Where do you want to go to college? What is your biggest goal in life?  These are all questions that people typically answer in their vision boards. 

The most common form of a vision board is a collage of mixed media that reflects your goals and aspirations in life. 

In history, Gloucestershire County, United Kingdom first used vision boards while planning for city improvement. The public was giving suggestions on how to improve the city, so they created a vision board for their council to envisage the ideas. 

Since then, vision boards have grown in popularity–especially with the creation of Pinterest in 2010. This is a popular way to create digital “boards” where you pin all media online.

Many people use vision boards to get a sense of self awareness. For people who feel out of control when it comes to the future, a vision board is a good way to become more optimistic about the future. 

To create a vision board, you would need to start thinking about what motivates you. For example, if your passion is marine biology, your board could be a collage of dolphins and your ideal colleges. 

According to Psychology Today, common vision board topics are career, love, health, money, travel, and social goals. 

When surveying a group of 28 students on whether they had a vision board or not, 86% responded that they didn’t have one, leaving only 14% of the students who had taken the time to make one. 

“Instead of getting stuck in the shoulds and routines of our lives, let’s consider the coulds and the what ifs and the maybe, possiblys.  And instead of always reacting to the circumstances around us, let’s consider what circumstances we’d like to create,” said The Artful Parent when describing how to get your vision board started. 

Recently, a common form of vision board is through Pinterest. Pinterest is a website and app of images that you can compile into boards, or digital collages. 

Sophomore Caroline Gamache created a vision board in eighth grade. Her vision board stretches to 10 years into the future. 

“The things I have on my vision board are colleges I want to go to, career paths, where I want to live, pets I would like to get, vacations, and things like that,” said Gamache. 

Gamache’s vision board is formatted as pictures in a notebook that all have corresponding text passages. While this is an uncommon form, it allows Gamache to have the board be easily accessible without it taking up space in her room. 

Since she created the original board in eighth grade, Gamache has made a few changes to hers. 

“I don’t constantly add or change the things on my vision board, but sometimes I will if I no longer want to do that in the future” 

If you would like to start a vision board, you would first think of what form you would like to make it in, such as the ones listed above. Then you must take a step back and think about your goals for life, this will be the material for your vision board.