Vision Board
Vision Board for Men: What to Put on It and How to Keep It in Sight
A vision board for guys who want results: concrete ideas for health, relationships, money, happiness and spiritual goals, a free worksheet that turns each picture into a first step, and how to keep the board on your lock screen.
On this page
Search for a vision board for men and you get the same collage every time: a sports car, a watch, a stack of cash, somebody else's six-pack. It's nice to look at, but none of it tells you what to do on Monday morning.
I'm Marina. I've made vision boards since my teens, and I've been building VISIYA, a vision board app for iPhone and iPad, since 2022. So I'll stick to what I know well: how a board turns into a plan, and how to keep it where you'll see it.
Below you'll find ideas for the five areas of the Vision Board For Men, a free worksheet that gives every picture a first step, and how to put the board on your lock screen.
Do vision boards work for men?
As a focus tool, yes, for men as much as anyone. A board won't manifest anything. It shows you what you're willing to work for, and that's useful.
Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, who teaches at New York University and the University of Hamburg, has studied positive thinking for decades. In one study with Doris Mayer, graduates with the rosiest daydreams about their job search had sent fewer applications two years later. They'd also gotten fewer offers and were earning less.
A later study by Kappes and Oettingen found that positive fantasies about an ideal future lowered people's energy, measured by things like systolic blood pressure. The dream feels so good that part of you acts like you're already there.
What worked better in her research: picture the goal, name what's in your way, then plan for that moment. Oettingen calls it WOOP: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. To be straight with you, nothing proves a vision board by itself makes goals come true. The studies compare dreaming with planning, and the worksheet below is the planning part.
My own benchmark: about half of the wishes on my boards come true. On my board for the year I turned 34, it's 12 of 22. I call that a good year.
What goes on a vision board for men?
Concrete goals with a number or a date, one to three per area. Here are three ideas for each of the board's five areas.
| Area | Ideas with a number or a date | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| Health Goals | Run a 10K by May · In bed by 11 on weeknights · Annual checkup booked by March | Health board, fitness board, fitness vision board guide |
| Relationship Goals | Date night every Friday · Call Dad every Sunday · Guys' trip on the calendar by June | Your own photos work best here |
| Financial Goals | Emergency fund that covers 3 months by December · Credit card balance at $0 by fall · 401(k) contribution up 1% this year | Financial board, money vision board guide |
| Happiness Goals | Learn one full song on guitar by summer (or a Spanish basics course, or one woodworking project) · One trip booked by spring · One weekend a quarter with the phone off | More vision board ideas |
| Spiritual Goals | 10 minutes of quiet every morning · Volunteer once a month · Write one page on what gives your life meaning by New Year's | Faith, nature, service: whatever it is for you |
Career isn't one of the five areas. I'd put a raise or a promotion under Financial Goals, and work you'd enjoy more under Happiness Goals. If career is the big thing this year, give it a whole board with the career vision board.
Making one for your husband or boyfriend? His goals have to come from him, so make it together. The couples vision board post shows how to set that evening up.
In VISIYA, the Vision Board For Men has these five areas. It's a VISIYA Plus board in the app, and its printable PDF is free.
What should you leave off?
Anything you don't actually want, and anything without a number or a date. Here's my list, with the reasons.
- Someone else's body or car. If you wouldn't give up your Saturdays for it, it's decoration. A pro athlete's abs say nothing about your next workout.
- Cash piles and luxury stock photos. Put the milestone up instead: the emergency fund amount, the date the card hits zero.
- More than about three pictures per area. A crowded board is hard to take in at a glance, and the goal that matters gets lost.
- Other people's wishes. Your partner's plan for you, your dad's, some guy's on Instagram. If it isn't yours, you won't work for it.
- Goals with no number or date. "Get in shape" can't be checked off. "Run a 10K by May" can.
How do you turn a picture into a plan?
Give every picture four lines: what you want in 12 months, the need behind it, what gets in the way, and your first step this week. That's WOOP, on one page.
