of not just being clearly aware of your goals for the year, but moving you into action mode, at least for the efforts you'd have put in making that vision board, it's worth every single moment you'd spend making the board!

Steps to create a vision board:

1. Write down your goals

I write my goals in sections as follows:

• Physical:

  - Health (food habits, changes to diet, super foods, hydration, microbiome nourishment etc),

  - Fitness (gym routine, cycling, running, outer cardio, Yogasanas, soccer, zumba etc),

  - Elemental connection (barefoot walks, trekking, swimming, etc)

• Cognitive:

  - Intellectual (Reading non fiction, writing papers, articles, research papers etc)

  - Learning a skill (language learning, riding a motorcycle, coding, swimming, cooking, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument, skating, mountain climbing, etc)

  - Creative (poetry, blogging, video editing, photography etc)

• Emotional:

  - Feeling thoroughly(Daily journal, shrink or therapy, walk in the park, staying in that moment etc),

  - Expression (writing for a friend, mailing hand written letters, sending texts to long lost ones, etc)

• Social:

  - Professional (Connections and coffee chats, related education, desired profession or a milestone etc)

  - Friends and family (Surprise visits, gathering, touring and dream destination with a loved one, quality time, picnics, hearty moments etc),

  - Lifestyle (finance goals, dream home, car, motorcycle, furniture, upgrade/ house project plans etc)

  - Community (volunteering, donating for a cause, awareness campaigns etc)

  - Exploration (dream vacation, trying out a new cuisine or a new style, etc)

• Spiritual:

  - Karma (spiritual physical actions, working for a cause, helping people in need, Hatha yoga),

  - Gnyana (intellectual understanding of spiritual dimensions, reading spiritual books etc),

  - Bhakti (find your object or concept, or a person of devotion),

  - Kriya ( learn a spiritual practice to access a non physical dimension of life and death and everything in between)

That must have been the most exhaustive list I've ever written for lifegoals. But I hope you got the idea. Try to write your version of the dreams and goals, when you first write them, do not focus on the feasibility, or the timeline. The only goal at this stage is to get your brain firing up possibilities that you as life could visualize. Go wild!!!

2. Choose your medium:

Would you like a digital vision board that beautifies your lock screens and chat screens of your devices, or hung in beautifully embellished pretty wall? Either of them are equally exciting, it's your dreams after all. The things you may want to consider to decide between digital or physical vision board would be the time available, feasibility of obtaining accessories do make a physical board etc. I found digital more time consuming, whereas the physical vision board may require very small expense for photo printing, a bullet pin or a clip board, and such...

3. Gather images:

Now comes the fun part, start your image hunt. The pictures that best depict your goals, themes, and focus for the present year. I usually use Pinterest since I find them aesthetical, I also use Google images, and a few websites for downloading free stock images. Whichever works, works! Create a folder and put those downloads there. Now your visions just need organizing! A tip here is to make sure the images resonate with your dreams. They should evoke a sense of excitement within you as you focus on them.

4. Put them together:

This one depends on whether you choose the digital or physical version of vision board.

• Physical: Print those images preferably at a photo shop, and after shopping the board essentials, pin the images in the order you like. Embellish with quotes, and if possible, you can make a vision wall. Vision wall is again a giant vision board that could become your personal accent wall. I love to color the wall, hang a couple clip boards, and put the images up, and voila! Alternatively, you can do mini relevant mini boards where applicable for you. For instance, I had professionally and intellectually relevant images against my office wall, lo and behold I work from home; and relationship related images against my night table. You get the idea!

• Digital: Now it's time to put them into a pretty collage. I use Canva template and this year, and I made two boards ( given the number of sections I had set my visions upon) I try to go in no particular order for the collage, but I'll ensure at least an image from each category has made it in the collage. If you'd like to go the extra mile, you can apply some vintage or bw filters , to make collage look even toned. Use calligraphy for quotes and themes. You can make them monotone using a theme. Pour your creative juices! Then make them your tablet wallpapers, laptop Screensavers and chat themes for yourself. A momentary attention to your greater goals roots you at doing what's essential to make those lofty goals of yours actualize.

As a side note, keep the goals list you've made and hence you can cross off the actualized ones, thereby refining your further goals.

And these aren't my vision board images, but inspiring ones I used to create my version.

Wishing you a happy vision board making, and I hope you enjoy every step of the way to achieving your goals for the year.

It's not too late to make your 2025 vision board! One evening and you got yourself a pretty goal board.

Let's connect and I can answer any questions in this regard so we make that vision board or wall or mini boards fun. I'd love to see your creativity!

-Sru🔥