A fairly speedy post today – it’s Imbolc, the pagan start of spring and my personal new year. I much prefer it to the depths of midwinter, and it means I get to plan all the way through January in peace, rather than trying to cram it into the madness and sleep deprivation of December.
Every year I have a robust planning process, and one of the most joyful parts of that is making my vision board. I am a words person but also a highly visual person, so once I’ve sorted out my words of the year and my overall goals and plans, the natural next step is to make a visual reminder.
Here’s mine for 2025:
There’s lots on it because there’s lots in my life and my brain – but also because having it full of things like this makes it infinitely more interesting for me to look at every day.
How I make it
I make it on an A3 piece of white card, then photograph it and print on A4 and A5 photo paper so I can keep a copy in my two main Filofaxes that I use to run my life.
It’s usually collage style from images and graphics I design & print, images that inspire me, and stickers – I bloody love stickers and have a fabulous collection for exactly this sort of thing.
There’s always a bit of indecision to begin with about what goes where, but generally once I start it falls into place, and is a wonderful few hours of flow.
The original gets a coat of UV resistant varnish and is pinned to my studio memo & inspiration board, next to my desk. Which means I see it every day I’m at my desk, and then the portable ones are with me when I’m working from home, out & about or just not working.
I’ve tried various types of vision board over the years, and while I am still fond of a pin board version so I can update more easily through the year, the last few years I’ve really enjoyed having a tangible and portable version, and a record of what I wanted at the start of the year to inform the following year’s planning.
How I use it
I’m a great believer in having talismans or representations of the things you want around you as often as possible. I’m also a great believer in magic, but I don’t believe magic happens automatically. The purpose of my vision board is to keep my plans and goals and dreams alive and current and in the front of my brain.
Knowing what I want and why I want it means I can move in the right direction with every choice and opportunity that comes up across the year. Towards what I want and away from what I don’t is generally what I am aiming for. But sometimes, especially in creative work, it’s really hard to choose between two things, or to say no to something which looks fun – my vision board, along with my planning process, helps me to figure out which is right for me for my longer term goals when I do come up against this kind of decision.
While vision boards are absolutely a form of magic, they require active everyday magic to work – they are not a set it and forget it activity.
My words of the year
What doesn’t go onto the vision board, but will get printed separately, and are always stamped onto a bangle for the year so I can wear them every day, are my words of the year.
I choose three words each year to guide me, for 2025 these are Ease, Intuition and Rise – and there’s a post about them over on my brand photography blog.
I’d love to know if you also have a vision board, or words of the year, and how you use them – tell me everything!
