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1. What Should a Vision Board Include?
A vision board typically includes a curated collection of your intentions and aspirations for the future. In a practical sense, this will usually include cutouts from magazines or other images that represent a visualization of your goals, perhaps mixed with some key written phrases or buzzwords. This combination of text and visual elements are usually arranged so as to inspire and motivate you to achieve your chosen objectives. What precisely is included, however, will depend on the theme of your vision board.
2. Popular Examples of Vision Boards to Try Out
2.1. Family and Parenthood
Central Theme:
The theme of this vision board needs to represent happy and loving familial relationships, and should rope in elements of family bonding, togetherness and good memories.
Images:
Display pictures of your family members, capturing happy moments and milestones, to remind you of the love and joy shared within your family. Add visuals that symbolize your commitment to providing educational opportunities for your children, whether it's books, a graduation cap, or images of learning environments. Include images that represent activities you want to enjoy as a family, such as picnics, game nights, vacations, or outdoor adventures.
Text:
Incorporate words or quotes that align with the values you want to instill in your children, such as kindness, empathy, gratitude, and respect, to guide your parenting approach.
You can use words or phrases or positive affirmations that reflect your aspirations as a parent, such as "patience," "nurturing," "guidance," or "leading by example," to remind you of the kind of parent you strive to be.
2.2. Creative Expression and Artistic Pursuits
Central Theme:
If you are looking to develop a new creative pursuit or artistic skill, this vision board theme should represent the essence of your creative vision or artistic aspirations through paintings, sculpting or artwork.
Images:
Curate a collage of images that can include artwork, photographs, illustrations, or scenes that spark your creativity, or visuals that represent some favorite artistic techniques you want to explore. You can add images like paintbrushes, sculpting tools, or musical instruments. Include pictures of artists or creative figures who inspire you, such as your favorite painter, writer, or musician.
Text:
Create a section dedicated to your artistic goals. Feature words or phrases that reflect what you want to achieve, such as "mastering a new art technique," "publishing a book," "exhibiting artwork," or any other creative milestones you aspire to reach.
2.3. Home and Interior Design
Central Theme:
For those of you pining for that dream house or minty new makeover for your favorite place, this vision board theme should be all about home interior, decor elements, and designs that inspire you.
Images:
Put together a collection of pictures representing items of furniture that you want to have in your home, from big appliances like fridges and laundry machines, to decorative items like paintings and rugs. Some examples of vision boards are founded on a specific color palette, which can be represented by images of swatches or fabrics. Consider drawing from nature photography to express the kind of tones and hues you would like to include in your home.
Text:
Intersperse your images with words that reflect your interior design ethos. These words could be abstract ideas, such as “calming,” “vibrant,” or “quirky.” Alternatively, they could describe a particular style, such as “art deco,” “minimalism,” or “shabby chic.”
2.4. Personal Style and Fashion
Central Theme:
Begin your vision board template with a snapshot of somebody you see as a fashion icon and would like to emulate to set the theme.
Images:
Bring together images of the style of clothing you like (e.g., vintage, preppy, glam) with the colors that you want to wear. These don’t have to be things you already feel comfortable in but should instead center on the kinds of apparel you would like to incorporate more into your wardrobe, be it bolero jackets or boaters. Feel free to mix and match different looks and seasons.
Text:
Fashion is a rich wellspring of snappy quotes, which can add an inspirational element to your vision board. Consider this one from Oscar de la Renta: "Being well-dressed hasn't much to do with having good clothes. It's a question of good balance and good common sense." If there’s a particular ethos you have in mind, such as eco-friendly apparel or indie designers, scribble that down, too.
2.5. Education and Lifelong Learning
Central Theme:
Lifelong learning is all about personal development, so this vision board needs to represent the joy of education or upskilling as the main focus.
Images:
Find images that convey the positive benefits of education, such as getting a new job, transitioning into a different industry, or feeling more confident during public speaking. Learning can encompass a broad swathe of concepts, so feel free to incorporate the symbols of any particular software you want to learn to effectively use, as well as pictures of any instruments or aesthetic pursuits you want to develop.
