Why you need 2 vision boards instead of one: how to manage your goals effectively
No, it’s not about having “one vision board for work and another for your life at home”. Let’s get into it.
It’s that time of the year when everyone thinks about their new wonderful resolutions, just like me and you.
And just like I was, you might have been BOMBARDED by thousands of videos, blog posts, and tweets of people showcasing their brand-new vision boards. But —
What is a vision board? Why do we all apparently need one?
A vision board is a collage (digital or not) of images meant to represent the life that you want in the upcoming year, and it is most effective when seen every day. The more specific one is, the better because it can help you visualize the path in front of you and your upcoming future (and, consequently, your upcoming steps in life) more clearly.
Awesome. Seems like something doable, just take what you might want your life to look like in one year and BOOM you have it.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it doesn’t quite work like that. I don’t blame you cause I am a serial vision board maker, been doing this since 2018 every year and I have gathered enough knowledge to tell you what works and what doesn’t.
Cause yes, a vision board is needed. But only a well-made one. Actually, two.
Put down that glue and scissors for now. First, do this.
I have made this mistake back-to-back for the first 4 years of my “vision board creation journey” (if we want to call it like this) and it was one but crucial. It was not asking myself:
Do I want it because I REALLY do or because it’s what I have been taught to want?
Example: I was in the middle of college, struggling with my mental health and financial situation. I wished for a better, richer future for myself.
So I would put on the vision board pictures of having a high follower count on social media, a luxurious lifestyle, people partying happily together, and influencers on remote islands,… you name it. I had it glued on there.
You might even be reading this while you have Pinterest saved a literal board of pictures that look exactly like that for yourself. Or you just dreamed of having that, who didn’t?
And that’s my question: who didn’t?
We all see influencers on cruises, people bragging about their new high-paying jobs, people talking about all the benefits and opportunities that places like social media platforms have given them, and flashy click-bait titles on how to make money in this way or that way.
We ALL wished looking at those titles and pictures to have them too. Just for a moment. We all saw ourselves on that cruise, in that fancy restaurant, with that money in the bank.
But do you really want it? If not: what do you want?
If money was out of the picture, what would you want?
Take a couple of seconds, open a notepad app or take a sticky note and write down your answer. It can be as vague as “I want to have a positive impact on people’s lives” or super specific as you being able to buy that exact house in that exact rue you saw once walking by on your trip to Paris.
Now ask yourself again and add another answer, another goal.
Now again.
And again.
Till you feel satisfied.
I have totaled 13 goals.
Board 1. No glue (yet) but a calendar.
Get that calendar out (extra points if it’s Google Calendar cause I love it). You’ll need it. Cause now we are taking that list of yours and making it happen.
Imma be using the example of Natasha, a 25yo bubbly interior designer who would like to:
- get healthier,
- study a new language,
- read more,
- travel more in 2024
If it sounds like you, you’re lucky cause I’m literally going to do the heavy lifting for you.
Sounds like Natasha has been reasonable, right? Those are perfectly achievable goals, right? Wrong.
A reasonable, achievable goal is not “read more”.
It is “By 25th May 2024, read 15 books, so 3 books a month.”
That slight adrenaline from the deadline is already kicking in, right? And that’s the key to making that goal achievable, cause you are used to having deadlines to respect and you know that for most of them, you can’t procrastinate till the very last second to make them happen.
Because let’s face it: every year you said “I’ll read more this year” and you didn’t, you procrastinated on the most important thing: your life goals.
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I did that too and it doesn’t mean you just wasted years of your life, you prioritized other things. It’s ok, let’s take it from here.
Take that list of goals and give each one of them a date, and a how.
So “read more” becomes “By 25th May 2024, read 15 books, so 3 books a month.”
“Get healthier” translates to “By 4th July 2024, go to the gym 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), research about the Mediterranean diet and get at least once a week 10k steps.”
“Study a new language” gets substituted by “By the end of October 2024, be able to pass the Korean Topik 1 level 2 test, by doing 30 minutes a day of studying.”
And “Travel more in 2024” becomes “Book a trip to Mikonos from February 5th to February 7th 2024, and from 27th August to 15th September 2024 rent a van and travel from Florida to Toronto, visiting the East Coast.”
That was a mouthful, but I hope you get the concept.
Natasha now has a plan that on paper looks very much like this:
Not as exciting as the vision boards we see all the time, right? I know. But don’t worry. We are making one now.
Board 2: Time for the glue, scissors and pretty images.
It’s the time you’ve been waiting for: making the aesthetically pleasing board. If you’ve never made one before, don’t worry about it, Imma walk you through it as I’ve been doing so far.
Board 1 is the backbone plan to achieve Board 2.
Board 2 gives you the motivation to make the tasks on Board 1 happen.
So Board 2 needs to be as appealing as possible to you, you need to look at it and WISH it was you in those pictures. Best part? You are becoming that person. Because you have Board 1.
Things to consider when selecting pictures
POV pictures > Aesthetically pleasing ones.
Why have a person, that looks nothing like you, in the picture, when you can have an image that looks almost like it was taken from your camera roll, you were the one there and not the other person? First-person point-of-view pictures help you visualize yourself in that situation, therefore the goal you’re trying to achieve feels more doable. Because it feels like you’re already there.
extra tip: match your skin tone and hair color for extra accuracy if you can’t find first person's pov
Specific place? Specific picture.
If one of your goals is to travel to Bali, why have a random beautiful ocean picture? You wanna go to Bali, put Bali, even if it’s not as pretty as the other one. You wanna get a specific house? Put the Google Maps screenshot on there, I know it’s not in the colour palette but it’s definitely what you want.
Romanticize the process.
Put pictures that make the process of achieving your goal, the steps you’ll be taking, look extremely enjoyable and even desirable. Do you have to show up at the gym three times a week? Put those super aesthetically pleasing pictures of people taking selfies in the mirror at the gym, or people sharing their current results on the treadmill, or colour-coordinated gym clothes that just make you want to put them on and go exercising.
Photoshop is your friend.
If you want to make a specific amount of money, take a screenshot of your bank account and photoshop it onto it. If you want a scholarship, take a similar “You’re accepted for this scholarship” email and put your name on it.
With that all together, Natasha’s (and your) Board 2 should look something like this:
Conclusion
In the end, it’s not about perfection, it’s not about the perfect life that everyone tells you you should want nor the perfect aesthetically pleasing collage. It’s about you, going on your path at your own pace. And I am sure these two boards are going to help you with that.
Enjoy your 2024, it’s gonna be packed with everything you wish.
— Seph
