5 Things To Do BEFORE You Make a Vision Board

I've kinda become a pro at creating a vision board that works. Seriously, no matter how much my life sucks and how big and unrealistic my vision is, every vision board I've created has pushed me to make the impossible possible in my life. (I am totally a goal-gladiator.)

It's hard to believe that a tiny board with some magazine clippings on it has so much power, but the truth is that it works because of HOW I created it.

I didn't just slap some pictures of Oprah on a poster board and call it a day.... I spent weeks reflecting internally about what I wanted and then combed through a giant stack of magazines, tossing out anything that didn't SPEAK VOLUMES to my soul. 

The entire process takes weeks... and each time, it's totally worth it. 

Here are the five things you should do BEFORE you even begin creating your vision board:

 

Reflect on what you've already accomplished this year.

A lot of things happen over the course of 1 year. If you consider social media alone, millions of things happen over the course of 1 day. (In any 30-minute span, you could see public outrage over some company's insensitive+non-inclusive ad followed by excitement over the latest zoo animal to have a baby which quickly gets upstaged by a Kardashian being, well, a Kardashian.)

Take a moment to reflect on what has happened in your life in the past year.

What did you accomplish?

What did you try and fail at?

What did you do that made you proud this year? 

Taking account of your successes will help you understand what you need to build on.

Think about the direction you want to take your life next.

One thing many people forget is that you are definitely in control of your life. If you don't enjoy something in your life, you can change it. 

One affirmation I take with me every day (and write at least three times a week in my journal) is: 

I am the architect of your life. I build it's foundation and choose it's contents.

How many times have you stayed in a job, a relationship, friendship, living situation simply because... There's no real reason you're there, but after a while you start to convince yourself 

"I guess this is just the way life is"

The beauty of a vision board is that it's an annual reminder that you can change direction and that you GET TO CHOOSE your next destination.

 

What Do You Want To Change?

No matter who you are, where you are or how successful you are, everyone knows at least ONE THING they want to change about themselves.

Maybe you want to...

• Lose weight.

• Finally get your side hustle off the ground.

• Spend more time with family and friends.

• Strengthen your marriage.

The things you are unhappy with are the key to determining where you want to go next.

Once you understand exactly what you want to change, you can do the real work figuring out HOW you will change it.  

What Would You Do Differently... If There Was Nothing Holding You Back?

I know what you're thinking... what do you want to change and what would you do differently are pretty much the same thing! (I swear they are not! 😃)

Often, we find ourselves in an unusual position where we have something that we want to change, but there's nothing we can really do about it. 

Most people have at least one thing that ties them to something they don't particularly want in their life.

• Your spouse's job may keep you in a certain area.

• Your children's daycare costs may keep you from saving as much as you want.

• Aging parents consume your free time so you can't start that business you've been thinking about.

What would you do if none of those barriers were holding you back from living the life you want today?

 

Be clear on your next BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

Having a goal in mind BEFORE you start clipping cute quotes and pictures out of inspirational magazines is crucial to creating a vision board that serves your purpose. 

Your goal could be...

• Building on your past success

• Changing something that's making you unhappy

• Eliminating (or getting around) barriers holding you back from living your best life

ONLY when you have a clearly defined goal can you be strategic about finding the visuals to put on your vision board to serve that goal. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.
   

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Three Ways To Take Advantage of Life's Greatest Opportunities

A few months ago, I received an email from my local news station to do a segment on our first annual vision board conference. 

This was a great opportunity for the conference to FINALLY get some coverage on a large scale. Of course, I was happy to get this type of interest for our first event, but instead of jumping for joy, I panicked. 

We'd need to find a location to shoot for the entire morning. I had to set up four different shoots, organize to have some volunteers to help, and have our speakers and sponsor ON SET AT 8AM... and we had about a week to pull it together. If I could describe how I felt in that moment, it was:

10% excitement,
10% headache (thinking about all the new items to add to my ever-growing to-do list) 
80% panic

By the time the camera crew was ready to shoot, we'd somehow made it happen... and went on national TV looking like we had our lives together. 

