If you’re like me, you are so excited about 2018 you could pop! You’ve set your goals for the New Year and even drafted plans on how to achieve those goals and you are ready to slay 2018!

But New Year’s Day will come and go, life will happen and your goals will get pushed to the back burner. Or at least that’s probably what has happened in the past. But we’re not going to let that happen in 2018 because we’re going to manage our mindset.

Related Reading: How to Manage Your Mindset

One way to do this is by creating a 2018 vision board and hanging it in a prominent place in your home or office. This vision board should be a visual representation of the vision you have for your year.

On Saturday, January 6 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Homewood Public Library I am hosting a vision board party with Black Bloggers United Birmingham. This is a free event, but registration is required. You can RSVP here.

If you can’t make it to the event or if you want a preview of what we’ll be doing, here are my 3 steps to creating a vision board that will keep you motivated throughout the year.

Write the vision. Make it plain. When it comes to making vision boards, I believe in being very intentional. Before you start just cutting out pretty pictures from your favorite magazines write down your vision for the year. Describe what you want your life to be like by December 31, 2018. Or perhaps just focus on your vision for your blog or writing career.  I am very intentional about vision board

Make your list and check it twice. If your vision board will represent your vision for your life as a whole, make a list of themes you’d like to display. For example, the vision board I have in my home office (pictured above) represent my values and the things most important to me in life: faith, feminism, fitness, writing and blogging, my marriage, my friendships, empowering women and girls, etc. If your vision board is meant to represent your vision for your blog or writing career, make a list of specific goals.

Cut and paste. Flip throughout several magazines to search for images that represent your goals and/or themes. Inevitably, while looking for images you will come across articles you want to read. Just tear out these articles and put them in a folder. Read them later, not while you’re searching for pictures. Otherwise, this process will take hours or even days to complete. I’m speaking from experience. Once you have your images, it’s time to create your board. I’m a bit of a neat freak when it comes to vision boards. Before pasting down anything, I neatly arrange my images on my board until everything is just right. Then I take a picture of the board. Finally, I paste the images into place. This may not be your style. You may want a fun collage-like board with diagonal overlapping images. The key is for your board to represent you.

The vision board in my home office certainly screams Javacia! On it, you’ll find images of women who inspire me such as Sheryl Sandberg, Beyonce, Solange, Janelle Monae, Frida Kahlo and Jillian Michaels. I have images representing my fitness goals and my writing goals, and I even included an image to remind me to spend more quality time with my husband. I have a picture of Tavi Gevinson not just because she’s editor of Rookie Mag and completely awesome, but also as a reminder of all the young feminists I want to help and inspire.

Before you start making your board you’ll probably have an idea (a vision) of how you want it to look. Chances are, though, once you start putting it together things will change and it won’t turn out exactly how you imagined. That’s OK. After all, life is like that, isn’t it? Your path probably looks different from the one you thought you’d be traveling. But remember to enjoy the journey and don’t forget to delight in the detours.

And don’t forget, on Saturday, January 6 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Homewood Public Library I am hosting a vision board party with Black Bloggers United Birmingham. RSVP here