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Vision boards are a powerful way to use both your creative right brain and your strategic and implementing left as you contemplate and create your vision of your future.

I often suggest to my clients, mentees and friends that creating a vision board will help them think about the future differently. It will help them to consider things that linear left-brain thinking alone would not. They can then often see new possibilities, solutions and choices. Zoe the co-author of this article is someone to whom I made such a suggestion.

The traditional method of cutting pictures, drawing and pasting onto a physical board however, doesn’t appeal to everyone. Also many people are using less print media and more social media during leisure hours. I hadn’t thought of this when I suggested a vision board to Zoe and gave her instructions for a creating a craft based board. However, Zoe decided to use Pinterest to create her board. Below is an account of her experience with this medium.

What was your purpose for creating a vision board?

I was at a crossroads in life and felt that I needed to think about my options before making any decisions. I was being made redundant from my job and knew that this was a good opportunity to make a change for the better but I just couldn’t work out what that change should be. Deb suggested a vision board may help me identify the direction I wanted to go in.

What gave you the idea to use Pinterest to create your board

I started my board the traditional way. However I realised that my vision was limited to what had been reported in the freebie newspapers that past week! I already used Pinterest so I was aware of the abundance of inspirational images on there and also liked the idea that from those images I could click through to relevant websites and articles.

How did you begin your board on Pinterest. What would it be important for others to know who wanted to do that?

You can use Pinterest in three ways:

• Upload your own photos
• Search and pin other peoples uploads
• Pin links to blogs, articles etc

I tend to think of some key words and search for them on Pinterest. I find that other people’s pins/images usually link to websites that I probably wouldn’t have found myself. When you click on the image it also suggests other related images which I’ve found can be quite helpful in prompting ideas.

After you had pinned your initial ideas, how did you build on them?

I made sure that I wrote a note under each image about why that image was meaningful. Having to write something made me far more selective. Rather than having 30 images I liked, I ended up with 13 images that each represented something different. Being more selective helped me to join the dots between the ideas and think about how I could achieve this.

(from Zoe’s board)

How did you make the pins meaningful for you?

I chose images that really inspired me and were emotive. In the future I intend to add a few of my own photos into the board – rather than using images found on Pinterest,

How did or does your vision board benefit you?

My vision board helped me to identify and visualise the career and balanced lifestyle that I wanted and think about the steps that I needed to take to get there. 6 months after I created my board, I am now in a challenging new job and am making sure that I make time for the other elements from my board – cooking, yoga, gardening etc.

What was good about using Pinterest instead of the more traditional craft based method?

If you have Pinterest on your phone that means that your vision board is always with you and you can add to it whenever you want. You can edit the text under each image which means you can write yourself reminders or notes.

What tips would you have for someone about to create a vision board using Pinterest?

If you don’t want your vision board to be public, you can set the board to private. I shared my private board with Deb and found it really helpful to talk my vision through with her. Deb asked questions about each image which helped me refine my vision and consider the next steps. I found that the act of sharing my board made me commit to my vision and take actions to turn it into a reality.

Thanks Zoe!

Since Zoe created her board I was inspired to move from a craft based approach to use Pinterest for my vision board and am loving it too. Zoe is right that its great to be able to look at it and add to it wherever you are. To remind yourself what’s important to you, where you are going and why

I took a different approach to Zoe and collected lots of pictures that resonated with me, initially without much thought. I started off with a pair of shoes because I love shoes! I collected pictures of beautiful places and homes, followed by amazing and inspiring people and quotes. Picture by picture I have created my direction from a broad beginning, creating a funnel that ended in my purpose.

As you can see from my and Zoe’s experience, both the journey and the outcomes from a vision board is a very personal and individual. There is no right or wrong.

We would love to hear about your experiences of using vision boards on Pinterest or otherwise. If this article has inspired you to create one, please tell us about that too.