Creating a Personal Vision Board

Do you have a vision for what you want to achieve? When I think of a personal vision, it takes me back to Habit 2 of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective College Students of creating a personal mission statement. Generally, this is a poem, story or set of code words that set the compass for our long-term goals in the event that life’s curveballs throw us off track. A new and creative way to approach setting long-range goals is to create a visual mission statement, essentially, pictures or a collage of what you would like your future to look like. You could get creative and break it down into the physical, social, academic and/or career goals that you have set for yourself, or break it down into one universal vision. Use magazine clippings or your own personal drawings to denote what you see as achieving your life legacy. In doing so, it may be helpful to yourself the following questions:

• What skills and education will I need to achieve the career that I want?
• What types of friends to I want to surround myself with?
• What type of house or living situation do I envision for myself?
• What type of hobbies and activities will enhance my creativity?
• Do I envision myself with a partner or spouse or family?
• What part of the world do I want to live in and what do my surroundings look like?
• What are my goals for my physical health? How do I want to be feeling on a day to day basis?
• What is my physical energy like?

I would recommend first writing out the answers to these questions, but also envisioning what all of this will look like if you were to view it on paper, picture or screen. Then, select images that match your answers accordingly and assemble them onto a posterboard or collage. By looking at this vision board, you will stay in touch with the goals and dreams that keep you inspired and in turn, will maintain inspiration in achieving those dreams.

Creating a journal that documents how close you are to these goals and writing down your reaction to your vision statement on a day-to-day basis can help bring your goals further and further into focus.

For more information on this topic, visit this link.