So much has been written about the Law of Attraction and the power of manifesting your dreams into life. The reality is that applying the Law of Attraction (LoA from now on) works as a motivational factor for goal accomplishment and vision of what you desire to pursue in your future life—whether we talk about short-term or long-term vision. This fits both personal and professional goals.
In this guide, we will learn a valuable tool for manifesting our dreams, a vision board. The steps to define what we aim to pursue, how to time frame it, and how to make a vision board using PowerPoint templates.
Table of Contents
- What is a Vision Board?
- Benefits of Using Vision Boards
- What to Include in a Vision Board
- How to Find Inspiration for a Vision Board
- How to Create a Vision Board for Personal Goals
- How to Create a Vision Board for Business Goals
- Final Words
What is a Vision Board?
We can define a vision board as a visual tool aimed to clarify, concentrate, and maintain focus on specific goals. The goals can be personal, professional, or a combination. We can make a vision board time-framed (i.e., my vision board for 2024) or atemporal, which means the elements pinned to it are applicable until we achieve or rethink them.
A vision board is made of the following elements:
- Images: A collection of pictures that represent your goals and dreams. They can be photos you took, stock photos, illustrations, screenshots, you name it.
- Words and Affirmations: Quotes, positive words, or affirmations that resonate with your aspirations.
- Canvas: The medium in which you arrange your images and text. It can be a piece of board, a thick paper, or even digital.
Benefits of Using Vision Boards
Creating a vision board has many benefits, which we shall explain individually. First, vision boards help boost confidence and create a vision of success. Seeing your dreams laid out in front of you every day is a constant reminder that you have something to believe in, something you can achieve, which, in turn, promotes accountability toward your goals.
Regardless of where you find yourself, personally or professionally, vision boards are visual reminders of your goals, helping you find the energy and motivation to work toward them. It is a source of continuous inspiration, even at your lowest moments.
On goal achievement, vision boards are somewhat relatable to roadmaps, as they are a visual guide to your actions and decisions. Vision boards can inspire to develop actionable plans, like a career development plan, an individual development plan, or more future-intended strategies such as a 5-year plan. They encourage you to take small, consistent actions toward those goals, reducing your anxiety about the future.
Finally, vision boards are a great asset to mental health. They help us appreciate what we have, focus on positive outcomes, and raise our awareness about true desires and aspirations. The process of creating a vision board is highly creative, so it acts as a destresser for many people while also encouraging potential new creative goals.
What to Include in a Vision Board
Start by setting your goals. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something as strict as the SMART Goal Framework (although later on, you may apply it to give your goals a time frame); instead, we propose to consider this approach with questions:
- Am I happy right now? Is there something I desire to change instantly?
- What’s my dream job? Am I in the right career path for me?
- What are my major financial goals?
- Do I like the city where I live?
- Do I like my home?
- Do I wish to engage in new hobbies?
- Do I like my personal/professional style? Should I hire a personal stylist?
- Which travel destinations are on my bucket list?
- How can I improve my relationship with my loved ones?
These are general approaches, and we can tailor them depending on whether we desire to aim for a personal vision board or a professional vision board.
Next, seek photos that can reply to those answers. They can be anything: newspaper clips, social media screenshots, photos, drawings, etc. The images represent what you intend to manifest into your life, and they are not things that magically appear – these are things you will work to see become a part of your life.
Now, it’s time to add words to the mix. Follow the same logic as with the images, or search for online images of quotes. You can even write the words on paper, crop them into smaller pieces, and fit them into your vision board (or scan them if your vision board is digital).
How to Find Inspiration for a Vision Board
Although YouTube and some bloggers do an excellent job of promoting vision boards, the finest examples can be found on Pinterest, which also serves as a source for finding images, text, and quotes that resonate with your goals.
Search for “vision board ideas” or “vision board examples.” Instantly, you will feel a lot of pressure being lifted from your shoulders regarding the graphic quality of the layout you have to do. You can come across many laid-back approaches to vision boards, suggestions for supplies, blog articles, and more. Additionally, this can help you decide whether you want to create a physical vision board – and which medium to create it – or a digital one and how to display it. It’s best to place the vision board in the area that brings the most joy into your home life or at your home office, where you spend a considerable amount of hours.
