TL;DR

If you can’t get to the entire post, I’d like to highlight the following

1. Vision boards are great tools to help you conceptualize and work towards your goals
2. Even though I’m posting this on the last day of the year, #VisionBoards can be created ANYTIME (of the year) you need an extra boost of motivation
3. Scroll to the bottom for the FREE download!

I’ve been a big proponent of vision boards for a long time – and still am!  

I’ve created them yearly (sometimes several times in a year) and find them to be a great way to focus and hone in on my goals. 

I believe in them so much that I’ve got my girls in on it.  I want them to know what it feels like to both be strategic and reflective when it comes to goal setting.  I want them to know what it feels like to reach milestones and accomplishments they set for themselves.  I also want them to know that getting to those goals, doesn’t happen overnight – and what progress feels like.  

Also want them to know what it feels like to be internally driven.  Not told to do something because the school system, an adult, society or their friends etc have told them to do something.   And although yes, I do give them some guidance – I really ask that they think of the specifics around the goals. The journey throughout the year is really amazing. They consistently view their board, talk about it with me or between themselves and find ways to make their dreams a reality.

I’m so glad I introduced them to vision boards early. I only learned about them as an adult so I’m still learning and right now, I’m pivoting as well.  So two things of note:

1. I’m currently perusing the book #FutureBoards for more inspiration and knowledge
2. I’m taking on a different approach where instead of doing a vision board for the entire year, I create a vision board for a month or a quarter
3. Creating a vision board doesn’t need to only happen at the start of the year

Some tips I’ve started to use when creating my vision boards are:

• Come up with a goal statement and write it as if you’ve already achieved it! (very empowering) Remember you can also have several goals in different buckets (Personal, Professional, Fitness, Family etc)
• Next write out a detailed story of each goal – be as specific as you can. You really want to help your brain see in your minds eye and your heart feel emotions attached to achieving the goal. If you have a why statement you may find yourself leaning on or tweaking that as part of this exercise.
• Break down that vision into milestones, 4 works really well because that can fit nicely into quarters of the year or weeks of a month.
• Now with each milestone, figure out activities that will help you get there. As an example if you want to change careers you might have a milestone to apply to your dream job. Activities for that milestone could be to research companies that align to your values, update your resume and then apply to jobs. Milestones can have many activities, so try to keep it to three activities so as to not overwhelm yourself.

Now here is the best part! You can create a vision board based on the goal statement, goal story OR on the milestone activity! Like I mentioned above, I’ve always created the vision board based on the goal story (macro level based on what you want to accomplish in the year), but this time I’m creating it on the milestone activity (micro level based on what I want to achieve in each quarter of the year).

I don’t think there is any right or wrong way – I do think you have to try it out and see what works for you.

If you are planning on creating a vision board or set intentions/goals for the new year – enjoy! I wanted to share two motivational wall papers (for your phone and desktop wallpaper).

Click here for a free download!