Get Creative with your Goals

What is a vision board?

A vision board consists of pictures and text that represent things, both tangible and intangible, that a person hopes will be a part of their life. This can be across one year, five years, or across someone's lifespan—whatever the creator choses it to be. It is also possible to create a vision board for specific events: a graduation, wedding, or college. 

Why is a vision board beneficial?

A vision board puts goals on paper, a motivational tool towards having the life you want to have. They can be made in paper or digital form. Both allow for updating as you complete your goals, change your goals, or create new ones. Creating a vision board only takes about an hour or two, but the advantages can last a lifetime. After all, we only get one life, one shot to make it the way we want it to be. A vision board is also really fun. It’s essentially a craft and can boost your creativity and mood as you think of the things you hope to have and accomplish one day.

Get started

You don’t need much to get started, just need a laptop or a phone or a poster board and some markers, glue, and magazines. Start by creating a list of things you want to have happen by a set time of your choosing. Then get to work. Find images of these things online, in magazines, or go out and capture pictures yourself. Unsplash.com is a great website to find photos on. You can also include quotes that inspire you. Once all the items are gathered, start putting them all together. A collage or neat and organized boxes are all ways to go about this. To create this online, canva, picmonkey, pinterest, and adobe XD (if you’re more artistically inclined) are great resources. Otherwise head over to your local craft store to get started. If you choose to do this on paper or a poster board, it’s best to arrange all of the items on one board, so be sure to have a big enough poster. Feel free to do it with a friend and find inspiration from one another. 

What to include in a vision board?

• These can be personal or internet based photos.

• Set goals for yourself, over the next few years

• Inspirational, success, motivational, love, friendship, positive, or funny (to make yourself laugh every morning) quotes all work

• Include both
• A certain vibe for example
• Progress

• Things you might believe are impossible that you still want to achieve

• A picture of a car—let's say you really want to buy one of your own
• A pet—dog, cat, bunny, whichever will make you the happiest (if any)
• Values—if you want to be kind, successful, spiritual, brave, honest, secure or happy, the list goes on
• Love—in any form, marriage, friendship, family
• Class grade goals

• Quotes
• "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." -Walt Disney
• "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking." -Steve Jobs
• "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." -Eleanor Roosevelt
• Or add your own quote that you like to live by
• Specific vision board examples
• Apartment or room themes
• Wedding theme and accessories 
• College bucket list items
• Style goals—put together different outfits that you would wear

I included a sample board below and the following gives a brief overview of what I included and why. I chose to do the more organized board, but feel free to make it as busy and chaotic as you would like. 

• A pet dog, because I want to have a bulldog companion in the next few years.
• My next dream car
• I included friends, in an environment that I’d enjoy (hiking or traveling)
• My dream job
• Fitness/health goals
• Quotes 
• Happiness (because who doesn’t like feeling this emotion)
• Volunteering, I hope to always give back
• I will continue to update it as I think of more goals and ambitions.

Last steps

Print it out or grab the poster version and hang it up. Somewhere you can see it everyday. Put it in the bathroom, next to your bed, or even set it as your screensaver. I created my first one just this week and I already feel motivated to do small things that push me towards my goals. As I was making it, I got excited by the potential I have. It is also something I expect will bring on enthusiasm as I work towards the goals and achieve them. Don’t feel pressured or down if you don’t get everything you hoped, but I bet you’ll be surprised by all that you do. And remember, keep updating it every once in a while. Good Luck!

Xx,

Julia Rietman

Delta Gamma

University of California, Santa Barbara

@julia_rietman