I’ve tried vision boards before. Like most people, I made a nice collage, pinned it somewhere visible, and then promptly forgot it existed. The problem wasn’t the board — it was that I never actually sat down and thought about what I wanted. I just pasted random pictures of beaches and sports cars and called it a day.
This time I wanted to do it properly. Not the Pinterest aesthetic kind, but the kind where you actually force yourself to decide what matters across different areas of your life. So I built a markdown template instead. It’s simpler, it lives in my notes, and it forces structure onto the chaos.
The template
The board is split into seven categories: health, career, relationships, personal growth, travel, finances, and hobbies. Each gets its own section with a few concrete goals underneath. Not vague aspirations — actual things you could check off.
| Health and Fitness | Career and Education | Family, Relationships and Social Life |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
| - Exercise regularly - Feel energetic and confident - Drink 8 glasses of water a day - Gain 10 kg - Eat more fruits and vegetables - Sleep 8 hours a night | - Learn new skills and improve my knowledge - Advance in my current job or find a better one - Earn more money and achieve financial stability - Get a promotion at work | - Spend more quality time with my family and friends - Meet new people and expand my network - Make new friends at work - Go on a romantic getaway with my partner |
| Personal Growth | Travel | Finances |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
| - Learn to meditate - Read 12 books this year - Learn to play the guitar - Volunteer at a local charity | - Visit Japan - Visit Paris - Go on a road trip across the US - Explore a new city every quarter | - Save £50k for an emergency fund - Invest in the stock market |
| Hobbies | Fun |
|---|---|
 |  |
| - Blog - Join a book club | - Attend a concert - Watch a movie - Play video games - Go shopping |
Why markdown?
A lot of vision board guides tell you to use a physical board, or Canva, or some fancy app. Those work fine if you’re the type to look at them daily. I’m not. My vision board lives in my blog — which means it’s editable, searchable, and backed up. I can update it whenever without hunting for a physical pinboard.
The markdown format also keeps things honest. When you’re typing out goals instead of dragging images around, you have to actually articulate what you want. That’s the bit most people skip.
How to use it
- Pick your categories. Seven is a lot — feel free to merge or split. The point is coverage, not completeness.
- Write specific goals under each one. “Get fit” is useless. “Gain 10 kg” gives you something to measure.
- Add images that actually mean something to you, not just things that look good together.
- Put it somewhere you’ll see it. For me that’s my blog dashboard. For you it might be a notebook on your desk or a sticky note on your monitor.
- Come back to it every few months and update. Goals change. That’s fine.
The markdown source
If you want to grab the template and make it your own:
# My Vision Board
| Health and Fitness | Career and Education | Family, Relationships and Social Life |
|--------------------|----------------------|---------------------------------------|
|
|
|
|
| - Exercise regularly<br>- Feel energetic and confident<br>- Drink 8 glasses of water a day<br>- Gain 10 kg<br>- Eat more fruits and vegetables<br>- Sleep 8 hours a night | - Learn new skills and improve my knowledge<br>- Advance in my current job or find a better one<br>- Earn more money and achieve financial stability<br>- Get a promotion at work | - Spend more quality time with my family and friends<br>- Meet new people and expand my network<br>- Make new friends at work<br>- Go on a romantic getaway with my partner |
| Personal Growth | Travel | Finances |
|-----------------|--------|----------|
|
|
|
|
| - Learn to meditate<br>- Read 12 books this year<br>- Learn to play the guitar<br>- Volunteer at a local charity | - Visit Japan<br>- Visit Paris<br>- Go on a road trip across the US<br>- Explore a new city every quarter | - Save £50k for an emergency fund<br>- Invest in the stock market |
| Hobbies | Fun |
|---------|-----|
|
|
|
| - Blog<br>- Join a book club | - Attend a concert<br>- Watch a movie<br>- Play video games<br>- Go shopping |
A note on “gain 10 kg”
I put that in the health section and I’m not even sure it’s right for me. That’s the point — these are my goals as of May 2023, and they might change. The board isn’t set in stone. It’s a snapshot of what I want right now, and a reminder to check back in later.
If you make one, don’t overthink it. The worst thing you can do is not decide what you want.