What happened to the resolutions you made for this year? Yeah, we are in the same boat! We always think we will achieve them, but guess what? We give up! Why is this so? A significant reason is that we don’t envision our goals as we should. Research suggests that we attract what we focus on, and imagining success enhances our chances of achieving it. That is where “vision journaling” steps in! It is a great way to visualize your goals in life. Want to know more about it?
Keep reading this blog as we tell you what vision journaling is and how it can help you become more productive!
What Is Vision Board Journal?
A Vision board journal essentially means visually presenting your future goals in a journal. Here, the critical aspect to note is “visual,” which refers to any graphics you might use in the journal. Let’s understand this with an example!
You might remember the favorite question of job interviewers, “Where do you see yourself in X years?” Vision board journaling relates to this question. You try to visualize yourself at a specific time in the future and then transfer it to your journal.
So, what do you do during vision board journaling is:
- You create a vision for yourself for anything you want (goals, aspirations, desires, objectives, etc.)
- You collect graphics (pictures, words, quotes, drawings, etc.) to project this vision in your journal, much like a “roadmap.”
- You look at this roadmap every other day to stimulate your subconscious mind. This helps manifest your vision and ensures that you stay on track.
Who Started Vision Board Journaling?
Researchers have long suggested the importance of visual stimuli when influencing the mind. “Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement” by Robbins first suggested the idea of using a vision board. This technique soon became popular among the masses, helping many visualize their personal goals and aspirations.
Why is Visualizing Significant?
You might think, “isn’t simply writing your goals enough?” But, here is the fun part! Vision board journaling differs from other forms of journaling because it is specifically targeted at making your journal more visual appealing!
Leveraging Visual Memory
Only listing the goals will not suffice as the target is to stimulate “visual memory.” This is our ability to quickly recall what our eyes have seen. When we leverage visualization in our goals, they appear within our reach. Thus, we are more likely to remain motivated and produce tangible results.
Law of Attraction
Another concept behind the philosophy of vision journaling is the “law of attraction.” According to this notion, people can attract what they pay attention to. Thus, becoming masters of their reality. If you lay out your goals and look at them, you will keep getting one step closer to achieving them.
Benefits of Vision Journaling
You can create your vision board in a journal. In fact, it is more exciting this way. Trust us; it won’t seem like a chore once you start! Time just flows once you start to enjoy visualizing your goals in a notebook.
Here are some reasons why creating a vision board in a journal is better:
You Can Start Small
It can be overwhelming to design the whole board at once. When using a journal, you can start with a small section and focus on one theme at a time. You don’t need to focus on every goal right away. Just take your time with it.
Create Various Spaces in One
Your goals can evolve and cater to every life domain. For instance, you can make small boards related to your career, education, traveling, relationships, finances, health, or even a bucket list. Divide your journal and conquer each domain one by one!
You Can Protect Your Privacy
Your dreams and aspirations are pretty personal. You may not want to share it with everyone. A journal can easily help keep your personal information private.
Easy To Carry
Inspiration can come anywhere, right? Your vision board journal is portable and easy to carry. You can take it anywhere and work on it whenever you like!
Add/Remove With Zero Hassle
Pinning and gluing everything to the board can become a hassle. Also, adding or removing a specific graphic on a board is not easy. With journals, you can do this effortlessly. Consider taking the whole page out. After all, our goals keep evolving with us!
Works as an Accessible Archive
It is always empowering to see how far you have come in achieving your goals. A journal is the best way to record your previous goals and track your progress. Also, it is much more accessible. Just keep it on your nightstand to glance at it before going to sleep!
If you have trouble finding graphics, you should check out this amazing vision clip art book!
How Do You Write a Vision Journal?
Are you ready to design your very own vision journal? Here are some steps you can follow when vision journaling:
Step 1: Brainstorm Your Aspirations and Goals
So, the first step is to brainstorm your goals and aspirations in various areas of your life. You can prioritize where to start from and what theme to choose first. For instance, you might want to start with your career goals.
Remember the question we discussed? Where do you see yourself in the next X years?
Brainstorm what you would like to achieve or accomplish by the end of the month, year, or five years.
Here are some prompts to get you started to make your vision journaling journey easy:
- Is there any skill you want to learn?
- How do you want to feel?
- What would make you happy?
- Where do you see yourself in your imagination?
- What habits do you want to form?
- Do you have any relationship goals?
