How to Make a Vision Board

by Nancy Robbins

With the New Year around the corner this is a good time to reflect and find clarity on a vision for yourself for 2026.  It can be a general vision for your path, or you can focus your vision on specific areas of your life – career, money, love-relationships, health, travel, creativity, or social goals.  I always like to begin a new year feeling inspired and enthusiastic for new growth, and new discoveries.  A vision board serves as a way to help you self-reflect and be self-aware.  A positive vision for the future will increase positive emotions and optimism, which will increase your success of what you would like to manifest.  The clarity found with vision boards helps you target your manifestation. 

Besides a positive vision – it gives your soul a chance to communicate to you!  That’s the real gold you find in creating a vision board.

There are two ways to create a vision board – 1. Conscious choices,  2. (my favorite) intuitively.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is usually a collage of images that represent goals and dreams. It can include cut-out pictures from magazines and words that help inspire you to manifest your dreams and get where you want to go.  You can cut and paste images and words from printed material and then assemble and glue them on a board.  You can also do them digitally through Canva or other online applications. 

 

How to Make a Vision Board

1. Conscious choices

This method is used to consciously choose images and words that reflect your desires of what you would like to manifest. 

a. Define Your Values.

Start by exploring your values. If your goals are not aligned with your personal values, achieving these goals won’t provide the sense of satisfaction and well-being that you’re seeking. Ask yourself, what really matters to you? What gives you meaning? Who do you want to be? Who do you want to help? And how do you want to spend your time? When making a vision board and thinking through your goals, keep these values-focused questions in mind.

b. Think about what motivates you.

If you pursue goals that you find motivating, you’ll have an easier time reaching them. So ask yourself, what do you want and why do you want it? Does it have anything to do with your childhood or past experiences? Does it have to do with your personality?  Try to better understand why the goals you’ve set are so important to you. Or revise them if you discover they are not as important as you once thought.

c. Set priorities. 

Sometimes vision boards can end up being a collection of all the goals we aspire to—being rich, beautiful, and successful. If we really want to achieve these goals, we need to be more realistic with them. What can we reasonably accomplish in a year or five years? You can visualize your priorities by focusing a vision board on your most important life goals or by placing them above, in the center, or over a greater majority of the board.

d. Collect images and words.

Now collect images and words from magazines that capture the essence of your goals.  You can also paint the images or create words.  Cut them out and glue them to a board.  You can also add paint for color, glitter, glued on objects, add crystals, or whatever helps you depict your goals and the feelings behind them.

 

2. Intuitively

This is my favorite way to make a vision board.  For me, this method contains magic.  What I like about this method is that my subconscious, intuitive, creative abilities, and my soul create the vision board.  It is a right brain exercise and my left brain needs to take a nap for the moment. 

For this method, I just open a magazine and let myself be drawn to images and words that stand out for me.  They jump off the page or my heart responds immediately to the image.  This process should be spontaneous and does not require overthinking.  These are important clues that maybe my rational conscious mind might overlook.  I then put these images together following my intuitive creative instinct on a board and glue them in place.  Now the magic happens.  Now I can utilize my left brain and take an analytical look at my vision board.  What I often find are surprising clues.  I will find repeating images that have meaning, words that really pack a punch expressed from my heart and soul.  I find the essence of my soul speaking to me.  Sometimes you find a road map for your path. 

I had a friend who made a vision board on an entire wall of her house.  She added paint with glitter and essential oils.  Intuitively the images fell into categorized placement on her wall and turned into a road map for her.  I was amazed at how much information she gleaned about herself and her path from that vision board.  You could spend hours finding more clues, and yet the clarity of the meaning behind the total vision board was brilliant and meaningful.

I look back now at a vision board I made years ago and it still rings true to my soul and packs a punch.  It was direct communication from my soul then, and now speaks the same truth.  The revelations you receive are very enlightening and surprisingly joyful.  It is YOUR truth after all.  You will discover there is much to appreciate and value about yourself.  You are unique.  This alone, is a perfect reason to do a vision board!  Let your inner wisdom guide you!