2026 VISION BOARD
My vision board for 2026, how I make it, and why I do it.
I finished my 2026 vision board during the first few days of the new year. I created a template for myself so it's pretty quick to achieve. But first, let me explain where I got this idea and why I started doing this in the first place.
2021
That was the year I created my first vision board. Around that time, the term "manifesting" had permeated social media. I rolled my eyes at first, but I've also read—ok, skimmed the headlines—of many articles about the psychology of writing down goals. However, I'm not going to go into a full analysis of why this works or why you should do it. This is merely a post about my own experiences and how it's worked out for me.
Anyway, I was working at my first "big tech" company at the time. I had just started my career as a UX writer and had entered the world of product. Previously, I was used to meetings where we critiqued each other's designs and spent hours fretting over layouts. Now, I was involved in sprints, roadmaps, and so. Many. Workshops.
Again, I won't get into the technicalities of said meetings because that's not the point. But for those who are unfamiliar, I will briefly explain what these types of workshops were about. The focus for most of these meetings was prioritization and getting the teams to agree on specific focuses and goals. Lots of post-it notes were involved, where we'd write down our individual ideas and then group them by category.
I still remember sitting in these meetings and thinking,
"Damn, there are so many tools out there for businesses. I need this for my own life!"
Cue the lightbulb moment.
How
At that company, we used Miro to facilitate all of our workshops. I don't love Miro, but this was before Figma launched Figjam. With the free version, you're only allowed three boards, so I've been using the same board for all of my ✨manifesting✨ since 2021.
An overview of my vision boards over the past 6 years.
Step 1: Write down individual goals/dreams per post-it.
I start by just free-writing whatever I want to do during this year. It doesn't matter how lofty or small the goal is. I stop when I feel like, "Ok, that's enough." Over the years, the number of goals ranged from 34–52.
Step 2: Group goals into similar categories.
I try to keep the categories as general as possible, with the minimum of two. If there's a category of one, I try to think where else it could possibly fit. Then, I color-code and label them. I also include the number for each category so I can count them faster.
It then looks like this.
Step 3: Prioritize the top 3 goals and write vision statements.
This is, I suppose, the manifestation part: Actually writing out what you want to achieve. Rather than write down specific goals, I generalize them by their category. The top 3 categories means that these are the main areas of my life that I want to focus on for this year. Sometimes, I'll get a tie, and then I'll have 4 categories. But no more than four! I don't want to overwhelm myself.
Just reread number one and cringed. Don't laugh!!
Step 4: Set it and forget it.
Ok, I've changed this a bit. Back when I started, I really did set and forget it, because that was part of the game. (I will explain). But now, I add these goals to my Notion board (I use Notion for EVERYTHING), so they're not completely out of sight, out of mind.
Step 5: Gamify the process/live your life.
I love gamification apps to help achieve goals. I've used several in my life. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But through each one, I learn a little more about myself. And I've learned that the reason why I didn't like "new years resolutions" or writing down goals is because:
I felt like a bad person if I didn't achieve them.
So, rather than adding some sort of moral value to an achievement (i.e., achieved = I'm winning and unachieved = I'm a piece of shit), it becomes, "Oooh let's see how many I achieve by the end of the year!" I view my goals from an objective place, rather than a place of judgment.
Step 6: Revisit goals and tally.
At the end of the year (or the beginning), I open up my Miro board again and start tallying. That's what this section of the board is for:
This is for 2026, so I will check by at the end of the year.
I decided it was better for my psyche to not just have achieved/didn't achieve, because there are many reasons why a goal was not achieved. For example, the goal could still be in progress. I also wanted to tell myself that it is ok to abandon goals if they are no longer relevant.
My results for 2025.
Based on my stats, I achieve on average 50% of the goals I set out to do. Now, 50% may not be a lot, but compared to before when I wasn't even setting goals or remembering them, it feels like an achievement! And hey, even 1% is better than 0%, amirite?
Why
My relationship with work has changed so much over the years. I started out as a plump grape full of life and promise, and the years have drained me into a lifeless raisin. One of the realizations was witnessing how much I gave to work while my personal life crumbled around me, and in the end, I'd get let go anyway.
People spend so much time and research on all sorts of tactics that can increase company revenue, "improve" product, etc. etc.! They say mental wellness is important and hire some counselors you can talk to during your lunch break or pay for a team retreat, simply bandaging the wound and not treating the symptom itself.
Anyway, I don't want this to turn into a full-on rant. But basically I just thought,
If businesses invest in these methods, then maybe it will work for me too, because I want to invest in myself for a change.
Perhaps other people have done similar vision boards. I have no idea because I never looked into it, I just saw a way and wanted to try it for myself. And 5 years on, I'm happy with it!
So if you do something similar or know of a similar method, let me know.