Aces, with the semester coming to an end and the New Year sneaking in just around the corner, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite winter activities: creating a vision board. It’s a little cliché, but I find that creating a vision board motivates me a lot more than creating a New Year’s resolution list ever has. Creating a vision board will help you set goals for the coming year, serve as a reminder of these goals and dreams, act as a motivator, keep you accountable, focus your intentions, and allow you to be creative in the process. We are more likely to achieve our goals and dreams, no matter how big or small, when we visualize them either through words or photos. Vison boards also make the future seem exciting and can serve as nice reminders that a rough patch won’t last forever, especially in college.

My favorite way to create a vision board is with the app Pinterest. I find it to be easy and convenient to use. I create one big vision board for the upcoming year and look up photos representing the things I want to achieve in that time. I will also slowly add to the board during the year as I create new goals I want to achieve. Additionally, I make specific vision boards for some of my larger goals and dreams. For instance, I will probably create a vision board full of study motivation for the upcoming year. I like that I can easily create as many vision boards I want and adapt them as the year goes on.

Another way that I’ve created a vision is the old school method using printed photos on a board. I’ve either glued photos to a canvas or gotten a corkboard that I’ve pinned photos to. These methods limit the number of photos you can include in your vision board, but that might help you focus on your most important aspirations for the year. By only focusing on a few aspirations for the year, achieving them may seem more manageable. Using a corkboard also allows you to be able to swap and add photos throughout the year as well. 

I hope you consider making a vision board for 2026. I believe that we can all achieve our goals if we start putting our minds to them. Good luck on your finals, Aces! Use my vision board as a motivator to make it to winter break!