Did you know that it’s scientifically proven that athletes will perform better when they visualize?
As a creative soul myself, I’ve found creative visualization through vision boards to be an incredibly powerful tool for personal development and goal achievement. (Plus, they’re straight-up just fun to make).
They add some DIY beauty to your home, and they’re a tangible representation of your artistic dreams and aspirations.
Understanding Vision Boards
The Psychology Behind Vision Boards
At its core, the concept of using vision boards for (creative) success draws on the Law of Attraction – the idea that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into your life.
Creating a visual representation of your goals is essentially sending a powerful message to your subconscious mind about what you want to achieve.
When you regularly see images of your goals, your brain starts to believe they’re attainable. Your subconscious sees something, recognizes that there’s a disconnect in your reality, and does whatever it can to bridge that gap to make what you’re seeing a reality.
Vision boards also tap into the concept of selective attention.
Once you’ve actually identified your goals and created visual representations of them, you’re more likely to notice opportunities related to those goals in your everyday life.
(Have you ever learned a new word and then seen it in books, magazines, blog articles, everywhere? This is that principle!)
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Different Types of Vision Boards
Now that we understand the “why” behind vision boards, let’s explore the “what” – aka, how you can actually create a vision board that can help you pursue your creative dreams.
Traditional paper-based vision boards are perhaps the most familiar. This is dream board creation 101.
This sort of inspiration collage involves cutting out images and words from magazines and arranging them on a poster board or cork board.
There’s something soooo satisfying about the tactile nature of this process – the act of physically cutting and pasting can be meditative and help solidify your intentions! Plus it’s great if you find yourself working on your computer a lot. 😉
There are also digital vision boards through Canva, Pinterest, or Spoak (Canva has some great vision board templates, too).
Put those Pinterest vision board ideas to good use and design your own phone and desktop background with an affirmation.
I also believe having a vision board can help alleviate creative block. When you have a direction on where you want to go, it’s so much easier to know what steps to take.
Vision Board Ideas & Strategies for Creative Motivation
Manifestation Lock Screens & Wallpapers
One of the most important parts of making a vision board is actually seeing them!
If you have a physical vision board, it’s as easy as just putting them in high-traffic areas of your home so you’re constantly looking at it.
If you’ve opted for a digital one, you need to put it as your wallpapers! This is really the only place you’re going to see 100x a day. It’s vital real estate!
Making Short-Term Goals
Okay, but let’s talk about your actual goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to goal setting techniques, but I do have some tips from my experience.
I haven’t read up on how many goals or how far in the future these goals should be.
When it comes to (visual) goal planning, I’m all about the 3-month sweet spot. It’s just long enough to give me some time to make them happen, and just short enough so I won’t lose track of them.
But when it comes to your vision board, honestly, I think it can be up for interpretation. Especially if you’re pulling from magazines, you might only have a limited amount of images. And for me, those magazine images of beautiful homes and lifestyles tend to be a few years ahead. 😉
In my opinion, I think the goals on vision boards can be a little larger scale than the strategic goals you create for yourself. Strategic goals require intentional action, and can practically break down.
When it comes to vision boards, it’s a lot of energy and manifestations. So, I think you can have some fun dreaming. 🥰
Adding Artist Accountability Buddies to the Mix
What are vision boards, dreams and goals without telling someone about it?
I have trusted artist friends who I will go to and tell my goals to. (That and of course, STATiC!)
You can implement your vision boards into weekly accountability calls or texts. For example, you might start out your week on Mondays checking in with your friend –
- “What parts of your vision board goals are you going to focus on today?”
- “Tell me about any progress or blocks you’ve had when it comes to your vision board.”
- “How do you feel about your vision board when you think about planning this upcoming week?”
| Part of vision boards means to work smarter, not harder. Society might normalize the idea of pulling 12-hour workdays to pursue your goals (and there might be a phase in your life to do that). But part of creating a vision board is to more effortlessly manifest your goals! |
Manifestation + Strategy = a Delicious Vision Board
There are two main principles in which artists can make their dreams careers a reality:
Systems & manifestations.
Manifestations are things like vision boards and affirmations – things we’re doing right now. But we need to make sure we’re pairing that with systems that are working for us.
Here are some cute & simple tips and motivational tools I’ve used throughout the years to help me plan:
- Use Asana’s “My Tasks” in the Weekly Calendar view to plan out your week before it even starts.
- Limit yourself to the 3 most important tasks of the day (this is from Tim Ferris). As soon as you’re done with those tasks, there’s nothing else you need to do!
- Use the Pomodoro Timer Method or a body doubling subscription to work online with other people.
- *Especially if you’re feeling stuck: Instead of creating a to-do list, create a done list, creating and then immediately checking off items you’ve already completed in the day. (This can be everything from brushing your teeth to eating breakfast for going to on that sporadic walk you didn’t know you’d take).
- If you’re an early riser, create a personal “shift” of hours you’re working on your goals. For me, I’m really productive in the mornings, and am striving to wake up at 5-6am and work until 9am. Maybe you’re the opposite and feel that surge at 9pm-11pm instead!
Bonus: Pair this all with free creative coaching, and you’re well on your way to manifesting more of what you want your creative life to be.
A Day-to-Day Look at Pairing Manifestation (Vision Boards) with Systems (Asana)
Here’s a little way you can make sure you’re using both systems and manifestations in your artist career. Let’s plan out a sample day together so you can see:
❥ You wake up in the morning and glance at your iPad, where you’ve planned your entire week on Asana (or a productivity app of your choice).
❥ You go through your morning rituals, whether that means self-care in the morning, exercise, or starting to work so you can have the rest of the day free.
❥ During your morning ritual, you look at your vision board, and open your phone and/or computer a few times where your subconscious is absorbing your dreams.
❥ You get back on your iPad and start docking off the 3 very important tasks you’ve prioritized for today. These are the minimal amount of tasks you need to get done. There’s no requirement to get anything else done.
❥ You Pomodoro Timer for about 3 rounds until you take a lunch break.
❥ You hop on a body doubling session with your friend for 1 hour where you both say what you want to work on at the beginning of the session.
❥ You surprisingly get done with your tasks a lot sooner than you thought, because you’ve been focused the whole time!
❥ It’s 4pm. You take an early dinner, and do something creative. Perhaps this got some work done for you tomorrow so you can spend the day being more creative.
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