Welcome to 2021: Create Your Own Vision Board

Happy New Year!

Each year around this time, I like to take a few minutes to think about my goals for the coming year. As a devoted list-maker, I usually jot down a list of short-term tasks, longer-term projects and shoot-for-the-moon goals that I want to accomplish in the next twelve months.

We’ve written about that process before here and here. But this year, I wanted to try something new and a little out of my comfort zone. Enter the Vision Board.

You’ve probably seen Vision Boards on Pinterest or Instagram. Essentially, they’re a visual representation of your dreams for the future, and they can be used for everything from planning a wedding, to visualizing the kind of business you want to start, to remodeling your kitchen, to – you guessed it – establishing your writing goals for 2021.

I chose to use Canva to create a virtual vision board because I live in a small house with a lot of people and animals, and thanks to the pandemic, we’re all here all the time! But vision boards can be physical creations, too – and there’s an argument to be made that having a real life vision board staring you in the face day after day might be a better way to help you keep track of your dreams, even when the going gets hard. Especially when the going gets hard.

Rebecca has done a great tutorial on using Canva that you can find here, and a simple search for “vision boards” or “mood boards” will bring up a host of templates to choose from. I chose a couple of different free templates that worked for the aesthetic I wanted to see in 2021. I made one board dedicated solely to my fiction goals for the year and another to act as a general reminder for days when I lose sight of what I want 2021 to be.

Your vision board should reflect you, so don’t let me tell you what to put on it or what to keep off it. But here are some of my personal do’s and don’ts I used to create my vision boards:

DO: Keep it focused. I have a LOT of goals. But a cluttered board going off in a hundred different directions is overwhelming to me. So I wanted to limit my Fiction Board to achievable goals and the other to a vision for the year that would ground me if I get frustrated.

DON’T: Be afraid to dream big! My daughter has a vision board in her room of the places she wants to travel to one day. In these pandemic times, travel feels like a pretty distant dream. But having those photos staring her in the face everyday is reminding her of why she’s working hard in school and what she wants to achieve. Some of the visions on my boards may not be realistic for this year – but I still want to aim for them.

DO: Pay attention to the aesthetics. I have some bold goals for 2021, so I wanted my fiction board to reflect that. I also wanted it to remind me – through the use of strong images, bright colors, and a DIY scrappiness – of the feel I want my two projects I’m focusing on this year to have. Plus, the theme I chose is just a bit rock-and-roll, which is how I want to feel when I’m working. For my 2021 board, I chose a softer, more soothing palette, to reflect the calm determination I want to bring into the new year.

DON’T: Be afraid to change it up. Vision Boards are living and evolving records of our hopes and wishes. And those change as we gain new experiences or encounter new obstacles. I plan on adding and subtracting images as the year goes by to reflect any new goals that pop up. Life isn’t static, and I don’t want my dreams to be, either.

DO: Use words and pictures. For my fiction board, I chose a quote from Octavia Butler that resonates with me and what I’m trying to achieve with my writing this year. I also included the title of one of my WIPs. But for the other WIP, I used a visual representation of the title. I also used a couple of pictures that have nothing to do with either WIP but are more aimed at keeping me grounded in my fiction endeavors throughout the year. Mixing it up helps me use different parts of my brain and keeps this list-maker from being too literal.

When I told Halli about my vision board project, she was excited to try her own, so here’s another example to spark inspiration.