Transcription
It's that time of year again—it's vision board time! Okay, vision boards work; they are powerful. If you feel like they've never really worked for you in the past, then maybe it's because you're not fully doing it right. In this video, I'm going to walk you through everything that you need to know: what a vision board is, the science behind why vision boarding actually works, all of my best tips for how to make a vision board properly, and how to make it work for you. Lastly, I'm going to show you guys step by step how I make this fancy little vision board just the way that I did it. Of course, this is not required, but it is really cute and it is really fun, so I'm going to walk you through step by step. If you want next year to be your year, then keep on watching!
Hey friend, welcome back! If you're new here, my name is Jills, and I help women step into their power, tap into their divine feminine, and become their best selves to live their dream life. So if that's something you want to do, you should subscribe and stick around. In case you want more from me besides just my YouTube videos, you can also check out my deep dive feminine energy course or any of my other digital products, like my bestselling Notion templates. They are all linked down below.
So, in case you're totally new to vision boarding, a vision board is a collage of images, as well as sometimes words and affirmations, that symbolize your goals, dreams, and intentions for the year. One person's vision board can look drastically different from another person's vision board because it's all very dependent on your own personal goals and the things that you want to manifest.
Now, let me tell you the science behind why vision boarding works. It's not just about cutting out a bunch of pretty pictures; it's about hacking your brain to focus on what you want and start operating in a different way so that you can bring those desires into real life. First of all, the most obvious thing is that a vision board kind of serves as a constant reminder of what you want and what really matters to you. Because you're looking at this vision board every day, if your goals are not front and center, then oftentimes they just kind of go to the wayside. We tend to deprioritize them; other things start to take over, and we kind of forget about them. Then we wonder why we struggled so much to bring them into reality.
Whenever you want a change, transformation, or a level up in your life, it requires focus. So the first benefit of a vision board is that it keeps you focused. But besides that, we all have something in our brain called the reticular activating system, or otherwise known as RAS. This basically acts as a filter in our brain that decides what is important and what's not—what to focus on, what to take note of, and what not to. Here's the thing: our brain is taking in so much information all day, every day, that we can't possibly notice all of it. It's literally impossible. We actually only really consciously notice a small percentage of it.
The classic example of our RAS in motion is, let's say that we're thinking about buying a red car. We decide that, yeah, we really want a red car, and then all of a sudden, you start noticing red cars everywhere—driving down the highway, in parking lots, in ads. Now, the number of red cars didn't just dramatically increase overnight, but what happened is that your brain, or more specifically your RAS, decided that it wants to notice it. It decided to deem red cars as important. The same principle applies to your goals and dreams. When you create a vision board and you look at it every day, you are telling your brain, "Hey, this is important; this is something to focus on." Your RAS kicks in to help you filter and find ways to turn this into reality or to help you notice opportunities and resources that align with what you want, even if they have always been there. It's like giving your brain permission to focus on what you want.
The cool thing about this, though, is that this is all happening in the background unconsciously. You don't have to really do anything to turn this mechanism on other than to stay focused on the right stuff. Lastly, vision boards tap into a very important part of the manifestation process, and that is mental rehearsal. Your brain really doesn't know the difference between imagining something really vividly and actually living it. So when you use your vision board to picture you in your dream home, thriving in your career, or on that glamorous vacation, you're literally training your brain to believe that it's already happening. That is how you create the reality you want. You know it's already happening, and so you act, you think, and you live according to that.
Now, let's talk about how to make a vision board that actually works. Before you start doing anything, you need to get clear on what you want and be thoughtful about it. A vision board is not a place for just some cute pictures that you saw in a magazine; those pictures have to mean something to you. So before you even get to the vision boarding process, you really need to sit and think, decide, and journal on what you want—not just what you want, but what you want to focus on. A lot of times, people's vision boards just don't really work because they're just too general. They're not personal enough; they're not meaningful enough to them. If you're just cutting out this picture of a pretty home because you like it and it's some cute inspo, and then a picture of the beach, and then the word "courage," that's not going to do anything for you unless that is directly tied to a goal or intention of yours. So you need to know what you want.
