Everyone’s idea of what they want for retirement might look different, but there’s one question that’s universal: How do I make my vision a reality?

It starts with a smart financial plan for retirement, of course, but what’s also helpful is to bring your aspirations into sharper focus. Experts say that creating a vision board, or a collage of inspirational images and words that represent your retiree goals, can be an effective bridge to get you from here to there.

Set your intentions

A good first step is identifying potential retirement wants and needs, says Zané Roebuck, cofounder of the lifestyle planner and journal company The Inspired Stories (theinspiredstories.com). These can be big things, like international travel, and smaller ones, like reading classic novels or getting through a must-watch movie list. You’ll want to get specific, Roebuck says. “Random, pretty images won’t do the trick.”

A helpful prompt, according to lifestyle designer and coach Melissa Colleret, is this fill-in-the-blank question: "Wouldn't it be cool if _____?" The focus should be on values and experiences, not material items, she suggests, and you can break it down by thinking of experiences you want to have, things you want to learn or ways of contributing to your loved ones and community.

Get crafty

If you’re creating a physical board rather than a digital one, you’ll need a large piece of paper, posterboard or corkboard as the base, magazine pages or downloaded images, scissors, and pins or tape. The idea is to lay out the images and words on the poster like a puzzle.

Look for pictures that represent how you want to feel or qualities you want to possess — even a photo of someone you admire can work, for example. Add images and words that represent the "big picture," Roebuck says, or goals you want to accomplish in your lifetime. You can focus on

key areas or core values that are important to you, like relationships, health and financial freedom, Colleret says, and consider adding a "vision statement" or a summary of what your board represents. Regularly seeing these inspiring phrases and images, and continuously adding to your vision board, can help keep you motivated on your path to a happy retirement.