Tag: vision board

2017 Vision Board

A couple weeks into the new year, I finally refreshed and updated my entire vision board. It has been one of my favorite things to do for the last few years. Related posts: The Upcoming Year is for You so What’s Your Vision? and  A glorious mess of Mission Statements and Vision Boards

I’m looking forward to achieving more goals and challenging myself to grow this year. 

Here are some of my fave 2017 vision board statements:

  1. Find Your Peace of Mind
  2. Live your magic and free your spirit
  3. Resolve to worry less
  4. “If my spiritual life isn’t bigger than my outside life then I’m out of balance.”
  5. Changing Lives
  6. “I don’t want to be unhappy. I don’t want to be unproductive. I want to enjoy my life, enjoy my time here because I know how important it is, how special it is. I know life is fragile.”
  7. Skip the Stress
  8. Global Empowerment 
  9. “I want to inspire people to live in their truth. We all get lost but we don’t have to. We’re all in this world together.”
  10. Engage. Envision. Empower.
  11. Refresh. Restore.
  12. Return to what you love most: travel and education 
  13. Grab your Passport
  14. Beat Yesterday
  15. Stay Woke.

The Upcoming Year is for You so What’s Your Vision?

The activity that excites me most in this last week of the year, is creating my 2016 vision board.

I drank the kool-aid on vision boards at the end of 2014. I took the project seriously and clipped pictures and words that inspire me. I chose things that were in my mind but could actually come to life with a little effort.

I picked easy, medium and stretch goals to accomplish for the year. I have never been faithful to New Year’s Resolutions. Maybe I just always felt the pressure to pick something but somewhere 3-6 months in I would often give up on it.

Vision boards hold a little more weight to me than New Year’s Resolutions. New Year Resolutions for many are outrageous new commitments that sound good but take more sacrifice than people are willing to make. Resolutions are often short lived unfortunately but a vision is not constrained by time.

It is bigger than one year. It may include some of the same items your New Year’s Resolutions have but the mindset must be purposeful to keep your vision from fading like a trend or fad.

It builds on the concepts of past vision boards to achieve your best version of life. It can also completely switch directions throughout the year as you actively live your life. It is yours to control, create, change, update, add to, subtract from or scrap completely when needed. If you do it with the right attitude, working on your vision board will be fun, exciting and get you amped up for what is to come.

It can be about your health, finances, family, career, relationships or all those things and then some.

I want to list for you some the items from my 2015 vision board first then later will share some things that have made the cut for my 2016 vision board.

2015 Vision Board
Be Prepared • Give • Live Gloriously • Make Today Fun • Noteworthy Style • Communicate Desires Clearly • Empower the Soul • Walk Your Talk • Smart is Beautiful • Roads Less Taken • Stop Stress Before It Stops Me • Dream, Plan, Go • Relax and Reconnect • Do Something For Yourself • My Career • Dream Trip • Love My Body • Live With An Open Heart • 2015 is Mine • More Together Time • Go on, Indulge • Relax and Retreat •

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2015 has been the most fulfilling year of my life for so many reasons and I feel I owe a lot of it to creating a vision board. It sounds cheesy but I really mean it. I don’t think I would have started blogging, created Life Untangled, taken a dream holiday to Hawaii with my (no longer long-distance) boyfriend because he moved to my city this year — yay! and my family for Thanksgiving or lastly, raised enough funds to take an unexpected trip to London, England on scholarship for a Leadership Conference without a vision board this year.

I met this year with intention and I intend to continue on in my new favorite tradition.

My hope is you can use ideas from me to help you start figuring out what direction you desire for your life to head. If you don’t know where you’re going, how would you ever know if you have arrived?

A vision board can help you with that and it can roll over for however long you choose. Vision boards also make it easier to verbalize to others what you want.

2016 Vision Board
This Year is for You • Remodel Your Commute • Live Life Luxuriously • Write the Next Great Chapter in Your Life Story • Natural Girl Magic • Be Adventurous • Be Miles Away From Your Daily Routine • See the World from a Different Perspective • Namaste • Dive In Headfirst • More Than Happy • Gracious • Get Completely Lost in the Moment • Be Somebody to Lean On •

I believe that if you share your vision for your life with others, it is more likely to happen. It becomes more comfortable to talk about.

You may find yourself doing what I did this year…subconsciously look for more opportunities to fulfill parts of your vision. Others can hold you accountable and help you look for ways to achieve your vision.

