2018 is a new year for new opportunities, new changes, and new life paths.

How are you going to plan for all this “newness”? For me, it comes down to two words: Vision Board.

What is a Vision Board? It is a physical manifestation of your hopes, dreams, and aspirations on one board. You put things on this board you want to accomplish for a specific area of your life or you can curate the board with things that dictate your goals for a specific time period (i.e. 2018 year goals).

If you are familiar with making vision boards, then you know the drill.

For those of you who are reading on for what you should do next, I got you covered. First, you will want to ask yourself a series of questions:

• What type of board do you want? Is this a board for 2018 or is this a specific board for a specific part of your life (i.e. health, romance, career, passions, etc.)?
• Have you written down the goals you want to accomplish and post on your board?
• Do you have the images and words that represent the goals that will be presented on your board?
• Do you have the materials needed to make your vision board (i.e. scissors, foam board, tape, glue, markers, pens, stickers, magazines, etc.)?

After you have answered the aforementioned questions and gathered what you need, you are ready to make your own personal board. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

#1 – Be Intentional

Your vision board is YOUR opportunity to intentionally decide what you really want in your life and what goals you will work towards accomplishing. For me, I purposely want my vision board to include goals that speak to my career, health, passion, relationships, and personal goals. What areas of your life are you addressing on your vision board?

#2 – Be Clear

You can curate your board as you like. Having a vision board where every inch is packed with a word, sticker or image is essentially manifesting chaos – do we really want to do that? Probably not. Make sure your board is spaced out appropriately so it is clear what your goals are and you can clearly look at these goals each and every day.

#3 – Be Real

When you are manifesting your goals, it is important to be honest and real with yourself. Creating a vision board with goals that you don’t really want to accomplish or you don’t really believe is not the best plan for success. A vision board isn’t a board where you are throwing out ideas that potentially could happen in your life. It is an opportunity for you to really work on what you want to happen in your life. These goals are not lofty. These goals need to be concrete, clear, and focused so you can work on actually achieving them. Being real with yourself and what you want will help make the board what you need it to be.

#4 – Placement is Everything

When you have your finished vision board it will be important to strategically place it in your home so that you will look at it everyday, reflect on the goals, and be motivated to make your dreams come true. Putting your vision board in a part of your home that is uncomfortable or inconvenient for you to contemplate on a daily basis is not going to help you get closer to achieving your goals. If you put the time in to make a board, then you owe it to yourself to place your vision board in a visible place where you will use it daily.

#5 – Acknowledge Every Victory

As you get closer to achieving a goal, you have to celebrate just as you would celebrate the reuniting of a long lost friend. You should be pumped that you are close to checking off each goal as they come along. Every victory counts, no matter how small or big, they have to be acknowledged. This will help push you to get to the next level even faster.

It is a new year. Take advantage of the new year to do what you want, live the way you want, and feel how you want to. You deserve it!