New Year Intentions + DIY Vision Board

I love goal setting, vision boards, and journaling. I find it helps bring direction and focus to what is important to me.

But are vision boards actually useful? Or just a hyped-up “woo-woo” practice?

This whole year has really flown by for me. At the start of every month, I found myself thinking “really?! How?!”. It feels like the adult equivalent of being in school and continuing to put the wrong date on your paper.

I would still be writing 2023 🤪

But despite the flurry and busyness of this time of year, I am really excited for what is to come in 2025. The last few years have been a season of a lot of pruning for our family. I feel like the Lord has been showing up what our priorities are not, and inviting us to step away from some things and relationships that were no longer beneficial. It’s been hard and challenging to be honest. And maybe it is just being hopeful, but I feel like this next year will be one of growth and expansion— I guess only time will tell!

Either way that the year ahead shakes out, I know two things:

1. I want to step into 2025 with deep intention and conviction about what my priorities are.

2. I also want to be more mindful of planning the things I want to happen. (The last few years of having small babies, I feel like I have been showing up reactive to plans rather than proactive.)

Thinking through this inspired me to create a vision board for the coming year and share my process with you. By no means is there a “right way” to do this practice— because truly there are sooo many different ways to put your thoughts into a tangible, visual form. So I will share some of my favorite methods, including some that are completely free!

Purpose of a Vision Board

Creating a vision board should be fun and inspirational— but it is not a “magical solution” to accomplishing your goals. You still have to put in the hard work 😉 But in researching for this post, I found some really cool research and science behind vision boards.

• Strengthens Confidence + Helps Identify Goals- A 2019 study suggests that vision boards encourage self-expression and help identify meaningful future goals, inner strengths, interests, and core values. This process of creating a vision board can help you to figure out what you actually want to accomplish and cut through the noise of expectations, other peoples goals, or what is popular. It is about creating a visual representation of what YOU want to do.

• Positive Goal Reinforcement- Regularly looking at your vision board can serve as a positive reminder of what you are working towards, boosting motivation and optimism. For this to work, I recommend putting it somewhere that you will see often (especially when and where you work). For me, this looks like a digital vision board set as my computer desktop and a physical vision board in my office.

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Methods for a Vision Board

1. Digital Version— There are so many “online vision board” tools nowadays. I used a free Canva template and swapped out the pictures for ones that resonated with me and my goals. It was done in less than 10 minutes and is now the desktop image on my laptop that I work from.

2. Journaling— I am a big fan of using journaling as a tool to sort through your thoughts. To create a “Vision Board Journal,” get a clean notebook page or a blank sheet of paper and just begin scribbling ideas and jotting out things that get you excited. Draw arrows connecting ideas, group goals in fun doodle clouds— there are no rules. I usually end up with two or three different sheets of paper before having my final draft. The first couple end up messy with half a dozen arrows pointing all over the place 🤪

3. Curated Images on a poster— I think this is the idea that comes to most people’s mind- cut-up magazines, glue sticks, inspiring quotes, words and images gathered into a collage. I remember making one of these in junior high— and the process is all the same today. Go through your cabinets to find old magazines, or pick up a few affordable ones from the thrift store. Some other unique ideas of things to add to your vision board collage:

   • Receipts + Registrations - did you enroll for a fun run, or plan a trip, or schedule a fun event? Print out the registration form and add that into the mix. This can also be a really important step in starting the action required to meet your goals!

   • Mixed media- Want to start gardening? Pick a few flowers to dry and add to the poster. Want to read more? Find some old, worn books and repurpose the damaged pages into your collage background.

   • Add pen to paper- Doodle frames around images, write out your favorite quotes instead of printing them, and write out each goal under its corresponding image- this can help to personalize your vision board even more and add more clarity to what each image represents.

4. Premade vision board kit— Over the last couple of years, I have started to see more of these “Vision Board Kits” pop up. Basically, they are exactly what they sound like. Instead of having to search through magazines to find images that match your aesthetic, these kits have them all right there for you. Here are some of my Amazon favorites:

   • Dear Future Self Vision Board Kit- this kit really has it all. It comes with a journal, prompts, and questions to help you determine what you want to achieve and why it is important. I also really love that it gives you an area to evaluate your current life and where you may be falling short.

   • The Vision Board Book- this is basically a curated magazine filled with different images that you cut out and apply to a poster (not included). I love that it has a wide range of unique images and ideas.

   • My Favorite: Aesthetic Vision Board Kit- this kit has beautiful images. My favorite part is that everything you need is in this kit— and you don’t even need to deal with a messy glue stick!! Each one of the images has a self-adhesive backing that applies directly to the board included. It is a little bit more expensive than the other options on the list but I think it is worth the quality.

My Personal Vision Board for 2025

With all the talk of vision boards, I decided I’d share mine! These are the images that helped me feel most inspired for the coming year— they represent family, slowness, intentionality, time spent outside in nature, rest, and focused work. I set it as my background on my laptop so that I can see it every time I start to work.

I also have a fun “Vision Board Night” planned with my husband, where we can have a cozy date night at home and dream about what we want to accomplish in the coming year.

Have you made a vision board in the past? I’d love to see what is inspiring you, if you’re willing to share!

Kaelyn

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