I highly recommend you get clear on all this first and write it all down, whether it's just on a big piece of paper or, like how I do it in my Notion template. I like to do it on there because I just like the way that I lay it out, but that has to happen first. Now, like I said, the more personal you can make these photos, the better. The more real you can make these photos, the better. For example, if you want to manifest a new apartment, okay, but what kind is it? A high-rise? Does it have floor-to-ceiling windows? Is it modern? Don't just put a random picture of a house on there because you want to move. Put something on there that speaks to you. Find something that's really close to what you want. Find a picture where you can go, "Oh, I can visualize myself there."
Something that I did for my vision board last year was one of my goals was that I wanted to grow on YouTube. At the beginning of the year, I was at around 200,000 subscribers, but my goal I put as 400,000. Now, this is not a screenshot of when I hit 400,000. What I did was take a screenshot of where I was at around 200,000, and then I went into Canva, which I'll show you guys later, and I basically just changed the number on my subscribers to 400,000. I could really see and imagine myself having that. To me, this just feels so much more real because this is what I actually saw when I hit that number. If you can find the right photos or even edit them to make them more real, it just shifts something in your brain, and it feels so much more powerful. It makes it feel like it's already happened for you, and it's so much easier to mentally visualize it.
Now, with that said, not everything on your vision board has to be super specific. I like to do a little bit of a mix of both—a mix of some really specific photos that are like, "This is what I want; this is what I want to achieve; this is what I want to have," etc. Like having this many subscribers, or moving into a new home, or having this much money in my bank account, versus also just having some photos that elicit a very strong feeling of how you want to feel. I have a crazy vision board story, and I didn't even realize this until like a month ago, but one of my biggest fun goals for the year was that I wanted to travel, and I wanted to go on a really fun romantic Europe trip in the summer. But it didn't really have specifics of what I wanted. I didn't really care too much; it wasn't like, "Oh, I need to go to this specific country and this city and stay at this hotel and do this exact thing." It was more of just a general experience and feeling that I wanted to feel.
So I went on Pinterest and looked for some photos, and I just found some photos that elicited that feeling of a luxurious summer Europe trip. I didn't even know where these pictures were taken; I just added them because I liked the vibe. All these ones up here were my little Europe section—this was kind of what I was feeling; this is my travel section. We did end up going to Europe; we went to Italy and Switzerland, with a quick stop in England, and it was an amazing trip. But one thing that I realized just a month ago was that I stayed in this exact hotel in Lake Como, Italy. This was not intentional, but I stayed in this exact hotel! I have a picture of that pool; I laid by that pool. What are the odds of that? I even showed my husband, and he was freaked out. He was like, "What the heck?" Not only that, but we also did a boat ride off the coast of Italy that took us through this same rock formation thing. I thought this was in Cabo for some reason because I've seen pictures like that from Cabo, Mexico, but no, we went on a boat ride that went through that exact same thing. The pictures are not as cute because it ended up being gloomy and rainy, but still, this is all a great example of that reticular activating system at work in the background. You're not even doing anything.
Now, another super important tip when creating your vision board is to stay aspirational but still within the realm of reason. What I mean by that is if you're trying to manifest your first home and the picture you put on there is an 8,000 square foot high-rise penthouse all decked out with an infinity pool and a Jacuzzi, I mean, that's really, really cool, but do you actually believe that that is possible for you in the next year or so? Because if you don't actually believe that it's possible for you, then your brain is not going to treat this like a vision board; it's going to treat it like a little art project. Your brain isn't going to take this seriously. When making a vision board, you need to be able to feel what all these things feel like. If you're so delusional to the point where it just feels completely out of reach and feels silly, like a joke, then that's not going to work. It's not really going to benefit you. Stay aspirational for sure, but within the realm of reason, where it still feels like, "Oh, this can happen for me next year," or "very soon in my life." Because in order to manifest, one of the most important requirements is that you need to believe that it's actually possible for you—that you could actually have it. Or else, this will just be a funny little art project. Remember, next year you can crank it up even more; pump up those aspirations even more. It doesn't all have to happen at once.
