vision board.

Near the middle of December, I begin to think about my goals for the new year.

In the past, I have written down my annual goals on paper or typed into a document.

To be quite honest, it just wasn't too effective.

I wrote the goals out, sometimes shared the goals with a few close friends, and then I taped the paper in the back of my planner...never to be looked at again.

The intentions were good, but there was no inspiration in a checklist of "things to accomplish in the year ____".

No inspiration.
No long-term motivation.
No real accountability.

So although my resolutions were good ones that would have helped me to become more organized, more healthy, and more financially fit...there was often not as much follow-through as I would have liked.

In December of 2017, I was introduced to the concept of the "vision board".

I was intrigued and started seeking out inspiration online.  

www.kimberlyelise.com

www.morningcoffeewithdee.com

www.fitbodyweightloss.com

These are three of the images I saved at the time because they just "spoke to me".

THIS.  This was inspiring to me!

I started to think about where I would keep a vision board and realized that I might want to have a separate one for the different areas of my life because I had very specific goals for each part...home, faith, school, photography...the list goes on and on.

However, making fourteen different vision boards sure didn't seem practical.

And then it hit me...I could do a vision board book!

The book could house all of my inspiration in one mobile place.

I could have each page-spread be a different area of my dreams & goals for the year and this would still feed that need in me to create.

So that's what I did.

I started with an adorable journal from The Reset Girl (LOVE HER!), made by Simple Stories.

They're still available!  The typewriter is just the cutest!

From there, I started with an introduction page that included a quote I found on Pinterest and my address, in case my vision "board" ever got misplaced.

My next spread was just a collection of inspirational quotes that make me smile when I flip through the pages.

From there, I took every area of life that I wanted to better myself in and I started taking my dreams and goals and finding images to represent them!  

I've shared my first and second page spread here to give you an idea of what my vision book looks like.  

It's simple.

It's pretty.

It's inspiring.

My first spread really involved our housing dreams and the life we want to build for our family.

It's crazy to think that when I created this spread in December of 2016, we had absolutely no clue that we would be buying the farmhouse in July of 2017!

I wanted to have a space to entertain others, as you can see on the bottom of the left page and in November of 2017, we hosted our first two family dinners at the farmhouse.

Since moving, we have raised a garden and canned the produce. 

We have worked hard to pay down our car debt and the truck is now paid off, with the Yukon coming soon.

Mr. Farmhouse is still working towards being a full-time farmer, but we are on the right track.

I have pages like this in my vision book about many subjects...

• house decor and remodeling goals (like the new bathroom project!)
• school goals
• faith goals 
• blog goals
• health goals
• financial goals
• decorating inspiration

When December 2017 came around, I looked back through my vision book and took stock of all the things we had accomplished that year.

I added a few new goals for 2018, but I decided not to start a new book...just continued right on with a refreshing perspective.

And I'll do the same thing this week as I dream, plan, and prepare for 2019.

Doing some goal-setting at the farmhouse to celebrate Christmas break,
Hannah

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