It’s officially 2026 (yay)! With the new year up and rolling, everyone’s New Year’s resolutions are swirling around providing the opportunity for self-reflection. When asked about resolutions, people often resort to saying things like “working out” and “eating healthy,” not realizing that they create the same goals every year—making it clear that these goals haven’t actually been achieved.
It’s not easy to create new habits and break old ones, but one way to make it a bit easier is by creating a vision board. I know you’re probably thinking that this is may be a bit pointless, but hear me out. When you set your vision board in a place where you can see it each day and intentionally place yourself into those photos, you are more likely to remember those goals and act on them. Below, I’ve written down some tops to creating a useful, visually-appealing (because we all love an aesthetic vision board, let’s be real), and goal-achieving vision board.
Tips about the board itself
Before we get into the content of the board, it’s important to consider the board itself. If you have big goals for this year, don’t be afraid to get a big poster board. I got one that’s about 18×24, though next year I think I want to go bigger since I ran out of room!
Another thing to consider is the material of the board. If you get one of the flatter, flimsier boards, you’ll be able to hang it up in more spots, but that will also make it harder to tack many photos on as they begin to weigh it down. I recommend buying a thicker board and setting it against the wall in front of your desk or leaning it against a surface that’s at eye level. That way, the board is sturdy and less likely to break, especially if you end up moving it from school to home over the summer, and back when you return in the fall.
Photo tips
I tried printing my photos on printer paper, but they ended up dark and blurry (especially those darker aesthetic Pinterest photos), so I recommend printing the photos on glossy photo paper, if possible. You don’t have to go out and buy the glossy paper, either. I ordered mine at CVS and I was able to pick them up the same day!
Additionally, I recommend taping down your photos with gift-wrapping tape in case you want to rearrange your photos.
The areas of your life your photos could cover
I think that you should have more than just health or career on your vision board. I believe it’s important to cover the six core areas, which are travel, health, career, finances, relationships, and spirituality.
While things like travel may be difficult to achieve, I think that just putting them on the board is a good idea because, truly, you never know! I added passports to my last board since I’ve never had a passport and I ended up getting a passport last year with my family out of the blue, so I think that anything’s possible.
Relationships are important because they are the people who you talk to every day. I put pictures of my family and my best friends on my vision board as these are the people I want to prioritize this year. I personally don’t have or want a boyfriend right now, so I didn’t add one to my board, but you’re welcome to if you’d like.
Spirituality can cover religion, mindfulness, affirmations, and more. For example, I added meditation and journaling to mine since they’re practices that I want to stay consistent with.
Next, I’ll be covering what can go in each section of your board!
Content ideas
On my board, I wanted to be precise and arrange things according to section; health stuff is clumped together, academics are together, et cetera.
In the health category, I prioritized two different areas: eating and working out. I added pictures of healthy food options and of someone cooking to encourage myself to eat healthy, home-cooked meals. I also have pictures of someone going on a walk outside, a woman stretching, and two women lifting heavy weights (I want to go to the gym and get stronger this year, while also preventing injury through stretching and taking walks on recovery days).
Near the health section, I added a screenshot of alarms showing 6am so that I wake up earlier; I know I function better and feel a lot happier when I wake up and get moving early in the morning. Below that, there’s a screen time screenshot saying 21m for a weekly average of screen time, since I can’t stand being on my phone all day.
Two general things I want to try out are rock climbing and boxing, so I added small photos of those activities in the health section! Feel free to just add anything you’re curious about, since seeing them on the board will remind you to follow through with them at some point.
As for academics, I took my best semester in college on Wolverine Access, screenshotted the grades, and added them to my board. This serves as a good daily reminder that I can achieve the same results this semester and beyond. I also added photos of my favorite study spots on campus—if I’m ever sitting at my desk and procrastinating, I could just look up and be reminded that I could be at the Law Library instead.
Some other photos I added for academics are the Michigan Law School and a perfect LSAT score in case I decide to go down the law route sometime this year. Just adding these two things keeps them on my radar and reminds me to keep working hard in case law school is something I want to eventually pursue.
Nearby this section I added a picture of Emma Watson doing public speaking, since 1) Emma Watson is just so cool and 2) I want to get over my fear of public speaking.
For the career section, I added photos for the company I hope to work for this summer, an edited photo of a past internship acceptance email, and an edited LinkedIn job description of my previous summer internship. For finance, I added some photos of money I want (even if it seems impossible) in my bank account.
I have pictures of Italy and New York City since I want to travel this year and see more than just the United States and Canada! I’m not sure I’ll make it to Europe this year, but just adding it makes me feel hopeful that it could happen!
At the top of my board I added pictures of outfits or styles that I want to try. I love fashion and it’s a way for me to express myself. Below the outfits is a beautiful picture of a woman wearing chunky jewelry, and it’s a perfect reminder for me to wear more jewelry since I always forget to.
I’m an artistic person and I feel like I’ve been neglecting that part of myself through college, so I also added a photo of a fashion design project to remind myself to create more in my free time.
That’s what’s on my vision board, just as some inspiration for how specific or broad you can be, so have fun with it! Your board doesn’t have to look like mine because what matters is what motivates you. Don’t be afraid to dream big and add something you think is totally unachievable to it, because truly, anything can happen.
How to use your vision board
Just having a vision board sitting there can be helpful, but there are ways to maximize what you can get out of it.
In the morning, I like to spend a bit looking at my board, imagining my goals as already achieved, and feeling the emotions that come with them being achieved. I also like to say things like “I am grateful for my summer internship” even if I don’t have one yet, because it makes my brain think about it more often, gentle reminders to encourage me to continue working towards these goals.
These actions don’t make things automatically happen, but they make you more likely to create positive change, and just putting your foot through the door is all it takes to make something achievable.