Creating a vision board? First ask these powerful questions
Reading time: 4 minSo, you’re preparing to create a vision board? Maybe even your first one? Congrats! Great decision. It can change how you work on your goals forever.
Before you roll up your sleeves and jump right into it, we thought this might be useful - here are 30 powerful self-coaching questions to ask yourself before making a vision board.
Figuring out your goals and priorities doesn’t always come easily
Most of us are terribly busy running our daily lives. We don't take enough time to consciously think about the future and our goals (this is something that your vision board will change). So when you finally get to it, you can feel a bit lost.
The feeling that everything is possible can be overwhelming and even paralyzing. You see and hear about so many people doing interesting stuff and living awesome lives (think of your social media feed). Even 10 or 20 years ago people simply didn't have as many options as they do now. It's more difficult than ever before to settle down on one pursuit.
You might have so many good choices on your plate that you just can’t choose between them. It’s great if these goals and dreams can happily co-exist. But sometimes, wanting one thing means you're not getting the other. You can’t go North and South at the same time.
You get a lot of pressure from the media and society. You might feel you should have certain dreams that others around you also have. Even if they don’t really resonate with you (which is of course completely false - your dreams are yours alone).
You might also feel that goal-setting is intimidating. You might fear failure. That’s why we often like to make our goals as fuzzy and unspecific as possible – so there would be room for interpretation (and in the end anything could be regarded success). But unfortunately, these vague goals don’t work.
Ask why
Asking questions is powerful. Having the perfect answer is smart, but asking the right question is genius. That’s why leaders, mentors, and coaches (to name only a few) use them so much in their work. Questions will get you thinking and help you discover things you haven’t noticed before.
One of the most powerful questions is WHY?
If you ask why enough times, you will get to the bottom of things. So in a way, it’s like the queen of all questions. It’s also important for goals, as the why behind them can change everything.
You can have the same goal for all kinds of reasons. Let’s take something like getting a good job – you can have it for intrinsic motivation, e.g. it encourages your self-development or you feel like you’re making a difference in the world. But you can also have it for extrinsic motivation, e.g. status or a good salary. And this goes for the exact same job.
It might sound like the first motivation is inherently good and the second one bad, but that’s not necessarily the case. However, it is true that intrinsic motivation can be more fulfilling and last longer, especially when difficulties arise.
And this means it makes fulfilling your goal more likely.
We seldom do it, but it’s important and helpful to always ask yourself what’s the motivation behind your goal. Why do I want what I want? If it doesn’t feel right, you can reconsider your motivation and find a better why.
Dig deeper with your questions
Why is just one of the countless questions that will help your goal-setting process.
You could also consider your passions, values, and strengths. You probably already know some of those, but you might discover some more by asking: what do you want to change in the world and what energizes you?
Look at your past life and accomplishments. What have you accomplished already? Then look at what’s going on at the moment. What do you need the most right now? What do you love about life? What story are you telling yourself about yourself? And then imagine yourself in the future. What do you want to achieve one year from now? What would you like to be doing in five years?
What about dreaming? Imagine life without limitations. What if you had unlimited money or resources? What if you were completely fearless? Let’s turn it up another notch. What if your goals were doubled, tripled, or magnified by 10?
These are just a few examples, but you get the point. These questions will help you think beyond stereotypes and notice situations and areas of life that make you genuinely happy and fulfilled.
It’s great if you can have an experienced bystander guide you through the questions. Perhaps a coach, a counselor, a mentor, or even just a friend? Having an outside view can be extremely beneficial, but there’s a lot you can do for yourself too. You can use self-coaching to ask yourself these same questions, challenge your beliefs, and expand your thinking.
30 powerful self-coaching questions
- What do you need the most right now?
- Where would you be if you had unlimited resources?
- Who would you be if you had no restrictions at all?
- What would you be doing if you were completely fearless?
- How would you be spending your days if money weren’t a problem?
- What have you accomplished already?
- What opportunities are you looking for?
- What is most important to you in life?
- What do you want to change in the world?
- What energizes you?
- What do you fear most in life?
- What limiting beliefs are you holding on to?
- What story are you telling yourself about yourself?
- What do you love about life?
- What are your biggest strengths?
- What do you feel grateful for?
- What would success look and feel like?
- Who inspires you the most?
- What would change in your life if you changed your beliefs?
- What is your why?
- What do you want to achieve one year from now?
- What would you like to be doing in five years?
- What would you do if you had one year left to live?
- Which of your core values does your goal express?
- Why is it important for you to accomplish your goal?
- How would achieving your goal help others around you?
- What if your goals were doubled, tripled, or magnified by 10?
- What will you have to give up in order to make room for your goals?
- What bad habits do you want to break?
- What new habits do you want to develop?
Hopefully you found out something new about yourself working through the questions. Quite certainly you have a much better picture of your goals and are now ready to start choosing them for your vision board.
Whenever you get stuck, just return to the questions. And you might want to revise them later on as well, when you’re already making progress towards your goals. When motivation dwindles, asking a few good questions can give you a proper boost and get you back on track.
PS If you’d like to have these (and 22 more) self-coaching questions in the form of Motivational Cards, then check out our Powerful Questions here.
Kairi Kuuskor is the co-founder and designer of Bold Tuesday - a company that aims to help you live a better life. To do that they create vision boards, motivational cards, notebooks and other self-development tools with an emphasis on high quality and great design.
