Vision Boards: You Become What You Believe

by Paula Rizzo

I’m not crafty but at the beginning of every year I make a vision board.  It’s my one craft project for the year and it’s so much fun.  Reading magazines is my guilty little pleasure and it comes in handy for this task.  Over the past few weeks I’ve been ripping out pages, pictures and words that speak to me.  I spent this evening gluing my favorites on a piece of poster board.

What is a Vision Board?

The idea is to have a place for all the things you’d like to accomplish, places you’d like to go and things you enjoy.  Oprah talks about making vision boards because as she says, “you become what you believe.”  So if you use this tool as a jumping off point for your goals you are more likely to achieve them.  I use it as a reminder of my goals — like having a three-bedroom apartment or going to Venice.  I also put photos of people I admire, things I enjoy like drinking tea and other ambitions like writing a book.

There are No Rules

Your vision board can include photos, drawings or inspirational words.  If you are super crafty you can use fabric or other textures as well.  There is no right way to do it.  The photos can be places you’ve been, places you want to go, outfits you like, things you’d like to buy, kitchens you want to model yours after or anything that makes you smile.  You can make your board by hand like I did or do it digitally on your computer.

You can be literal or creative with your choices.  I’ve included photos of champagne because it’s one of my favorite drinks but also it symbolizes celebrations. I’d like to have a lot of things to celebrate this year.  There’s a photo of someone filling out thank you cards and it’s not that I particularly like writing out cards — but I’d like to have lots of reasons to say thank you.

I purposely leave some white space on my vision board so it can evolve throughout the year.  Whenever I see a photo that catches my eye or I think of something I want to achieve — I add it.  I hang my vision board inside my closet door.  That way I’m sure to see it every morning when I get dressed.

Here are some places you can keep your vision board:

—On your desk in a frame
—Pinned up on a cork board
—As your desktop wallpaper
—In a book that you carry with you
—On your phone in an app like “Vision Board Deluxe” by Happy Tapper
—On Pinterest.com

I think this would be a fun activity to do with friends or even with kids.  Kids can make their own vision boards with activities and places they want to go throughout the year.  You’ll be surprised how much of an influence it can have on them.

You can even make it a tradition to check out last year’s vision board on New Year’s Eve and evaluate how much they’ve done in the past year.  Then make a new board on New Year’s Day.  But you don’t have to do this at the beginning of the year — you can make a vision board at any time.

Remember though that just having a vision board isn’t enough.  You must actively work towards your goals.

Paula Rizzo is a senior television producer in New York City and founder of ListProducer.com.  She’s an Emmy Award winner and attributes much of her success to her compulsive list making.  She makes lists for everything and started ListProducer.com to help others become more organized, focused and efficient, while being less stressed.  Follow her on Twitter and connect on Facebook.