Our aspirations and ambitions offer insights into what fulfillment means to us. A practical method for exploring these aspirations is through the creation of a collage vision board, which helps us to visualise goals and dreams. Collages, as artistic compositions, blend various materials such as newspaper clippings, photographs, and fabrics to craft new imagery. Vision boards employ this technique to depict our goals and dreams visually. They serve as constant reminders and inspiration, aiding in the clarification of our goals and the active pursuit thereof. Crafting a vision board enables us to discern our dreams, preferred aesthetics, and favored colors. The aim is to vividly represent our aspirations and ambitions for the year ahead, giving them a defined path to follow.
What you need:
- A pair of scissors
- A glue stick/glue
- Small and large photos, e.g. from magazines, Instagram, Pinterest, mobile phone
photos, etc.
- An A3 sheet of firm coloured paper (so that it doesn’t curl with the glue)
Here’s how
1. self-reflection:
What realistic goals do you have for this year?
The areas in which you could have goals, e.g:
- Leisure: creative projects, sports, travelling, trips etc.
- Career: studies/training, exams, mini-job, etc.
- Mental and physical health: meditation, therapy, nutrition, exercise
- Relationships: with family, friends, partner
How can you describe these goals as realistically and concretely as possible?
- e.g. Leisure: “I want to build my own table this year”
Career: “I want to improve my programming skills with Linux this year” Mental health: “I want to go to therapy this year” Physical health: “I want to learn jogging as a new sport this year”
Relationships: “I want to organise a games night with friends once a month this year”
- Try to focus on a maximum of 3 goals so that you don’t overwhelm yourself and can actually achieve them.
2. Choose:
You can design the vision board however you like. But here are a few tips:
- Select 3-5 primary colors that resonate with you and are present in multiple images, creating cohesion and preventing the board from feeling too chaotic. For a sophisticated, urban aesthetic, consider shades like deep red, black, grey, and white. For a more organic feel, opt for hues such as dark brown, various greens, and light yellow or blue.
- Look for larger images to serve as the backdrop. They exude tranquility and feature prominent motifs that establish the board’s overall color scheme.
- Seek out lots of smaller images, as well as texts/phrases from magazines, Pinterest, or similar sources, that speak to you on a personal level. These visuals should evoke joy, inspiration, or aesthetic appeal.
- Pay attention to both the front and back of images when cutting them out, as often, there are hidden gems on the reverse side.
3. positioning and gluing:
- Once you have chosen all the pictures, you can start positioning them on your sheet, choosing suitable places for them. You can decide which goal you want to see in the centre or at the top, whether you want to make categories, such as health goals, leisure goals or how you want to position quotes or texts.
- Choosing the position and sorting out which photos might not be a good fit after all can take some time. It’s good to take your time and try out different versions of placements. You can also capture photos of different versions to compare them later.
- Finally, you can stick the photos on and add weights to the ends of your vision board so that the sheet does not curl as it dries.
My vision board is finished, now what?
- Hang it up: Hang your vision board in a place that you see every day, e.g. by your desk, as a mobile phone wallpaper or next to your bed.
- Break it down: Think about how you can transform the larger goals in particular into small tasks and habits that are easy to do in everyday life. For example, if you have a photo of a distant country, think as carefully as possible about what you still need to get to this destination. You could start researching about the country, requesting vacation days, or saving money. You could also try the so-called SMARTE destinations method. Learn more about the SMART method here: The SMART method: systematically planning and achieving goals (euroakademie.de)
- Embrace adaptability: It should be fun to look at and it should motivate you. If you find that it no longer feels right to look at it every day, e.g. because your goals and wishes have changed, then it might be better to take it down or create a new one.
Have fun with your vision board!
Translated by Joeline O’Reilly