5 Steps to Create a Travel Vision Board
As the year comes to a close, you might be thinking about your dreams and goals. Some people, myself included, find creating a vision board can be a great way to help you put your ideas in one place so I thought I’d share a process that you can use too.
Remember, this is just one way to help you make your dreams a reality. You can start on a goal at any time - not just at the start of a new year. You can create a vision board in a variety of ways - maybe you use Pinterest, an Excel spreadsheet, a note app on your phone, sticky notes on your wall, or a bullet journal.
No matter how you capture new ideas, goals, or dreams, the point is to put your thoughts in one place that you will see so you can make the things that are important to you happen for you. It may take longer than you think but small reminders can be a great way to help keep you focused and motivated.
Going to every country in the world is one of my audacious travel goals.
Collect inspiration from anywhere and everywhere
Jon Acuff, in his book “Soundtracks,” (our affiliate link) quotes Dorothy Parker on creativity.
“Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.”
This is a great strategy for starting your vision board. Don’t limit yourself. This is your dream - it can be as wild and audacious as you want it to be. Using Dorothy’s quote as a guide, use your wild mind to collect your ideas. Don’t be limited by barriers - just dream.
Take pictures of things in print, or if you’re making a physical travel vision board, cut ideas out of magazines, books (maybe not library books though!) or print them off. Collect all the ideas, quotes, pictures, and places you want.
My own audacious travel dream? To go to Antarctica on a 20-day cruise to see all the wildlife I can. But I have other travel dreams too - so I collect them all. I have a spreadsheet and when I’m on social media and see a photo or video of a place that looks amazing I drop it on my spreadsheet.
2. Set your goals
Now that you have inspiration from anywhere and everywhere it’s time to apply the 2nd part of Dorothy Parker’s quote - it’s time for the disciplined eye.
I recommend using SMART to set your travel goals for the year.
Specific - your goal should be as specific and focused as possible.
Measurable - your goal should have a way to quantify it - a number or percentage.
Achievable - your goal should be something that is a stretch, but overall, something you can achieve in the time given.
Realistic - this goes hand in hand with achievable, your goal should be something that is based on reality.
Timebound - your goal should have a deadline attached to it to help keep you focused and push you forward.
Here’s a goal that Stephen and I have been working towards over the last year. It took that long to save up the necessary points and certificates to make this dream a reality. However, this was a really big dream so it’s been on our audacious, bucket list travel vision board for 16 years - and now it’s finally happening! Want to know more about this “points and miles” stuff for your own travel dreams? Check out Frequent Miler.
This year, while that dream comes to fruition, our travel vision board will include a few new items on it just for this coming year. It may even include you, dear reader!
Ok, these are kind of 2 goals in 1 - it could be separated into an adult trip goal and a teen travel goal - but you get the idea.
I started with an audacious goal in July 2023 of 2-3 trips in year one, taking 10 teens on the first trip to South Africa in July 2024. But as I went through my SMART objectives I realized that while it was specific, measurable, and timebound it wasn’t very achievable or realistic. I had some wise people in my life who pointed out that we’re ending our 7-year, 50-state road trip in 2024, and I’ve been to Ireland and the UK many more times than I’ve been to South Africa. So maybe starting a little easier for my first trip with my new company would be a better decision for the success of our launch.
This is why we’re doing 2 trips - that’s achievable with our own personal travel schedule which includes the Maldives too, and going to Ireland with teens, as that’s a more realistic location to start with since I’m very familiar and comfortable with it.
3. Decide on your medium
Now that you’ve collected your inspirational ideas, and have your goals, it’s time to decide how best to display them. Because I travel full-time I have a digital vision board that I created using Canva. But, you can put it on poster board, a cork board, magnetic board, chalkboard, or your wall using removable tape or create it digitally and print it off.
If I weren’t moving around I’d have a physical copy in my home office and then I’d take a picture to keep it with me digitally as well. I think there’s something helpful about physically making things with your hands - using glue and tape.
You aren’t limited to one vision board. You may find it helpful to have a big bucket-list travel vision board, a yearly travel vision board, a work vision board, and more. We’re focused on creating a travel vision board for this year but you can apply this same process to each of your goals.
4. Create your travel vision board
You have your big, amazing ideas. You’ve focused on what’s SMART for your goals in the coming year. It’s best to try and keep the number of goals from 1-5 so you can have a chance to achieve them. And you’ve decided the best way to display them for your lifestyle.
It’s time to put them all together. Either digitally or physically, design your travel vision board to reflect what you’d like to achieve this year. Maybe it’s not even a specific location, but is a budget amount, hotel status level, frequent flier miles, or a staycation location. This is your dream. Not mine. Create what brings you joy.
5. Display your board
In theory this is the easy one - just put it up!
But, you might feel shy, nervous, ashamed, or afraid of having your goals on display. I’d encourage you to work through those feelings and put it up anyway. It doesn’t have to be in a public space, but a space that you will see it each day (and maybe even throughout the day) so you can be reminded of it and keep yourself on track.
Bonus Goal Setting Idea
Does a year-long goal seem too big? Is it not timebound enough for you? Consider reading a book that I really enjoyed called “The 12 Week Year” (our affiliate link) which will help you break down your goals into 12 weeks at a time. They also mention the SMART goal setting method - something I’ve been using for almost 20 years to create and achieve my own goals.
You’ve done it! You have a travel vision board for the coming year! Feeling brave? Share a goal you’ve set in the comments below!