How to Make a Vision Board and Make It All Happen

Maybe you have no idea what a vision board is, or maybe you think the whole concept is a joke. Or, maybe you create vision boards and happily reap their magical benefits. Anyway, I’m sure you’re curious how my accidental vision board came to be. Well let me tell the story.

To begin, let’s go back a few years. Here I am, younger, ghostly pale, sitting in the passenger seat on a 12-hour car ride. Another full year, another Pinterest obsessed year.

(Disclaimer: I pin my entire life on Pinterest. How can I not? I know exactly what my wedding will look like and what outfits I’d pack for a hypothetical trip to Bora Bora. Seriously.)

To pass the time in the car, I kept busy by creating a Pinterest board with photos that I found aesthetically pleasing, inspiring, or snaps that just made me smile. A few days later I printed out a few to hang around my dull brown mirror to add pizzazz.

Some people hang posters of The Rolling Stones or Bob Marley smoking a joint, but I decorate with Pinterest images that feel good to me. I used the photos decorating the edge of my mirror as inspiration and motivation. So yeah, I basically created a vision board before I even knew such a thing existed.

The pictures I hung were random. Very random. I watch some of them as I write this. A nice range of fruits and vegetables (again, aesthetically pleasing and I feel better when I eat healthy), an adorable photo of a puppy (literally just to make me smile), a heavenly sky with floating money and the phrase “I’m a money magnet”. Other standouts included a psychic with a crystal ball, a newspaper, and a deck of tarot cards (Yes, I was that kid who always spent $5 to have his palms read on the boardwalk. I’m not ashamed of it).

I didn’t know what a vision board was back then. I was just bored! At the time, I was not aware of documentaries like The secret– which I recommend everyone watch. Little did I know that I had the power to bring life to the images I looked at every day. Oh, naive young me, how cute!

Fast forward a few months, I spent the summer by the sea and the images traveled from my mirror to under my bed. A few weeks after I got home, I was getting babysitting gigs left and right (my neighbor gave my number to every middle-class mom within five miles, no complaints though). One night I came home from babysitting and my dad said, “Madison, you’re a money magnet!”

I froze. A money magnet? I had never heard anyone say those words out loud. Immediately, I thought of inspiration photos.

I pulled the pictures out from under my bed and looked at them. I started laughing. I was shocked! I could not believe it. From the moment I hung these images on my mirror, I had involuntarily experienced each of the images. Let me explain.

1. I was now a full vegan. 100% vegan. I never thought I would give up meat, fish or cheese?!? Who would have thought that a photo of fruits and vegetables would radically change my diet! A million things had happened in those months that almost forced my transition, and I had never been healthier.
2. I had the exact puppy in the photo. Well, my parents did. But stay! The exact dog, I can’t make that up. A miniature golden doodle. Let me clarify that my parents already had two dogs and were not thinking of getting another. To this day, I still don’t know how it happened.
3. The most obvious: my father calling me a money magnet. I wouldn’t associate a money magnet with babysitting, but still, the words rolled out of her mouth. I had never even heard that phrase spoken out loud before. Plus, I was making more money than ever before. Ching-ching!
4. I met an amazing woman who was a Reiki healer. She introduced me to crystals, the benefits of journaling my emotions, and personally gifted me a deck of oracle cards. Now what?!?

I could not believe it. Just as you may be skeptical, I confess that I felt the same. Even after all that, I put it down to coincidence.

So I created another vision board, intentional, to test it. At the time, my goal or “vision” was to get accepted into a specific accelerated nursing program (that school was a slim to no chance) and to have my own apartment in the city of my dreams. I put pictures of the word “Accepted,” the college mascot and colors, street pictures of the city I wanted to live in, and pictures of apartments next to keys and rental agreements. I took these pics from Pinterest and Google, stuck them on a $1 pin board, sprinkled some glitter to make it look pretty and so!

I hung it on my mirror where I could see it, feel it, and experience it as if those goals were already my reality. Let’s just say I was admitted early into the nursing program and moved into my perfect apartment in the city of my dreams.

Wondering what my next vision board will be? Better yet, what your vision board be? Do yourself a favor and give it a try. Have a glass of wine, listen to your favorite music and make it a fun night! Put your 2022 goals somewhere you can see them every day and be intentional about what you want.

Aim high, but believe in yourself. Visualize these goals every day and live your life as if you have already achieved them. Then watch what happens. 2022 is the year of realizing your visions. Claim.