Vision Boards – A better way to achieve your set goals.5 mins read

Have you been hearing about vision boards and wondering what the rave is about? Well, Sisikunmi is here to explain all about it, and how you can go about creating yours!

Simply put, a vision board (aka dream board) is a visual representation of your goals for a period of time. It could be for a year, 6 months or any length of time you choose. There are advantages to creating a vision board and more light will be shed on them in this post.

A vision board is a visual representation of your goals and aspirations. Share on X

It’s the start of a new year (and decade too???), that time when most people are in high spirits, happy to have a clean slate upon which they can write new pleasant stories. While I am not one to wait for a new year to set new goals, it will be rather ridiculous of me not to admit that this is the modus operandi for most. For good reason too – a new year comes with new hope.

To be fair, I was once in the category of people who waited for a new year to take action towards achieving their goals.

That has since changed – the moment I can recall is the December of 2018, when I made a resolution to write more in 2019. I somehow decided to start there and then and I was able to publish two articles (here and here) in the last week of 2018. I like to believe that that step gave me the momentum I needed to start this blog in February of 2019 (1 year Blogiversary soon!!!!). Enough of my story and back to the point of this post.

I’ve heard about vision boards in the past but the first real example I had an (online) experience with was Atilola’s vision board story. In a series about how she met her husband and got married in the space of one year, she shared about how she had included marriage in her vision board ( she had been doing this for years prior) for the year 2016 and this materialized by December 2016. To put this in context, as at January 1^st 2016 she had never had any encounter with the man who would later become her husband. Looks like jazz, right? This inspired me to have one for my life in this year and no, marriage is nowhere on that board. 🙂

As explained earlier, a vision board is simply a visual representation of your goals and aspirations.

It isn’t particularly a novel idea, although it has become more popular in recent years. An important point to note going forward is that a vision board is not a magic/jazz board. Nothing you put up on your vision board will materialize if you choose to laze about and put in zero effort.

Nothing you put up on your vision board will materialize if you choose to laze about and put in zero effort. Share on X

The major advantage a vision board has over just writing down your goals in a journal is that it is VISUAL, as the name implies. Ideally, your vision board should include pictorial representations of your goals and aspirations; it should also be in a corner where you can VIEW it regularly. The idea is that the more you see your goals, the more you inspired you’ll be to achieve them. Now that we’ve covered all that vision boards are about, let’s move on to the process of creating one.

The process of creating a vision board starts with a visualisation of your goals (obvious, right?).

I like to think of myself as a brand and most times brands have visions, and missions. So here’s how it works – a vision is a statement of what you want the summary of your life to look like. If this feels a bit overwhelming, you can break it down to what you want your year to look like. Your mission in this instance will be those goals that you have which cumulatively will lead to achieving your vision.

Just as companies have different departments with different functions, all of which are aimed at achieving success (as defined by the company’s vision), you also have different aspects of your life all of which should function at maximal capacity to lead to a successful life (as defined by your life’s vision). The different aspects of life might vary from individual to individual but here are some that I think should apply to everyone: professional/academic, physical, emotional, religious, financial and social. You can add or subtract as you deem fit.

After listing out the various aspects, you can then go ahead to write out the various missions/goals/objectives you aim to achieve for the year/period. Work towards having 3 to 4 goals per aspect to avoid being overwhelmed. Also keep in mind that all of these goals should lead towards achieving the vision for your life/year.

At this point, you have to decide what kind of your vision board you want – digital or physical. You can have both as well.

For digital vision boards, all you need to do is download a design app or vision board app (there are several on app stores but here are a few – over, canva). You then search for pictures online which align with  the goals you have written and attach those pictures to your board. After creating your vision board, you should make it your home or lock screen so you can see it regularly. Find out more on that here.

If you are opting for a physical one, this involves a bit more work. The vision board will essentially be a collage of various pictures that show those goals that you aim to achieve. Here are some materials you will need to achieve this:

• Something to put the images to ( a cardboard, cork board, paper,…)
• Something to affix the images (glue, gum,…)
• Magazines, books – which can be cut out, or printed images & scissors
• Something to write with (colorful pens, markers)
• Sticky notes, stickers, and any other thing you’d like to add

After getting the above materials, all you have to do is stick the images (printed or cut-out) to your cardboard. To make this more fun, you can do this with soothing music in the background. You can also have your friends around so y’all can work on your individual boards together.

One of my friends, Asabe, is hosting a vision board party this January. It’s a great opportunity to meet with fellow young people to create a vision board with realistic goals. Find out more on that here.

Remember that you want to see this board regularly so it should be in a conspicuous corner, preferably your room.

It is a wise idea to review your vision board from time to time as you deem fit. This will help you ensure that you are on track. Also, your vision or mission might change and this should reflect in your vision board. Creating a vision board isn’t a particularly difficult task, as you can see from the outlined process. Anyone should be able to do this.

A word of note once again – this is not your ticket to all your dreams coming true. It’s a tool to put them at the fore front of your mind and help you visualise them better.

Another point to note is that goals are easy to set but accomplishing them depends on the habits/systems we build. This is a whole different topic which I will make a post on when I hack it a bit. Until then, set your goals, create your vision boards and let’s work towards winning life together!

Goals are easy to set. Accomplishing them is where the hardwork lies. Share on X

Wishing you a successful year ahead!

Love,

Sisikunmi.

Update: I created my first vision board after putting up this post in 2020. As we all know, it was a peculiar year. Many plans couldn’t be carried out because things were largely out of our control. In spite of that, looking at my colorful vision board daily still brought some sense of direction. It made me feel like I had a plan even when things were haywire and I couldn’t see how the plans will come to fruition. For me, I think that’s what the vision board is about really – putting my goals in visible pictures to keep them at the fore front of my mind.