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My version of a Vision Board

Last year I joined a business networking group. Yep, I heard you groan… except this one was different. It wasn’t the usual card pushing empty referral mill that so many of them tend to be. This one had heart. And the programs were focused on self improvement and new technology. And business just happened among the members because they liked each other, not because they had to. Like finding the perfect sorority, it felt like family. It was refreshing to say the least.
When I joined last year, the membership had just completed a vision board exercise. I managed to miss the spotlight since I was still technically a guest. Which is a good thing because last year was a big hot mess.
I couldn’t dodge the bullet this year. Mandate received, make a vision board.
I’m down with the vision board, I’ve made them in the past. But here’s the thing. This was really hard for me now for a couple of reasons:
1) I tend to think that just dreaming about what you want to have (like a car) is short sighted. Wishing and thinking of yourself in it is not enough. Without a plan of action, you can’t achieve the means to buy that car. Instead of putting a collection of things I want acquire on a board, I focus on a goal I want to achieve and find images that represent and remind me of those specific goals. I guess you’d say I fall into the “action board” camp. It’s a slightly different mindset.
2) I despise the clutter of the board. I am on a mission to unpack, simplify and declutter my home. The very last thing I want is something taking up prime real estate on my wall that’s just a collection of glorified clutter — no matter how important the message behind it is.
Yikes, what’s a rebel to do?! SO… for starters, I took the definition of “board” loosely and decided to make it into a functional and beautiful box to sit on my desk. The bonus is that it will hold business cards of people I need to follow up with (and it also hides a secret message to myself).
fabric lined box
By creating a box, it allowed me to compartmentalize all the areas that I try to balance in my life: health, family, business, etc. without throwing them into one giant collage. I can rotate the box to have a particular prominence on my desk if my balance has shifted too much in one area or the other. My own way of personal nagging — or resetting my priorities. Or feeding my OCD. Whatever.
Here are my 5 panels:
  1. Business – the top of the box, front and center, reminders of my goals for world domination
  2. Nest -home-related and creativity related
  3. Love – faith and family time
  4. Play – free time – holy hannah we might have some finally and get to take a trip
  5. Fabulous – health – financial, physical
Once I settled on the concept, I was in the groove and it made me outline what steps I need to make to achieve each of these goals over the next year. The photos are triggers of those steps.
  vision board how to make
I made the box pretty simply. I purchased an unfinished box that had a hinged top with magnetic closure from Michaels. I hot glued some round wood beads to the bottom to give it “feet.” Then I painted it with my favorite Annie Sloan paint in graphite. I used spray adhesive to adhere some scraps of my favorite fabric to line the inside of the box. I chose pages from a mini paper stack as the background on each side, trying to keep with colors that made sense. Red for action — perfect for business.
action board how to make
Green for health, (I know it doesn’t look very green in this light)
 the evolved vision board
Purple for love, etc.
 vision board box instructions
Then I found images that related me to my goals for the year and printed them out, trimmed them, and stuck them to the corresponding panels. For example, running a 5k and  the picture of the piggy bank on top of a stack of money go onto Fabulous (aka health), the picture of the painted piano goes onto the Nest panel, etc. I hot glued some cute embellishments to each side because I like a little dimensional art, and then I attached the panels with spray adhesive. These pictures below are before the polyurethane spray bath I used to to seal it all in.
 goals for 2014 in a vision board
For what it’s worth, I am thrilled with it, and the Princess Cupcake was completely fascinated with it. She asked if she could have the beautiful box, (uh…no) but it opened a conversation with her about goal setting and focusing on what’s important to me over the next year. Didn’t hurt that there was a picture of her on the side that says “love,” which happens to be one of the few words she can read and write solo. This box became the perfect alternative to a giant board with bunch of torn magazine pictures on it. Not only is it useful, it’s a meaningful reminder to focus on what’s important to me to achieve this year.
Making vision boards are a very personal process. Do you make one each year? What’s the method to your madness?

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