Now, some other tips of advice are that your vision board doesn't have to be just all pictures. You can also add some meaningful, powerful affirmations if they mean something to you, as well as singular words, as long as they truly mean something to you—like they're symbolic to you. I really encourage you to not overdo your vision board with too much. I think it's better to keep it on the simpler, more focused side. Sometimes people want to try to include everything on here—like every little single goal that they could possibly think of—but then it just becomes too scattered. Your focus and your efforts become too scattered. It's better to focus on a few more meaningful goals that really resonate with you and are really important to you, rather than having too many images on there and wanting to manifest 25 things all at once. In my opinion, it starts to kind of dilute the power of a vision board, so be intentional about what you choose to put on there and really journal about what your priorities are.
Now, another thing that I think is really important is that you shouldn't see your vision board as your yearly to-do list. I think it kind of ruins the vibe a little bit and ruins the fun of it. Not everything on your vision board has to be like, "Oh, I must finish this by the end of next year, or else!" Because that's just so stressful, and honestly, I think that's a little bit controlling. When it comes to manifestation, I think it's really important to trust the process and trust divine timing. So I like to think of my vision boards as not necessarily, "This has to be my 2025." It's more like, "I'll have this soon." Not like 10 or 15 years, but "I'll have this soon."
Lastly, a little fun tip is that you can make a mini version of your vision board and use it as the wallpaper on your phone background. I do this sometimes, and I'll show you really quickly at the end how to do this if you're interested. So in a little bit, I'm going to show you guys how I make my vision board step by step, like on Canva and everything. It's really cool, but I first have to quickly mention how to actually use a vision board. What I mean by that is that your vision board is not meant to be something that you create, and it's very beautiful, and you're all excited about it, and then you just set it and forget it. I cannot stress enough the importance of putting your vision board in a place where you will actually see it and look at it every day. I put mine on my main shelf in my office, and I see it throughout the day multiple times a day. But you could also put it on top of your dresser, on the wall by the door, or even if you want it a little more hidden, you can also put it in your closet—in a really cute place, not just thrown in the corner of the closet, but in a really cute place—because every single day you go in there and get dressed, and that can be a great spot as well. It doesn't matter where you put it, but the power of a vision board happens when you actually look at it and feel it every single day. That's what primes your brain to manifest and create that reality. This is a big mistake people make: they put all this effort into making their vision board, and then it just goes in the closet. Don't do this! That's why I like taking a little bit of extra time to make a vision board that actually feels very beautiful, feels very put together, and very polished—almost more like an art piece—because it just looks so beautiful sitting out, and I want to keep it out and look at it every day. That's why I love to make it this way; it just feels so much more put together to me.
So with that said, let me walk you through exactly how I make my vision board on canvas like this, but I'll also walk you through really quickly a cheaper option that's an alternative to this if you don't want to do this. The first thing you're going to do, after you get clear on what you want, of course, is you're going to start looking for images that align with your goals, your dreams, your intentions—the things you want to manifest. Images that are actually really impactful and meaningful to you. In my opinion, the easiest way to do this is on Pinterest. So just grab some tea, light a candle, set some good music, get on Pinterest, and just start scrolling. Find things that really speak to you and are symbolic of what you want to manifest. Just be specific about what you're searching for and try to search for different things. A little pro tip, especially with Pinterest, is if you add the word "aesthetic" to whatever you're searching for—like, for example, "new apartment aesthetic"—it tends to come up with cuter pictures. Other places to find photos are, of course, Google Images, but besides that, sometimes I'll get a few things from stock photo websites. The stock photo websites I go to are either Pexels or Unsplash, and don't worry, I'll link all of these down below in the description box so you don't need to remember them. The stock photos are good because they can be really high quality, but they are usually not as aesthetic, so that's why I tend to lean more towards the Pinterest route. Even though Pinterest photos tend to be a little bit lower quality, I still like the vibe of those better.