Opportunities don't present themselves all the time, but when they do, you'd better be ready for them. Here are my best tips for taking advantage of life's greatest opportunities.

call your go-to Girlfriend that helps you dream big

This works best when you're in panic mode. Call that one friend that you admire most. You know, the one that's always managing to pull off the most amazing events, create the most high profile partnerships and moves mountains... all while looking like a runway model.

When I called up my go-to girlboss panicking about all the things on my to-do list she was calm and gladly offered advice and ideas. Then, before getting off the phone, she uttered words that stuck with me to this day: 

You're doing this.

She reminded me that I am going to do this news segment. I just have to figure out the how.  And just like that, the panic went away and I drifted off into strategy mode.

Call in the your personal #ThriveTribe

You will need help creating girlboss magic, especially when you're on a time crunch. Calling your trustworthy friends and family to help you pull things together will take some things off your plate.

With some additional help, you can worry less, work less and things will still get done. This also clears your mind to be more creative and thoughtful, ensuring you don't miss anything important.

While I was busy creating the press release, communicating with the news team and creating the layout for the segment, my #ThriveTribe was hard at work. I didn't have to worry about contacting the speakers or volunteers because they took care of it. After one chat with my aunt, she agreed to let us use her restaurant for the shoot and she also provided some early morning eats for everyone on set. (At this point, I'm like... Panic? What's that?)

Keep Showing Up.

Have you ever wondered why the same influencers, bloggers and Rockstar employees keep getting all the BEST opportunities? They simply keep showing up and keep doing the best they can NO MATTER WHAT. 

If a huge project fails. They show up ready to work.
If they are losing money in their business. They show up for work.
When their web traffic is down AND they're getting no love on social media... they keep showing up for work.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. That show was months in the making.

I'd been calling friends and family for months letting them know how excited I was to be creating the first Vision Board conference in DC and keeping them up to date on each new milestone.

My Dad saw first-hand that I was very serious about this event. I was investing money and a significant amount of time, securing sponsors and booking speakers. Eventually he started to talk to his friends about what his "baby girl" was doing (as parents often do) and one of his friends said she'd be interested in covering the event on her show.

Before we had web traffic, speakers or sponsors, ticket sales or news coverage, it was just an idea. All of those things came because we started showing up EVERY. SINGLE. DAY... ready to work.

What are your best tips to take advantage of opportunities?

If you enjoyed this article, then you might like my book:

Goal Doing: Practical Advice For Goal Setting, Action Planning and Achieving Your Dreams

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

One Mistake Doesn't Define You... 4 Ways To Recover From A Bad Day

I was running up the escalator, heaving my two luggage bags and gasping for air as I struggled to lift them up each step. The entire time I was cursing my upper body strength, or lack thereof since I haven't actually attempted to lift anything slightly resembling a weight since 2013. Still, I was determined to keep going, no matter how much my arms (and now my legs) were growing weary.

I was officially late for my own event. #EpicFail

Once I got to the top, I realized that I wasn't 100% sure which direction to walk in... and I didn't have time to be unsure. My very sporadic memory was failing me, once again. (No surprise there, by the way.)

I started to ask myself... 

Why didn't you leave work earlier? (I scolded myself for being a good employee at my 9-to-5.)
You should've made the event later! (Darn my ability to plan happy hours at a reasonable time!)
Did you really need to spend so much time showering? (Yes, I was really angry at myself for seeking good hygiene... When I'm mad at myself, I'm not exactly logical.)

Everyone's had a day like this, right? 

You know, a day where you had something amazing planned - and something goes terribly wrong. Sometimes, like my situation, it could be something you've been planning for and promoting for weeks and you find yourself running late. You could have been preparing something at work for your team and you completely lose focus in the middle of your presentation. You could've been rehearsing your apology speech to your #MCM in the bathroom mirror for hours and completely forgot what you were going to say when you saw him. (That is a legit example... Your girl is obviously a serious romantic.)

How do you recover from a day from hell?

Pay attention to what went wrong. (Specifically what you did wrong.)