Here's one row filled in:
| Line | Health Goals, filled in |
|---|---|
| What I want in 12 months | Run a 10K by May |
| The need behind it | Energy for the kids, feeling strong at 40 |
| What gets in the way | Late meetings eat my evenings |
| My first step this week (when, where) | Tuesday and Thursday at 7 a.m., before work. Shoes by the door the night before |
| The one picture for this area | The trail by the river where I'll run |
The need line is the one people skip, and it matters most. A promotion might really be about recognition, or about freedom. Once you know which, you can spot other ways to get there.
Then do one small thing from the board the same day you make it. I start every board that way. For you, that might mean booking the checkup, setting up the automatic transfer or texting your dad.
Print it: the "One picture, one plan" worksheet, one page for all five areas, free, no email needed.
Which pictures work best?
Your own photos, one per goal, with a recent photo of you in the center. Stock photos are fine to start with, as long as they show a moment you want to live.
Search "vision board pictures for guys" and you'll get stock photos thousands of other men have already pinned. A photo you took is one you recognize in half a second, and that's the whole point of a board. Some places to look:
- Your camera roll. Your kids, your dog, the lake where you fish, the last time you felt in great shape.
- Your phone, this week. Snap the bike in the garage, the desk you want to clear, the trailhead you keep driving past.
- The VISIYA app. Search Unsplash photos and GIPHY GIFs right from your board.
Pick the moment over the object. You crossing a finish line says more than a new pair of running shoes.
How do you keep it in front of you?
Put it on your lock screen. You look at your phone all day, so the board gets seen without you having to remember it.
In VISIYA, your board turns into a collage for your lock screen or home screen. The preview is free; saving the wallpaper is part of VISIYA Plus. Tap Save, the share sheet opens, and "Save Image" puts it in your photos.
The widget is part of VISIYA Plus and cycles through all your pictures. Without Plus, it shows just the first picture.
I look at my board at least once a month. When a goal comes true, mark it as fulfilled in the app. That's the best part of the monthly look.
The Vision Board For Men is a VISIYA Plus board (a one-time purchase, no subscription). To start free: one board in VISIYA is free for good, either your own (one page with your photos, notes and links) or one of the six free templates. Here's how to make a vision board on your phone, step by step. VISIYA is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
Scan to download VISIYA on the App StoreWhat did Steve Harvey and Jim Carrey actually do?
Steve Harvey made a vision board. Jim Carrey's famous check was visualization. Both had something concrete to look at, and both kept working.
Harvey talks about writing his vision down in a video on his own channel, and he quotes Habakkuk 2:2, "write the vision" (background on the video). A 2014 Los Angeles Times profile listed items on his board such as a jet and a Rolls-Royce.
Carrey's story, as he told it to Oprah in 1997: as a broke young actor, he wrote himself a $10 million check "for acting services rendered," dated it Thanksgiving 1995 and kept it in his wallet. Before that Thanksgiving, he learned he'd get $10 million for Dumb and Dumber (more on the check).
The check had a number and a date. He still had years of stand-up and auditions to get through, and no piece of paper did those for him.
Any fresh start works for a new board. I start mine around my birthday. If you're planning next year, the 2027 vision board page has everything for it, and if this is your first board ever, start with how to make a vision board.
Frequently asked questions
Do vision boards work for men?
As a focus tool, yes. A board won't make anything happen by itself. It keeps your goals in front of you, so you act on them more often. Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen's research suggests pairing each wish with an honest look at what's in your way and a plan, a method she calls WOOP. On my own boards, about half of the wishes come true.
What should a man put on a vision board?
Concrete goals in five areas: health, relationships, money, happiness and spiritual life. Give each one a number or a date, like running a 10K by May, a weekly date night or an emergency fund that covers three months. One to three pictures per area is plenty.
Where do I find pictures for a men's vision board?
Start with your own camera roll: your people, places you love and a recent photo of yourself for the center. If something's missing, take the photo this week. In the VISIYA app you can also search Unsplash photos and GIPHY GIFs right from your board.
Can I use my vision board as a phone wallpaper?
Yes. In the VISIYA app for iPhone and iPad, your board turns into a collage for your lock screen or home screen. The preview is free. Saving the wallpaper is part of VISIYA Plus, a one-time purchase with no subscription.
