VISUALISE YOUR YEAR

In an earlier post I talked about why I don’t set up New Year’s Resolutions, but instead, I prefer creating vision boards.

What are Vision Boards?

It's a visual representation of your goals, says media and life coach Zakiya Larry. Typically, vision boards are poster-sized, and will have images and text that represent something you're trying to accomplish.

They are different from mood boards though. While mood boards help you plan and design aesthetically, vision boards are more to do with your life direction.

What’s so good about Vision Boards?

If you’re a visual person like me, you’ll 100% enjoy creating vision boards. And if you’re not, getting hands-on and creating vision boards may actually get your brain thinking a little differently, let me know in the comments if you enjoyed it!Vision boards are fun to make and can be quite artistic/creative.

The process of making a vision board helps plant goals and intentions in your head and sends them out to the universe. Seeing your vision board regularly—with images and words representing all your goals, dreams, ideals and values—will help remind you where you want to be heading. The power of suggestion is a key player here to help keep you on track consciously and subconsciously!

How do I create a Vision Board?

First of all, don’t worry about creating a Banksy piece. This vision board is for YOUR eyes. If you’re not very confident about your artistic skills, print things off the internet!

MATERIALS

• Paper (I don’t like buying things for one-off use, so I usually just tape 4 pieces of A4 paper together to make a bigger piece; alternatively you can choose to buy thicker cardboard paper. I would suggest at least A3 size to start with!)

• Magazines, posters, leaflets

• Additional images and words (optional), from artworks, old books, or printed from the internet

• Scissors

• Glue sticks

• Paper and pen

• Art supplies (optional), such as Sharpies, paint, glitter, ribbons or sequins

PROCESS

1. Reflect and review
   Step one, is to have a think about where you are at now, what’s working, and what perhaps needs to change. Reflect on your past year: major events, goals you have achieved, any lessons learnt, and things that you are grateful for.

2. Goals and priorities
   Next, with pen and paper, do a big brainstorm of all your goals for this year, nothing is too big or too small! If you prefer, you can then put them into categories such as short-term actions (e.g. read 5 books by mid-year), intentions (e.g. be more connected with your body), big goals (e.g. run a full marathon), etc.
   After your brainstorming session, review them and figure out the priority items (you can circle them, highlight them, or create a new list). You want to make sure the things you REALLY want to happen end up on your vision board.

3. Image search
   I love this next step, which is to go wild and look for images and text that represent your prioritised goals! Cut pictures out of magazines, posters and leaflets, and if you’ve gone pretty digital, go search for them on the internet! If you feel so inclined, you can even try your hand at drawing them! Look for more than what you need, and tidy up your collection later.

4. Structure
   On your vision board, carve up the surface area into different areas, e.g. finances, health, relationships etc. This helps to give it more structure and can perhaps help you realise which area you actually care most about! In the corresponding areas, write your goals directly on the vision board (they will get covered by images after)

5. Assemble it
   Now take the images you’ve found and place them onto the corresponding goals to create a collage of your hopes and dreams! Take a step back and see if you like it - re-organise them as many times as you need until you’re totally happy with it. Leftover cutouts can be recycled.

6. The final step
   The last step is simply to glue everything down, and you’re done!

I’m usually pretty paperless with recipes, receipts, etc., but for vision boards I make an exception, because physically looking for inspiring images that represent my goals help me visualise everything better. And don’t worry about not having done one on 1st January, because you can create vision boards whenever, however many times you want in a year!