In the last few months, I have heard more about vision boards than ever before. While I had heard of a vision board, it wasn’t something I had ever done, but all the talk got me thinking. Is this something I should do? Is this something I should have been doing all along? And, does everyone except me already have a vision board?
My life and career have changed quite a bit in the last year. For the last decade, I worked in a predominantly male industry, so vision boards were not something I ever remember talking about. Over the last year, I have made a career shift into running my own business and spend a lot of time networking in groups that are mostly women. These groups are precisely where the vision board bug bit me.
Being a big goal setter, I figured that designing a vision board for 2021 was exactly the exercise I was looking for. I signed up for a Vision Board Party through one of my networking groups and immediately became super excited. Now, before we get into how that went, let’s back up for a minute…
What is a vision board?
A quick Google search lead me to a site called “Make a Vision Board” (go figure!). Here is what they say:
“A vision board is a tool used to help clarify, concentrate and maintain focus on what truly matters to you. Literally, a vision board is any sort of board on which you display images that represent whatever you want to be, do or have in your life.”
From makeavisionboard.com
A little more searching lead me to article after article on everything from how to make one, to the question as to whether they work, and even a few explaining why they don’t work. After all of this, I knew that I needed to see for myself how it could work for me.
The Vision Board Party
The vision board party was different than I had expected. It was virtual, so there wasn’t a down and dirty, cut, and paste element to it. Rather, it focused on how to narrow down your priorities in order to decide what direction your vision board should take. The host of the session did a great job of helping us to capture our intentions for the year ahead, then look at them in a way that helped us to see the ones that really are most important to us.
After the zoom call, the next step is to actually put together our board. Next week, we will all reconvene to have a show and tell of what we came up with.
All in all, this was a great use of the couple of hours the call took. Plus, there was quite a bit of camaraderie and networking.
Create Your Own Vision Board
While the process that I described above was very detailed, and carefully honed over years by the host, you can make the process as simple or complicated as you would like. I’m going to keep this really simple.
- Think about what your vision actually is. What are your goals, dreams, or even projects you want to complete? You want to be able to visualize where it is you want to be.
- Search for inspiration. Have fun with this step, it’s like 3rd-grade art class all over again. Cut pictures from magazines, print off quotes from the internet, search Pinterest, or even draw your own pictures. Your main goal is to find those visuals that perfectly portray what you visualized in the first step.
- Once you have enough inspiration images and cut-outs, arrange them in a way that makes you feel inspired. You can use a poster board with glue and tape, or a bulletin board with thumbtacks. Whatever means that your creativity can come up with. Remember, you want to create something you will see regularly, so creating a huge board when you have a tiny office may not be the best for you.
- Finally, display it in a place where you can bask in the joy of visualizing your future self.
The Work Doesn’t Stop At the Completion of Your Board
One thing to remember is that your vision board is not the end of the road. It really is just the beginning. Now that you have visualized it, you can start to map out the steps you need to take in order to make it a reality. Oh, and don’t be afraid to make changes as you go along. Add new images, or highlight the goals you have achieved. Have fun with it!
In the end, you now have a great personalized reminder that you can use when you need some motivation. Come December 2021, we can sit back and compare notes about how our vision boards have guided us through 2021. Deal?