Text:
Educational goals are one of the more difficult things to represent on a vision board, so accompany the pictures with clear statements about what you want to achieve. Statements like “learn a new language,” “complete an MBA” or “take a computer programming class.”
2.6. Adventure and Outdoor Activities
Central Theme:
The vision board needs to focus on your goal to experience the most exciting activity or adventure you can imagine, such as a mountaineer on the peak of Everest or skydiving out of an airplane.
Images:
Adventure and outdoor activities is one of the most dynamic vision board categories, so fill the space with pictures of people in motion, whether they’re doing everyday activities like running and swimming, or going a little more extreme with experiences like bungee jumping or paragliding. Strike a balance between any goals you have around general fitness, and goals that are about having new experiences.
Text:
Remember that a 2023 vision board doesn’t have to limit your adventures to what you can accomplish in the next year. Think longer term with ideas like “complete a triathlon” or “learn how to ride a horse” – skills that may take several years to master properly, but that would make your life feel more complete.
2.7. Community Involvement and Social Impact
Central Theme:
Find a symbolic image of a happy community to act as an exemplar for your objectives and put it at the heart of your vision board.
Images:
Assemble a collage of images that represent what a positive community environment looks like to you. Consider including pictures of people volunteering time at a soup kitchen, or teaching others useful life skills. You can also add in the logos of charitable organizations that you would like to volunteer with.
Text:
Verbalize social impacts you would like to have on your local neighborhood, such as “start a recycling initiative,” “campaign for affordable housing,” or “organize a school fundraiser.” Incorporate words that represent how you would like the community to be, like “harmonious” or “eco-conscious.”
2.8. Hobbies and Personal Interests
Central Theme:
If there’s a particular hobby you’ve always dreamed of starting but never got around to, put a representation of that in the middle of your vision board.
Images:
Pace pictures of things you like doing or want to try. Some examples of vision boards have an image of a person reading glued, a photographer in an exciting place or an image of a person baking bread. The images should reflect the mood you want your hobbies to help you achieve, whether that’s excitement or relaxation.
Text:
Complement the images with words that crystallize your personal interests, such as “movies,” “books,” or “animals.”
2.9. Personal Travel Goals and Exploration
Central Theme:
The Eiffel Tower, Machu Picchu, Petra – whatever your dream destination, paste it in the middle of your board to represent the acme of your travel desires.
Images:
Use visuals of travel to inspire your imagery, be it exploring natural marvels or gazing at man-made wonders. Mix in pictures of specific destinations you would like to visit with more general photographs of people having a good time in foreign climes.
Text:
Sprinkle in a few written reminders of specific travel goals you have, such as “visit every continent” or “climb the seven summits.” These calls to action can be particularly useful for objectives that aren’t easily captured by an image.
2.10. Healthy Eating and Nutrition
Central Theme:
Another one on our list of examples of vision boards is a healthy eating and nutrition theme. It needs to represents why you want to start eating healthier and choose motivational visuals that help you to hit your goals or reach that state of physical well being
Images:
Feature plenty of pictures of the kinds of healthy foods you want to eat more. If you want to cut down on animal-based products, throw in some images of oat milk or a plant-based meat alternative. Intersperse these foodstuffs with images of healthy, happy people that remind you that eating well has a positive effect on mood.
Text:
Words like “locavore,” “vegetarian,” or “gluten-free” can be used to highlight a particular kind of dietary ethos you want to follow. You can also throw in some inspirational quotes, such as this one from Thomas Edison: “The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.”
3. FAQs
3.1. What are the 5 categories for a vision board?
While there are many vision board categories you can delve into, most examples of vision boards will center on one of broad topics covered in this article.
3.2. How do I make a vision board?
You can either choose to make a physical vision board and use some of the templates listed or create a vision board online using a free program like Canva.