Now, once you have a bunch of the images that you want to add to your vision board, don't worry; you can always get more later too. But make a little folder on your desktop on your computer, and then we're going to start putting this vision board together digitally, and we're going to do that through Canva.com. This video is not sponsored by Canva, but I have used them every single year to make my vision board, and all you need is the free account. You do need to log in and sign up for it, but you only need the free plan. There are two different options that you can do: you can either do the canvas like I have or just print out a poster board, and then you can put that poster on the wall or frame it to make it look a little bit better. Now, obviously, the poster option is a lot cheaper. For me, where I live, the poster cost me about $15 or $16, whereas the canvas cost me around $68. So it is definitely an increase in price, but I do think that the canvas is just so beautiful. I think that it really just looks so polished, so to me, I spend the extra money for this. But maybe for you, you just want the poster, so I'll show you how to make each one.
Basically, you go to Canva and click "Create a design." If you would like the poster option, you just type in "poster," and I would choose—there are a lot of options—I would choose "Poster Landscape" and then whatever size you want. I believe my old poster was 20 by 16; it was pretty big. So then you just click this option. However, if you want the canvas like me, then you'll go to "Canvas Print Landscape" right here. I mean, there are different orientations that you can do; there's portrait and square and stuff like that. I like the landscape, so I go to "Canvas Print Landscape" right here and click it, and it'll start creating a new design for you. You really want to choose before you put together the vision board if you're going to do the canvas or the poster because they are slightly different sizes. So if you decide you want to switch later on, like I did, then you have to kind of redo it and make it fit the poster board or the canvas, so it's better just to decide early on.
Now, what you're going to do is hit "Upload" right here, and then you're going to upload all your files. You're just going to upload all the images that you found. I'm just taking canvas photos right here as an example, but then you're just going to add them to the vision board and play around with adding them to wherever you want them to go and kind of organizing them. This was my vision board for this year; I haven't made my new one yet, but I'll show you just kind of what the completed vision board looks like. It's just a bunch of random images put together. I really recommend organizing them kind of by section. This was more of my travel section; it had my business, health, and this was for having a good evening routine. This was kind of my luxury section, as well as friendship. That's kind of how I organized it, but I recommend putting it in groups and not having them all just random—a health one up here, then over here. I think it's just a little bit easier on the eyes and easier for your subconscious to realize what you're focusing on.
Once you're like, "Yes, I like this; this is what I want," then all you have to do is get it printed through Canva. You just go up to the top right here, press "Print with Canva," and then you are going to click the size that you want. I did small because that fit perfectly on my shelf. I really liked the way that it looks; this is the small size. I wouldn't do any smaller than this because then it's kind of a little too small, and you can't see. Then you can add a frame if you want, but I just did this mirrored one. It doesn't really matter; it just basically stretches the canvas out to cover the side. For me, it's around $68. Once you click "Continue," what'll happen is it's getting it ready to print, and it's basically telling you that there are a lot of low-resolution images on here. That's because I got all these from Pinterest and stuff, and that's just the way it is; they're just going to be low resolution. But honestly, especially on a canvas, you don't really notice it, so I wouldn't really worry about any of this. I just ignored all of this, pressed "Add to Cart," and then checked out. That's how you do it; it's really simple, and it's the same exact process if you do it on a poster board. It takes about a week or two to get in the mail, and then it's yours. Again, this is not sponsored by Canva; I just really like using this method.
Now, real quick, if you want to make a mini version of your vision board for your phone background, I highly recommend it. It's like a fun little addition. You again just make this through Canva. You click "Create a design," and then you type in "phone wallpaper." Then you just make another little mini version of the vision board that you already have. Then you just go to the top right corner and click "Download." You download it to your computer, send it to your phone, and that's that.
Let me know if you guys plan to make your vision board the way I do. If you do, I really hope that you like the way that it turns out. I really think that you will; it just looks so polished and so beautiful. But of course, some people love to do it the more traditional way, where you go through a bunch of magazines, print out pictures you love, and glue it on a poster board. There's no wrong way to do it; this is just the way that I like. It's almost like a little art piece for your home, but it's all wonderful, whatever way you decide to do it. Thank you so much for watching this video! I truly hope you enjoyed it and got value from it, and I will see you next time in my next video. Bye!