Vision boards may seem corny, but they’re probably more necessary today than ever before. The age of the Internet and smart phones are cultivating an era of distraction. This is not by accident.
The more you’re focused on just getting by or surviving your daily routine, the less you’re focused on steering the direction of you and your family. Don’t get it twisted.
Every single person reading these words has something profound and potentially life altering in front of them or someone they hold close. It’s the struggle of humanity.
So, this provides a strong incentive for your marriage to be bound together by something more than lust, opportunity, regret, obligation. spitefulness, fear, or embarrassment.
Bind it with Vision!
- Bind it with vision – a view of the future.
- Bind it with vision – a view of what’s possible in a lifetime and beyond.
- Bind it with vision – a vision of how two people working together can create so much for themselves and the people they care about the most.
Vision realized is woven into the very fabric of time.
The vision you share with your spouse will ripple through the generations anyway because our decisions will always impact more than just us – they impact everyone close to us and beyond.
Here are 5 steps you can take to build a digital vision board that you and your spouse can use to keep you focused on the long term as you’re navigating the day to day plan.
Step 1. Speak on it
Be intentional. Speak with your spouse about why you want to create a vision for your marriage and your family. Do a a little research – or better yet, simply complete this list and show it to them.
Take initiative in your relationship. There are only two of you. If it’s important to you, you take the reigns. Every relationship lives and dies on its expectations, and someone is going to need to speak up to set the vision first.
If you’re not at least a little scared about it, then you’re not truly pushing yourself. It’s okay. If you’re relationship isn’t worth getting uncomfortable over, then what is?
Step 2. Get a Pinterest Account
Yeah, I know – another social media account? Yes, and if you don’t know why, I really don’t have the time nor energy to go into the full value of Pinterest, just trust me on this one.
Just remember this. If you’re 30+ you are the last generation of people who will ever be able to recall a time before the internet. You’re already a dinosaur in history’s eyes.
Get with the times and don’t let fear of something new keep you in the dark ages. There’s a reason the whole world moves toward one thing and away from another.
Step 3. Surf the web
Find the good in the sea of bad, muck, filth, and trolls. There’s beauty, writing, architecture, prose, art, music, cars, debates, films, space, opinions, and so much more. If you had all the time in the world to with as you saw fit, what would spend it on? What would you learn? Where would you go? Find it. It’s out there.
Step 4. Pin all of the things
Now that you’ve joined the modern world with Pinterest, start pinning all those good things you just found to a newly created board on Pinterest. You can drag and drop, add a ‘Pin It’ button to your toolbar, or simply follow the directions on Pinterest, but you’ll figure it out.
The point is to have a place that visually represents all the good things, hopes, interests, and whatever else you want to fill your future with. Make it uniquely yours, and as long as you complete one, it will be uniquely your own. My wife and I named ours, “Marriage Vision Pin Board.” We’re unique like that.
Step 5. Invite your spouse to weave in their own vision
So Pinterest allows multiple people to edit the same board. Share yours with your spouse, and ask them to dedicate the time to add the best things they can see of their own future. Once again, if it’s important to you, you’ll figure it out.
It’s made to be user friendly. If you need extra help, there are plenty of free tutorials available as well. In the spirit of transparency, if your spouse is 100% anti-social media everything, you may be forced to set up an account for them (see above – take initiative).
Once they add their voice to the tapestry, you both can lay eyes on something both of you have woven together. No ambiguities. No misconceptions. Instead, a bold statement about the possibilities and expectations of the future if you both remain focused.
The whole concept of carving out a tangible and intentional future for you and your family can be hard to swallow for many. To really do so, you would need to first believe it was possible. This acknowledgement of possibility creates hope.
Hopes can be crushed, and so many people are so afraid to be hopeful that they become complacent instead. If you have no hope, you have no future. This is true for every single one of us. It’s another part of the human struggle.
The vision board is a start. It’s also a statement that the two of you can still hope for a better tomorrow. Every day that goes by in your relationship, you’re building something anyway. You might as well build the same village together rather than two separate skyscrapers never destined to meet in the sky.
Check our our board here. It’s only an example, not the model. It’s simple and it grows as we grow. It’s ours. Let’s start yours.
BMWK, Are you ready to start your 2016 digital vision board?