With the introduction of a new year that symbolizes a fresh start for so many of us, now is the perfect time for you to start your vision board process.

I hope you’ll join me. I would love for you to share your vision boards with me. If you have any questions about what to do or how to get started, please send me a note. I am happy to help untangle things for you.

See you in 2016!!

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Inside Out Leadership

Leadership starts with self. At the beginning of 2015, I created a vision board filled with hopes and dreams and goals for the year.

At the end of this year I will post more on where I stand with that list. Whenever I look at that list I don’t feel overwhelmed by it. I don’t feel pressured by it.

My vision board actually motivates me and propels me forward. Achieving things on the list is not important just so I have things to talk about. Achieving items on the list means I am proactively living my life. I am taking the lead in my own life and that is something to get really excited about.

At first I was really nervous about putting my vision into pictures and words that others could see and hold me accountable for.

What I have found along the way is that I have pursued my vision without check-ins. I needed the visual for me so I could actively look for opportunities to fulfill my vision.

Before I can impact the world, society, my community, my work or my family/friends, I have to start with myself.

If I keep myself solid and in check, I will be able to achieve what I want to achieve. I will be able to motivate and empower myself so I can turn and help others down the line. I have to lead from the inside out so I do not get lost trying to help someone else.

What do you do to develop “Inside Out” leadership in yourself?

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A glorious mess of Mission Statements and Vision Boards

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.” – James A. Michener

In 2012, I created a personal mission statement. Have you ever thought of doing such a thing? I originally got the idea long before 2012 from a church boy I knew. He carried it around in his wallet to remind him of his goals and values whenever he needed to make a decision concerning his life. It was a sort-of GPS to keep oneself on track. The idea works the same as business mission statements. I thought it was such a good idea but of course I didn’t do it right away. I wasn’t even sure where to begin. In 2012, one of my favorite bloggers, Rosetta Thurman of HappyBlackWoman.com, broke it down. I just had to list my values, the things I appreciate, who I really am and what I want to do on this earth. The great thing about creating a personal mission statement is that it can change and evolve as you do. It can also be as long or short as you want. Mine is long.

My personal mission statement says: “I value education, love, community, God, public service, creativity and diversity. I truly appreciate laughter, good food, music and poetry in my life. I value my independence and love for myself and others. In my time on this earth, I want to make a positive impact on the world for young people, women and people of color. I am a leader, Christian and woman of color who will use my life to help others work on their self-image and advancement. In my consulting efforts to guide others towards confidence and independence. I will also continue to reflect on my use of wisdom, integrity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, compassion and self-control in doing so. I will not ignore my own family, friends, finances, health or spirit. I will give my loved ones the authentic love and respect I would ask them to have for me. I will remember that my actions are just as important as my words and live accordingly.”

In 2014, I sat through a life-changing personal development seminar. During that seminar I created a personal vision around my finances (Be debt free from student loans and credit cards), my fitness (Practice self-care and stay fit as I age), my family (Be a more active family member), my friends (Be a more active friend), my work (Future goals to own a magazine and run a television network around the themes of my current blog) and my fun (Have more fun by living intentionally). I attached SMART goals and tasks to each which I am sure I will discuss in a future blog post. I also told my closest friends and family about it in order to hold myself accountable. I was planting the seed for what has come this year.

In January 2015, inspired by Essence Magazine, I created my first physical vision board. I clipped images and words around travel, relationships, rest, leadership, women I admire, empowerment and fun among many other things. Ever since I created that vision board and put it up inside the cabinets of my bathroom mirrors, I have seen so many more of those goals happen. It sounds like magic but I’m serious, it works. It creates a secret drive inside you to look for opportunities to make those things happen. For example, in April 2015 I found out I was a recipient of the Aspire Foundation scholarship that I applied for after seeing a dynamic webinar by their foundation on Trailblazing leadership. Come June 2015, I will be attending their Trailblazing Leadership conference for women being held in London, England! That alone achieves several of the goals I had on my vision board. It is truly amazing.

Fast forward to today, I have been inspired by so many of my experiences to write this blog. I have been driven by what I have learned about myself through mission statements and vision boards. I have arrived at a new exhilarating experience moving forward to fulfill these visions that I have been developing and editing over the years. I am writing my blog away from dreams and drafts into reality. I am investing in myself and giving up on all my familiar excuses. What tired excuse is it time for you to let go of?

My new mantra: Don’t think so hard while trying to master the art of living well. I welcome you to untangle your life with me.

What personal or professional vision do you want to come alive in your life?

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