The excitement of the new year is usually followed by resolutions, which are a great way to start the year with enthusiasm and plans for success. According to Business Insider, 80% of resolutions fail by the second week of February. I’m sure that the failures are for a variety of reasons, such as overreaching, lack of accountability, failure to create target goals, etc. I believe most people really want to complete their goals but need a little help setting realistic goals and steps to reach the completion of their resolution.
I will admit, that I too am guilty of creating resolutions, only to fail shortly after the year began. In my frustration of ending the year with incomplete resolutions, I began creating long-term and short-term goals several years ago. Ultimately, this goal setting led to my decision to create a visual representation of my goals, widely known as a vision board. Vision boards can become a daily reminder of the process to complete goals and inspiration for your continued pursuit of said goals.
There are many creative formats available to create vision boards, including digital and paper formats. Last year, I used a Vision Planner to create and track my vision goals. You can read more about last year’s process here: Happy New Year. This year, I decided to create a larger scale version, using a foam poster board, magazine clips, and printed documents from Microsoft Word. I really enjoyed creating my vision board this year, especially using a variety of art material to create a visual expression of my goals.
If you have been thinking about creating a vision board, you should give it a try. Its really easy once you get start. Here are a few tips to help you get started.
- Choose your medium. As stated above, you can use paper material, such as construction paper, poster, foam boards, or card stock. Digital versions can be created with programs like Canva, Adobe Spark, Stencil, Snappa, DesignBold, Fotor, and Piktochart.
- in my opinion, vision boards should be more than an expression of material possession needed and wanted. Think about areas of your life and how you can grow and become the best you. Create categories based on these areas of life and map out how you want to lay out your goals on the chosen backdrop.
- Create realistic, attainable goals. Your goals can be long-term goals that you would like to start working towards this year and reassess at the end of the year. Short term goals should also be included, especially those that can be completed in the current year.
- Choose goals that represent various areas of your life, such as:
- Personal Growth
- Health
- Fitness
- Career
- School
- Relationships
- Fun & Adventure
- Spiritual/Mental/Emotional Growth
- Financial
- 1-2 special items that you want purchase can be included; my preference is to only include purchase that are major and require planning in my financial goals.
5. Gather materials to create your vision board. The options are limitless and can include magazine clippings, drawings, printable images, words, phrases, stickers, or whatever you think is beautiful and inspiring for the year. Items chosen for the board should represent your goals for the current year.
6. Use glue to assemble your visual items onto the backdrop, organizing each section based on the categories.
Some critics suggest that vision boards do not make a difference and only create frustration for people. I think it depends on a person’s personality and motivational needs. If you enjoy having visual tools, creating a vision board is a great way to keep your vision in front of you to inspire progress towards your goals.
https://www.businessinsider.com/new-years-resolutions-courses-2016-12
