At the beginning of every school year, I put together a vision board to represent all of the goals that I’m working toward. I include portraits of women I admire, poems that remind me of the kind of life I want to live, glossy photos of vacation getaways and vintage postcards. Sometimes I tack up slips from fortune cookies or polaroids of good times. It’s important for me to have a visual reminder of the life I want, especially when it becomes difficult for me to motivate myself to push forward in class. Here’s how to get started building your own. There’s no better time to build off the excitement of the new year and visualize your dreams than the present.
I use a coffee table-sized corkboard, but you can choose whatever medium you want. Personally, I prefer a physical board that is big enough to be visible from my primary workspace, which is where I need the most motivation. Because mine is a full board, I prop it up on the wall next to my desk. If you opt for a smaller size for spatial reasons then you can hang it on the wall.
You can create a vision board similar to a collage. Cut out clips from magazines or print images off online. You can also stick to a color scheme that fits your room/personality. You could do all of your pictures in black and white or all of them with pink undertones. I like to have a wide representation of bright colors, but I arrange them in ROY G BIV order. You can organize your board anyway you want, but it should reflect your thought process and style. To reflect my love of writing, my vision boards always include snippets from my favorite poems, books and sometimes even news articles. I also put up my own artwork on there, including sticky note drawings that capture my daily moods and my own poetry.
I also use push pins for my bulletin board so that I can change it throughout the year as my interests change. I take pictures of it at the beginning and the end of the year so I can see how I evolved throughout.
If you’re living that #DormLife and you’re all out of space, consider making a digital board and saving it as the background for your phone or laptop. I like this one from Vienna content creator @jonilda_k, who you can find on Instagram or on Pinterest.
Visualizing the goals that you’re working toward is an effective way to motivate and inspire yourself. Even if you don’t consider yourself artistic, vision boards are easy to create and can reflect whatever you’d like. Consider creating a vision board to start your year off on the right foot!