To make a vision board, choose a time frame and three to five areas of your life, collect images and words that show what you want those areas to look and feel like, arrange them on a board, and hang it where you'll see it every day. The boards that get used have one more element most skip: a small strip naming the obstacles and the first steps. An afternoon, a stack of old magazines and a glue stick are all you need.
What you need
For a paper board
- A base: corkboard, foam board, a sheet of card or the inside of a cereal box. Around 16 by 20 inches is a comfortable size.
- Images: old magazines, catalogs, travel brochures, printed photos, postcards, ticket stubs.
- Words: cut-out headlines or your own handwriting on index cards.
- Tools: scissors, glue stick or pins, a marker.
For a digital board
A photo-collage app, a design tool or a private Pinterest board all work. Set the finished image as your phone's lock screen, which is where many people will actually look at it. A digital board is easier to update; a paper one is more satisfying to make. Some people do both.
How to make a vision board in seven steps
- Pick a time frame. A year is classic. Six months suits a big transition, such as a move or a new job.
- Choose three to five areas. Home, work, health, relationships, creativity, money, learning. Fewer areas make a clearer board.
- Write one sentence for each area about how you want it to feel. "Work feels challenging but not frantic." This sentence guides your choice of images.
- Gather far more than you need. Tear out anything that catches your eye for half an hour, without judging.
- Edit hard. Lay everything out and keep only what fits your sentences. A crowded board is hard to read at a glance.
- Arrange, then glue. Group images by area, or put the most important one in the center. Leave a band along the bottom empty for step 7.
- Add the plan strip. Along the bottom, write the main obstacle for each area and one first step. More on this below.
Many people make their board at the turn of the year; our guide to New Year's Eve rituals suggests fitting it into a last-night-of-the-year evening. A new moon ritual is another popular moment for a fresh start, and the new moon calendar has the upcoming dates.
What to put on it: ideas by life area
Concrete pictures work better than abstract ones, because they tell you what to do. A few examples:
| Area | Vague image | Concrete image |
|---|---|---|
| Home | A luxury mansion | A tidy desk by a window with a plant on it |
| Work | A businesswoman in a suit | Your own name on a book spine or a shop sign, mocked up |
| Health | A fitness model | Running shoes by the door; a bowl of something green |
| Relationships | A wedding photo | Friends laughing around a crowded table |
| Money | A pile of cash | A savings account screenshot with the number you want |
| Creativity | A famous painting | A sketchbook full to the last page |
Words matter as much as pictures. Single words ("steady," "outdoors," "brave") or short sentences in your handwriting are easy to absorb as you walk past. If you'd like a sentence to repeat, our guide to how to set intentions helps you write one.
Add the obstacles: the step most boards skip
Here's the honest bit. There's no evidence that looking at pictures of what you want brings it to you, and some psychology research points the other way. Studies by the psychologist Gabriele Oettingen and colleagues found that people who indulged in very positive fantasies about an ideal future tended to put in less effort toward it, perhaps because imagining success felt a little like having it already.
Her research also suggests what helps: pairing the wish with a clear look at what stands in the way, then making a plan. Oettingen's version is called WOOP, for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. You can build it straight into your board:
- Wish: the image itself.
- Outcome: the sentence you wrote for that area.
- Obstacle: the inner obstacle, written honestly. "I scroll instead of writing after dinner."
- Plan: an if-then line. "If it's 8 p.m., I open the document before the phone."
Written along the bottom strip, these turn a pretty collage into a working tool. They also make the board more honest to look at on a bad day.
Where to hang it and how to use it afterward
- Somewhere you pass, not somewhere you sit. A hallway, the inside of a wardrobe door or beside the mirror works better than above your desk, where it becomes wallpaper.
- Look at it with a question. Once a day, ask "what's one small thing I can do toward one of these today?"
- Review it monthly. Tick off what's happened, move what's changed and add notes to the plan strip.
- Let it change. If an image no longer fits, take it down. A vision board is a draft, not a contract.
- Keep it private if you like. Some people enjoy sharing theirs; others find that talking about a goal too early takes the shine off. Both are fine.
At the end of the year, photograph the board before you replace it. Looking back at an old one is often more instructive than making the new one.
Vision boards with friends
A vision board evening is a cheerful thing to do with friends. Everyone brings a stack of magazines, someone makes snacks, and you spend the last half hour explaining one image each. Hearing your goal out loud, and hearing other people's, often clarifies it. Just keep the tone kind: the point is to cheer each other on, not to compare.
The tarot card most often linked with this kind of hopeful planning is the Star, a figure pouring water under a clear sky. It's a good image for the top corner of a board.
Questions readers ask
When is the best time to make a vision board?
Any time you're ready for a fresh start. The new year, your birthday, a new moon or the start of a season are all popular, but a vision board made on an ordinary Tuesday works just as well.
Do vision boards really work?
A board can't make things happen on its own, and imagining success without planning may even reduce effort. Boards are most useful when they include obstacles and first steps, and when you look at them as a prompt for action.
How many images should a vision board have?
Usually between ten and twenty. Enough to cover your chosen areas, few enough that you can take in the whole board in a few seconds.
What should I do with my old vision board?
Photograph it, note what came true and what changed, then recycle it or keep the images you still love. Many people tuck the photo into the back of their journal as a record of the year.
