A Beginner’s Guide to Vision Boards: Annual, Monthly, and Everything In Between
What is a vision board?
A vision board can be many different things depending on what your needs and intentions are at the moment. The best part is that there is no “wrong” way to make one! You may choose to use more symbolism or more literal images to represent your vision. While reflecting on what to include, certain words may begin to stand out to you that hold importance for you. The idea is that your vision board will invoke emotions for the time frame that you are thinking of when you create it. Below is more on how different time frames can utilized when creating a vision board.
Doing a one time vision board can have a longer term focus and support visualising future goals and major changes to you and/or your environment or a narrow focus on just one area of your life that you are seeking change within. You will eventually need to change or reevaluate this style of vision board as time goes on but it is must less often than other styles. Examples of things to include on a long term vision board would be images to signify specific milestones or what they represent. One person may choose a diploma to represent completing a degree while another may choose a tree because it signifies growth.
Annual vision boards have the benefit of being time constrained and having a clear beginning and end. You can focus on specific parts of your life, your well-being as a whole, or growth and goals for the next 12 months. This kind of vision board may work better for someone who struggles with pressure to complete or perfectionism. The annual board gives you the opportunity to envision 365 days of opportunities to show up how you want to, including holidays, deadlines, seasons, and plot twists! Some examples of things that may be included on an annual board may be a superhero cape to symbolize bravery or an eraser to remind you that mistakes are survivable.
Vision boards can also be utilized on a more frequent basis such as quarterly or monthly. Some of the benefits to creating a board more often include more accountability and the ability to focus on more specific needs or wants to work towards embodying your values in your life. Examples of things that may be included on a monthly vision board could be a photo of your family if you feel you have been disconnected from them recently or a game board to represent quality time with them being a priority to you. I personally try to utilize a monthly approach because life has a way of bumping me off track and I appreciate the opportunity to recenter and be very intentional about where I spend my energy!
Here is an example of a past board that I created as part of my digital planner!
