Similar to the side view mirror on a car, your goals may seem closer than they appear. Yet, picturing our dreams can be difficult since they aren’t always tangible. Vision boards are a perfect solution to this predicament because they help visually and physically represent one’s goals and plans. Having a vision of what you aspire to be and feel in life is a great way to motivate yourself daily.
Vision boards are a common craft in which someone arranges a collage of pictures and words that signify their future hopes, career aspirations and more. Creating a vision board can be an exercise in creativity and self-expression and can unleash a reflective side of yourself.
Students should make vision boards with their peers or by themselves to engage in introspection and self-reflection in an artistic environment.
“In some of my classes, we go over these ideas of practical advice that help to visualize what you are going to be and what it is you’re working for,” said Charity-Joy Acchiardo, director of the Financial Responsibility and Economic Education Program. “If you have a goal, like I want to be a doctor, then put a picture of yourself looking like a doctor on the refrigerator.”
Vision boards can also apply to less artistically inclined groups. Simply printing out a picture and hanging it on a desk or mirror can provide important visual reinforcement to envision goals and plan for the future.
“It’s good to be reminded of what your end goal is, but I try to keep myself flexible and just take what comes at me, even though I’m working hard towards the goal,” said biochemistry freshman Jessica Jang.
Although vision boards can remind us of our aspirations, we must remember that hard work is required to accomplish goals. Too many people fall into the trap of foregoing the work simply because the goal is laid out before them. A flexible mindset is key to bringing your aspirations to fruition and giving yourself room to add and subtract visions.
“We give the present much more value than we do the future,” Acchiardo said. “It’s hard for us to think about the future and what we’re going to be like in the future and what our feelings are going to be like.”
A vision board is more than an arts and crafts project and can serve as a manifestation of the future.
“Sometimes, if I feel overburdened or stressed with what I see right in front of me, that can be a good motivator,” Jang said.
Positive visual reinforcement can conceptualize a vision for your achievements. Although our future careers, families and health can seem so far away due to the rigorous paths involved, with a constant visual reminder, the ideas may not seem so far-fetched after all.
Shenoy is an economics sophomore from Houston, Texas.
