From Daydreaming to Doing: How to Create a Vision Board that Works

n this episode of The MrMind Podcast, Ryan Johnson dives into the art of creating a vision board that isn’t just pretty—it’s powerful. If you’re tired of cutting and pasting vague dreams and calling it a plan, this one's for you. Ryan shares three essential principles for a vision board that fuels action: clarity over aesthetics, reverse engineering your big goals, and emotional anchors that light a fire under you.

You’ll also get a step-by-step guide to setting SMART goals, organizing your board into zones of focus, and keeping your vision front and center—literally! Plus, Ryan’s got a challenge to help you get started today. If you’re ready to dream big and act consistently, this episode will give you the blueprint you need.

Take a listen and learn how to turn your vision board into a daily dose of progress.

IG: @themrmindd

Transcript

Ryan Johnson (00:00):

Vision boards. I'm not talking about the cut and paste from some random magazine clippings and hope for the best kind. I'm talking about the actionable, intentional, effective vision boards that will move the needle and your life. So grab some coffee, grab some creativity, and let's get to it. This is your mindset, coach Ryan Johnson, and thank you so much for tuning into the Mr. Mind podcast. Your twice a week dose of living well, even if you have a crappy vision board. Yeah, yeah. Even if you have a crappy one. And let's be real. Most vision boards fail because they're crappy. Another word for crappy is vague. He pastes a picture of a mansion, a tropical vacation, or someone who is fit and think, this will motivate me every day. But here's the thing, our brains need specifics. Our mind is a goal seeking missile, a goal seeking missile, and it locks in on clarity, not generality.
(01:20)
When your vision board lacks actionable steps or looks more like a fantasy Pinterest board, you're setting yourself up for daydreaming, not doing. We're not about that. So what makes a vision board actually work? More importantly, how do you make a vision board that works? Well? It comes down to three principles. One, clarity over aesthetics, two, reverse engineering, and three emotional anchors. So let's go through it. Clarity over aesthetics. Guys, just forget the pretty collage mindset. Instead, focus on specifics. Don't just post a picture of money. Write down how much you want to save, how much you want to invest, how much you want to earn and buy. When am I saying, oh, if you don't do that, you'll never get there. No, I'm not saying that at all. Because if you have will, there's a way, right? However, it's going to make your trip a hell of a lot easier if you write down the specifics right now, go to Disney World right now, okay?
(02:22)
Yeah. You'll figure it out. You'll go, I'll give you the keys to a car, and I say, go there. You have 10 hours to get there. You start driving, you start moving. But if you get specific on where you're moving to, where you're driving to, where you're flying to MCO, you'll be able to get there faster with more efficiency. Reverse engineering, break your big goals into small bite-size wins. For example, instead of putting, run a marathon, post a image of a 5K signup form or a daily, have a tracker to train your body, step by step, train your body, keep it going. In those small steps, it's going to lead to your ultimate goal of running a marathon. When I started my company, I want to have a huge, massive company. What did I do? No, I didn't just buy a whole ton of vans.
(03:12)
No, not only because I didn't have the capital. I knew I had to create the system. So how do you create the systems? You write 'em down, you think of 'em, you write 'em down, and you start planning it out. The smaller system prepares you for the medium sized system, prepares you for the larger system. These actions will push you towards the goal that you want to accomplish. It's not something that I'm creating. No, no, not at all. It's just how it works. Hold a ball in the air and then drop it. It's going to fall down and not up. Why? Well, that's just how it works. Emotional anchors. You have to make sure that you choose visuals and phrases that will evoke and emotional response for you, not for your girlfriend, not for your boyfriend, for you. You want to feel excitement. You don't want to overwhelm yourself.
(04:00)
You just want to feel excitement, and that's a thing. A lot of times we'll put too much, too much on the board, and what that does is that'll overwhelm us and we don't know where to start, and that goes to the reverse engineer. So what do we have to do? We have to put enough to make us excited because if your vision void doesn't burn a fire inside of your ass, if it doesn't make you smile, it's time to rethink it. Clarity over aesthetics, reverse engineering, emotional anchors. So how to build an actionable vision board. Well, I'm going to give you the step-by-step process to create a vision board that's not only inspiring, but most importantly actionable. And before you even touch those scissors, you have to define your goals. You have to make them specific. You have to make them measurable, achievable. They have to be relevant.
(04:50)
They have to be time bound. Yes, that's the acronym, and that acronym is smart, S-M-A-R-T. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound. Example. Instead of saying, I will lose weight, try saying something more specific. Like whenever I start watching Netflix, I'm going to start off with 10 pushups and end with 15 pushups, something like that. Get creative instead of, I want to eat and drink healthy. I will drink water for the next seven days. Not tea, not coffee, simply water, and see how my body reacts to it. Here's the next step. Gather materials with intention. It doesn't matter if you are using magazines, if you're using printed quotes, digital platform like Canva or whatever it is, you want to gather images and words that represent your goals in detail. You're going to add dates, you're going to add check boxes. You're can add phrases like I've got this.
(05:54)
Step number three, create zones of focus. It's very important because you want to divide your board into categories like health, like relationships, like career, like fun. You got to have fun, and this helps you see your life more clearly, and it helps you to avoid getting tunnel vision. This is the fourth step. You're going to add micro steps under each big goal. You're going to place a visual or post it with micro steps. For instance, next to a picture of a dream job, you're going to put something like, update LinkedIn, send three applications a week, take a certification course, whatever it is, that'll take you to the next step of getting that dream job. This is probably the most important step coming up here. You have to put it where you'll see it. A lot of people are guilty of creating this vision board, and they stuff it away somewhere, out of sight, out of mind.
(06:47)
Your vision board needs to be somewhere visible, not hidden, behind a closet door, not stuffed in your personals folder. And remember, it is not set in stone once you put it there. It's not like, well, I have to do this. Refresh it. As you grow, as you grow, you're going to refresh again and again and again and again. Look, your vision board is in a magic wand. It's a tool. It's a reminder of what you're working toward and why you're working toward it. We have to remember that life will throw us curve balls, and that's totally okay. It happens to all of us. And what matters is progress, not perfection. Even if you hit 70% of your vision board goals, that is still a win. Here's my challenge for you. Set aside 30 minutes this week, just 30, that's it. 30 minutes this week, and I want you to map out your goals.
(07:44)
I want you to create a vision board with intention. Prove it to me that you did snap a photo. Tag me on Instagram. That's the Mr. Mind. And yes, there's two Ds at the end of that. I'd love to cheer you on to see what you're building. Honestly, don't you remember something? A vision board is only as powerful as the action you take. Dream big, but act small and consistent. Thank you so much for tuning into the Mr. Mind podcast. It means the world to me that you have spent your last 10 or so minutes with us here. If this helped you out at all, please leave a comment. Please leave a rating because it'll help the algorithm push this out to like-minded individuals and hopefully it'll help them out as well. But most importantly, that very last person that you sent a text message to, can you please send them another text message and say, Hey, I hope you're doing okay. I hope your morning was great. I hope your afternoon was even better. And I hope your night is amazing because guys, you never know, they just might need it.