- Where would you like to travel this year?
Tip: It is okay if you can’t think much about your goals at the start. We all have that phase! Just go to the next step and come back whenever inspiration strikes.
Step 2: Look Up Content That Resonates With You
You can follow the first and second steps in any order. You might think of a goal first and then gather content around it. Alternatively, you can start looking up content and see what attracts you or brings you joy.
This content can be of any type. It can include pictures, magazine articles, quotes, drawings, hand-written notes, doodles, and pretty much anything you can think of! The goal is to be creative and have fun with it.
Step 3: Gather Your Supplies
Once you have thought about what inspires you, it is time to project it in the journal. For this, you need to gather your supplies.
We recommend that you gather some basic art supplies like:
Step 4: Arrange and Assemble Everything
The final step is to compile all the graphics in your journal. Arrange the pictures in any form you want. Play with the content a bit. See where you like it better.
Once you are happy with the arrangement, glue down everything. Use your creativity to decorate it according to your taste.
See this exciting YouTube video on creating your vision board journal:
How Often Should You Look at Your Vision Board?
You can decide how much time you want to spend with your vision board. However, to get the best out of it, we recommend you look at it for at least a few minutes daily.
Ideally, you should look at your vision board in the morning before you sleep. This will train your subconscious mind and help you succeed.
Some benefits of daily visualizing are:
- You can make decisions that align with your goals.
- It can act as an inspiration on unproductive days.
- Your mindset will shift towards your aspirations.
- You will develop habits to work towards your aims.
Do Vision Boards Work?
We have already told you how successful people are using vision boards in their life. Still, it would be nice if this concept could be backed up by scientific research, right?
After all, you’d be spending significant time journaling! It is only logical that you want it to work for you. So, let’s see how research supports vision board journaling:
Value Tagging
Studies indicate that our brain is wired to assign importance to every piece of information. This is called value tagging. Simply put, when you consciously focus on what you want in life, your brain automatically looks for opportunities in that direction. It is not a thing of magic but just how your brain naturally responds to stimuli.
Tetris Effect
Another interesting consequence of vision board journaling is the Tetris effect. According to various psychological studies, when a person devotes a lot of time to an activity, it starts to mold their mind and behavior. The brain translates visualization into the person’s thoughts and actions in everyday life.
Thus, if you stimulate your mind according to your goals and aspirations, your chances of achieving them are much higher.
Vision Journal Ideas
Here are some ideas of what you can include in your vision board journal:
- Motivational quotes
- Magazine pictures and stickers
- Positive self-statements
- Inspiring words
- Doodles
- Handmade drawings
- Souvenirs
- Handwritten goals
Not a huge art fan? See how a creativity journal can inspire your art!
What Can I Do Instead of a Vision Board?
Not fond of decorations? No problem! You can still motivate yourself to work on your dreams. Although we highly recommend giving vision board journaling a try, here are some alternatives if it’s just not for you.
Dream Life Journaling
As the name suggests, this type of journaling involves writing about your dream life. To start, you can write about how you want your life to be in 10 years.
Read this blog to learn the benefits of writing a dream journal!
Tip: Although you can write about whatever you want, making realistic goals is better. Dreaming about buying an island without thinking about earning money is far-fetched.
Writing Letters
Have you heard the concept of writing letters to yourself? Letter writing is a powerful tool to influence your thoughts. Don’t want to leverage the power of visualization? You can use a story instead.
Go into as many details as possible when writing your letter. Describe what, when, and how you want to fulfill your objectives in life. Read it periodically to motivate yourself and to keep yourself on track.
Writing Reminders
You can also write small reminders for yourself! Just as you set a reminder for the groceries you need, you can also set reminders about your goals. Look at these reminders daily, and your brain will help you manifest them!
Also, check our guide on Journaling for Success!
Final Thoughts
Do you think successful people achieve their goals solely based on luck? No! You have to train your mind to look for opportunities constantly! Vision journaling is a way to influence your mind by leveraging positive visualization.
To summarize, here are the steps to create a good vision board journal:
- Think about your goals and aspirations in life.
- Gather your art supplies.
- Get your creative juices flowing and design a beautiful vision board journal.
- Keep it somewhere accessible and look at it daily.
Try it for a while, and your mind will automatically show you the endless possibilities! We would love to hear about your experience with vision board journaling. Comment below to let us know, and always stay consistent with your journaling.
