Since I started this journey of hosting vision board parties, I have been a huge magazine collector. Seriously, I have a stack of over 100 magazines sitting in my closet at any given time.
However, as I talk to more people on their journey to create a vision board, I notice that one of the largest barriers to actually creating a vision board is not having magazines. (And no one really wants to buy magazines at $4.99 each from Walmart. You’d end up spending $60 on magazines!)
Today, I want to talk about how to create a vision board without magazines.
Why is a vision board important?
Before we jump into the “how” of vision boards, I want to get really clear on the why. Just in case you’re not sure why so many adults are spending all this time on an arts and crafts project.
A vision board is a creative outlet and a personal development tool used to help you get clear on and prioritize your goals. It gives you a point of focus for your time and energy. Your vision board is also a visual reminder of the goals you set for yourself and what you’d like to accomplish over a set amount of time.
What can you use a vision board for?
My first vision board helped me to get into graduate school and, ultimately, land my dream job.
You can use a vision board to achieve your goals in all areas of your life, including finances, career/business, family, health, relationships, and spirituality (or any other goals you’d like to focus on).
Related Content: How My First Vision Board Party Turned My Life Around
Vision Board vs. Mindmap
As a visual tool for goal setting and personal growth, vision boards can also get confused with mindmaps. A mindmap is a tool to brainstorm different ways to approach one specific goal.
For example, if you want to sell more books you can use social media, email marketing, blogging, speaking at events or paid advertising. You can brainstorm all of these in a mindmap. However, if you’re creating a vision board, you’d focus on the goal of selling more books within the context of your life.
Maybe you also want to spend more time with family, take an adventure and sell more books. You’d use images and quotes to show how many books you’d sell and how you’d feel when you told those books.
Related Content: What Changes When You Create A Vision Board
How To Make A Vision Board Without Magazines
While magazines are most used for vision boards, you don’t need magazines to create one. If you don’t want to save magazines all year long or buy a million magazines from the store, you can try these alternatives.
Related Content: Why Vision Boards Work and Why You Should Create One
Personal photos
If you have some photos of people you want to spend time with, activities you want to do more of, or feelings you want to embody, then you can use any personal photos you have of family, friends or yourself on your vision board.
This year, I wanted to spend more time with my friends and have a little more fun with life. I put an image of all my friends at Friendsgiving. Every time I look at that image, I remember the feeling I had that I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have so many wonderful and powerful women around me.
I know that I want to bring that feeling with me into my new year.
Affirmations & quotes
These are always good ideas to put on your vision board, especially if you have a great affirmation in mind. And you don’t need magazines at all, you can simply type them up yourself!
You can use quotes from books, Pinterest, Etsy, old journals or a simple google search, type it into a word document and put it up on your vision board.
One year, I wanted to make $75K and I could not find that exact number in any of my magazines. So I took a green marker and printer paper and wrote $75,000 in large numbers and put it right in the middle of my board.
Create a digital vision board.
Another great option to create a vision board without magazines is to build a digital vision board using whatever creation tools you’re comfortable with.
You can use Canva, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Publisher or create a simple Pinterest board to make a digital vision board that you can save as your phone background.
Anything crafty you have at home.
If you’re a super-crafter like me, you likely have stickers, ink stamps, glittery things, card stock, and nice markers. Let’s be real, you are creating a visual for yourself. That means you can do this your way.
If you were ever into scrapbooking, I’m sure you have some great supplies.
So take out any crafting materials you have and start creating, my friend!
Take Action! To start your vision board now:
Decide what goals you want to achieve in the next few months.
Brainstorm the images that would embody that goal (you could even use a mindmap).
Use any of the tools above to start creating your vision.
If magazines aren’t giving you the right inspiration or you don’t want to pay for a bunch of magazines, then don’t use them. There are no rules to creating your inspiration. Whether it’s quotes, family pictures, stickers, affirmations or computer printouts, use whatever will motivate YOU to continue working towards your goals.
What’s the number one goal you’re going to put on your vision board?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!