How to Create a Vision Board for Personal Goals
In this example, we will talk about how to make a vision board for personal goals using a demo case. Mary is looking to make major changes in her life. She’s currently working in a large company, putting a lot of hours into commuting, and feels somewhat out of touch with the things she used to enjoy outside work. She’s seeking to answer these questions:
- How do I create a creative career that allows me to work remotely?
- How do I engage in the hobbies I used to love? (baking and photography)
- How can I be more physically active if I work from home?
So, extracting the main keywords from that, we get that the shortlist of concepts to capture in the vision board are:
- Creative career
- Work from home
- Home office
- Remote work
- Work-life balance
- Self-discovery
- Baking
- Photography
Therefore, we research images, quotes, and words. Mary seeks to generate her vision board in a digital format so that she can access it whenever she wants. To accomplish that, Mary will use a PowerPoint template that allows her to structure her thoughts into written words and a slide with images that she can check to feel realigned with her goals.
Now, let’s go section by section to fill this vision board PowerPoint template.
My Name
Mary Reiley-Jones
Physical
Somewhat out of shape due to a hectic work schedule. I am planning to lose 20 lbs in 4 months and improve my sleep hygiene.
Mental
Demotivated about how much time I lost commuting per week. I feel like I have no time for myself or the things I truly love.
Spiritual
I reconnected with my faith some months ago after a life-changing event.
Financial
All major debts paid, including mortgage. Now building a six-month emergency fund.
Stuff I Want
- Connect with my creative side.
- Work from home.
- Start a new food photography course.
- Start a blog.
Things to Try
- Sign up for a cake decor class.
- Remodel my storage room for a new home office.
- Travel while working.
Dreams
- Become an accomplished food photographer.
- Having 20K visitors/month for my blog in my 2nd year.
Family Life
Spending more time with my husband and my pets is a priority.
For the Home
Since the storage room will become my new office, I must declutter the home.
Goals
- Save 6 months of income.
- Make an exit plan from my current job.
- Make a side hustle of my creative career.
All in all, the template filled will look like this.
What’s pending is the visual aspect of the vision board, which Mary arranges using a Sticky Notes PPT template to add the images that resonate with her vision.
How to Create a Vision Board for Business Goals
A business vision board is somewhat different from a personal vision board as it will focus on a company, a product, or a service to be improved/launched. In general, images are strictly close to the goal in mind or can even be photos from the organization, whereas quotes are left out in preference for powerful words that inspire action.
So, let’s take Jerry’s case. Jerry is a solopreneur who started an online academy using AI to teach students how to improve their soft skills for job interviews, as well as core technical skills required for their dream job. Although the business has been experiencing a growth trend, Jerry is seeking ways to expand his reach and make his dreams a reality. Therefore, Jerry sought the help of a mentor who recommended the vision board exercise to avoid feeling overwhelmed by so many areas to tackle and no clear direction.
As part of the exercise, the mentor presents a Product Vision Board so Jerry can define what’s required to take his company to the next level.
Now, let’s see what Jerry completed for this exercise.
Vision
Become a leading training service for young professionals who want a quick career improvement experience.
Target Group
People in their late 20s to mid-40s seeking career improvement or looking to land their dream job.
Needs
Trustworthy mentoring in the areas which are key opportunities for higher seniority levels.
Assessment of where their skills currently lie.
Product
This is an online platform accessible across all devices, with little demand in terms of graphics/visuals, so anyone—regardless of their internet speed—can take part in the mentoring.
Business Goals
Increase the platform users by 40% in one year.
Get 3-4 partnership deals secured with authority education sites.
And this is what Jerry’s Product Vision Board looks like.
Rather than creating a vision board filled with images, the mentor advised Jerry to save an album with images that inspire his vision or comparison graphs to see his traffic numbers during the first months and where he stands now. Since the business vision board was made with PowerPoint, Jerry opted to print the PowerPoint file and frame it for easier access at his office.
Final Words
As we saw in these two examples, vision boards are motivational tools that can bridge the gap between our current status and our dream vision regarding goals, where we want to be in life, and the areas we feel lacking. There are no rules in terms of visuals, nor do you need to be a graphic designer to create a vision board. Just relax, let your inner thoughts speak on what you truly crave, and put that vision into tools that make your job easier.