Things will go wrong, but taking time to understand what went wrong can be a huge key to understanding WHAT NOT TO DO in the future. You could even ask for feedback from other people that were present to get different perspectives. 

Create an action plan for next time. 

Nothing is worst than analyzing what went wrong and getting feedback from others than NOT TAKING THE ADVICE THAT WAS GIVEN. Why waste your time, right? Once you have an idea of where you could've done a better job, make a mental note. Better yet, make a physical note (like pen to paper or type it up in Evernote) for how you'll handle this situation when you encounter it in the future. 

Drink a glass of wine and watch Netflix.

This is by far my favorite tip to decompress and begin your recovery from a particularly bad day. Diving into a compelling story with twists and turns can be the best thing to take your mind off your personal problems and into a fantasy world. (Bonus points if you're watching a #Shondaland drama because they're the best to make you feel like your life isn't so bad.)

Treat the next day as a blank slate. 

Honestly, you can treat the next moment as a blank slate. As an over-achieving/borderline-Type-A (or actual Type A?) boss, it's pretty easy to scold yourself when you're not reaching your own bigger-than-life goals. The reality is... you are human and we all make mistakes.

I ended up getting to my event when it was just starting AND I couldn't figure out how to put the music on. I locked the front door and started to set up. I even enlisted some of the early arriving attendees to help out. Unprofessional? Probably. But once the place was set up, the event was successful and the reviews for the Mastermind were overwhelmingly positive.

The key thing to remember is, mistakes are inevitable and how you handle them is 100% up to you. What's your best tip for recovering from a bad day?

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

4 Lessons Every #Girlboss Should Think About Before Starting Their Business

Last week, we hosted our first Mastermind group. The goal of the event was to help millennial women entrepreneurs and bloggers get the answers to their business challenges. Many of the women were running successful blogs or selling coaching services and I had the opportunity to learn a lot from them.

Here are the 4 biggest takeaways from our first mastermind session:

FOCUS

It's very easy to get distracted from your goals by "shiny object syndrome" (aka. that moment you see someone making a ton of cash-money doing something you could totally do with your eyes closed... so you want to abandon your current goal and try your hand at it?).  

About two years ago, I dove deep into ‘Entrepreneur On Fire’ where John Lee Dumas coined the acronym for FOCUS as 

Follow One Course Until Success

This tiny phrase became my entrepreneurial mantra. It reminded me to focus on what I really wanted and if I wanted to become successful I would have to stick with it (no matter how many #epicfail moments I had) because each failure leads to lessons learned. 

FOCUS... Unless it's time to PIVOT.

Sometimes, the path you're going down isn't a particularly lucrative one. There are times when what you have to offer is not what the market wants. In these moments, it may be best to pivot (aka. change gears and follow that shiny object!).

You cannot force people to want your product... but you can create a product people already want.  So.. how do you know what people want? (drumroll, please!)

Get to know your audience. 

How do you really know what people want? You have to take some time to get to know them. Go to the events that they frequent. Ask them out for drinks. Can't get out that much? Don't have the budget? Hang out in the Facebook groups and online forums they use. Talk to your target audience in any form you can until you know them inside and out. 

This will help you visualize them and their specific needs as you're creating. 

Align your personal mission with your company mission. 

After doing anything for a long time, it's very easy to fall into a cycle of habit. You get used to blogging, you get comfortable with what you're selling, you make sure you create blog post images for social media sharing and share, SHARE, SHARE! #SocialMediaStruggle

Maybe you started your small business or blog to create something you were passionate about and over time your beautiful creation has turned into a collection of to-do lists that you complete just because and it no longer gives you life. 

Take a week off... (I know it's hard for us to really take a week off, but it's totally worth it, I promise.) In that week, think about what makes you happy and what impact you want to make on the world. Then, think about why you want to make that impact. Finally, ask yourself what you can change about the way you're currently running your business so that it aligns with your personal mission. (Pro Tip: You know you've hit the nail on the head when you're excited about your business again and "shiny objects" are no longer enticing! #winning)

That's it! Starting (and growing) a business only gets easier when you get started, so go out there and build your empire! 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!