Let’s talk about vision boards BUT not in the sparkly, glitter-glue, “manifest your dream life with magazine clippings” way they sometimes get framed.
[FYI: This blog post is a summary of a podcast episode. Your Favorite Self , Season 3, Episode 15. Click here if you prefer to listen instead of read.]
I love vision boards. I’ve had one almost every single year since 2011. I genuinely credit them as one of the biggest reasons I’ve achieved most of the big things I’ve set out to do. Not because they’re magic, and not because I manifested a life by staring at a photo of it, but because of how they shape your attention, your habits, and your identity.
However, they get a bad rep sometimes. People think they’re woo-woo, or just something artsy people do for fun. Meanwhile I am not an arts-and-crafts girl — at all — and vision boards have been one of the most practical tools in my life.
The problem isn’t the boards. It’s how most people use them.
Most people walk into vision-boarding like a craft project. Glitter supplies, scissors, some magazines… then flipping through pages and saying “Oh, that looks nice.” And before you know it, you have a collage of cars and beach houses because capitalism told you to cut those out.
But that is reactive dream-building. That’s “let me see what the world says is desirable and pick from that.” That is NOT how we design a life.
A vision board should start long before the pictures ever come out. Before anything goes on the board, there has to be clarity. Who are you becoming? What do you want in each part of your life? What would your favorite life actually look like? Not someone else’s.
Hence, I always start with my Favorite Life Wheel. (Which you can download here) Every category. Not just money or career or vacations — the whole picture. What do I desire in my friendships? How is my spiritual life? Do I need different practices in my self-care?
Once we know the vision, then we choose the images. That’s when the fun, creative part comes in.
Here’s where I take all the woo-woo out of it: the reason vision boards work is neuroscience.
Your brain has a mechanism, the reticular activating system (RAS), that filters what you notice. Whatever you tell it to pay attention to, it will. You know when you suddenly think about buying a certain car and then you see it everywhere? It was always there. You just told your brain it mattered so it noticed.
Your vision board does that. It tells your brain, Hey. These are the things we care about. Look for opportunities. Pay attention here.
So yes, the images matter. Yes, having it somewhere you see every day matters. But here’s where my philosophy differs from the “just find cute pictures” method: we don’t only put the result on the board.
We also put who we have to become to create that result.
This is the part that changed everything for me years ago. It’s not just “here’s the house, here’s the income, here’s the trip.” It’s also:
- What habits support this?
- Who am I becoming?
- What does she believe about herself and her life?
For example, a lot of the goals on my board right now involve finances — trips, projects on our home, paying off the bridge debt from our move, new cars now that we live in the mountains. That means I have to grow my business. Which means I have to operate differently. Which means habits.
You will see on my board: strength training, mentorship, consistent content, launches, nurturing my community, creating offers. Things I’m actively working on — not things that are already muscle memory.
And then — the most powerful layer — the belief.
Because I know this next level of my life requires me to think differently. It requires me to be a woman who can serve many people without carrying their results on my shoulders. I am someone who takes my responsibility to my clients seriously — almost to a fault sometimes. And when I picture serving hundreds of women at once, historically that felt heavy. Like pressure. Like “Oh no, that means I’m responsible for all of them.”
So this year my identity piece, the mantra, is:
I am responsible for lighting the flame.
I can ignite. I can support. I can shine. But I cannot carry. Others must choose what to do with their flames. And stepping into that belief is part of growing into the version of myself who reaches the goals I’ve set.
Your board is not just the destination. It’s the path. It’s the woman walking it.
If you look at mine, you’ll see:
- The results (vacations, home goals, etc.)
- The habits that get me there
- And one core belief that anchors who I am becoming
And here’s what’s so beautiful — as things become automatic, they fall off the board. Sleep used to be there for me. Rest used to be there. Friendship connection used to be there. Now those are simply who I am. I don’t need reminders anymore. So the board only holds what I’m intentionally growing into right now.
If you want support building yours, click here to read about the mini-course I created.
Whether you do this with me or on your own, I hope you build your board from a place of ownership and clarity, not Pinterest inspiration and magazine scraps.
You deserve to live Your Favorite Life, not the default version.