Haley Chapman – Team Leader at the LEGO Group
Can you believe we’re already two months into 2022? Time seems to be flying, so here at WiT we wanted to share a recap of our Vision Boarding Workshop held in January for anyone looking to kick start their goals – because who says you have to wait for a new year to set new goals?
What the heck is a vision board? A vision board is a collage of images that represent goals and dreams. They are a tool to help us gain self-awareness and self-reflect on what is important to us. We know that it can be overwhelming to create a vision board from scratch – especially when we might not have the exact inspiration and direction. That’s why the WiT Young Professional’s Network hosted this dynamic vision board workshop experience and created this recap to help you with this process!
During the event, attendees had the opportunity to build out their own personal Vision Boards in small groups led and encouraged by volunteers from our YPN committee around four specific topics: Lifestyle + Growth, Career + Learning, Wellness + Care, and Explore + Play.
Here is the link to the vision boarding template workbook, where you’ll find prompts for each section and helpful tips to get started.
Use these free sites as resources to pull beautiful images for your vision board. Unsplash – https://unsplash.com/ PixaBay – https://pixabay.com/ Pexels – https://www.pexels.com/ FreePik – https://www.freepik.com/
Keep reading to hear from each of the topic leaders on how to build out your vision board for each of these areas of your life, and follow along in the workbook to see all of the prompts and add your own images for each section!
Topic 1 : Lifestyle + Growth
(Led by Megan Gardner of The LEGO Group) For the Lifestyle + Growth section,, we are going to focus on you in terms of your own personal development. Forget about work, responsibilities, goals, obligations… and really think about what it means for you to develop as a person.
In your workbook we’re sharing some thought starters, but really consider what you want to focus on this year in terms of yourself.
Is it that you want to be more authentically you in all areas of your life?
Is it that you watch to ditch drama and inauthentic people because they don’t bring you joy?
Is it that you want to find your purpose and create a roadmap to ensure you are on the road towards that purpose?
This is about finding what matters most to you as a person and determining what would inspire you to live out that vision.
Now, take a look at the Lifestyle + Growth slides in your workbook, and start pondering what types of images fit your vision.
Topic 2 : Career + Learning
(Led by Amanda Marschall of The LEGO Group) Before starting our Career + Learning section, take a moment to think about where your career is now and where you would like it to be at the end of the year.
When thinking about this, don’t just think about your title, your pay, and what company you worked with – but also think about how you feel and how you would like to feel. Think about your benefits, and what type of people you want to work with.
Developing within our career and developing our knowledge and skills needs to be rooted in something, otherwise it is really easy to de-prioritize it. So, we’ll ask you – what is your WHY?
Why do you want to expand your career, expand your knowledge, develop your skills?
Who are you doing it for? What are you doing it for?
What is driving you in your hardest moments?
There are no wrong answers for this, only true answers. Look through the prompts and add what feels right in that moment. And remember what we said earlier – vision boarding should change throughout the year. Today is to help ground you and energize you for what tomorrow will bring.
Topic 3 : Wellness + Care
(Shelby Iapoce-Lintz of Hasbro) Before starting to choose images for your Wellness & Care section, take some time to think about what wellness means to you. We often think of wellness only in terms of our physical health, but wellness encompasses so much more: relationships, mental health, finances, personal fulfillment, and community are a few other areas to consider when thinking of wellness.
With all of these different areas in mind, try to hone in on a few so you can focus without fatiguing yourself! One final thing to consider… When it comes to fulfilling your wellness goals, who or what will be there to help you remain accountable? This is equally as important as the goal itself.
Topic 4 : Explore + Play
(Allie Benham of Women in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment) Here’s the fun part (it’s all fun, but we’re all about PLAY here!). Before you start your Explore & Play section, think about what type of exploration gets you motivated and excited, and what play means to you.
Exploration may mean thinking about the travel you have planned, or those places that you aspire to visit. Does one stand out and make you feel motivated to get there, somehow… some way? Or perhaps exploration means understanding your community on a deeper level and getting involved in new ways.
When you think about play, think about how you show your creativity:
Are you a color-within-the-lines, adult coloring book type?
Would you rather thrift and redecorate a room?
What colors and movements make you happy? Is it dancing in a pink dress, swimming in crystal blue water, or hiking in the bright sunshine?
And when we, as adults, think about ‘play’ – what comes to mind? For many, it could be as simple as tossing the ball and playing fetch with your dog. Or think back to when you were in elementary school, on the playground – what was your favorite part? Where you a rollercoaster kid, or a sports fanatic? How has play as a child influenced your play as an adult?
Check out the prompts on the ‘Explore & Play’ slide for more ideas to tap into what motivates you to get out in the world and explore your playful side!
We hope you have as much fun as we did building out your vision board, and as you do, consider these additional tips + examples for every category.
Additional Tips + Examples
Consider the images you select and if you will remember why you chose that in 3/6/9/12 months time. (For example, if you want to include a picture of a lion to signify being brave but in 9 months… will you look at that and wonder if you placed it there to be more vocal in meetings? Ensure your choices are thoughtful and if you think you are at risk for forgetting, add text or context!)
Put your vision board somewhere you will see it! Now that you’ve set and created your incredible vision boards make sure you’re able to see it regularly! Consider adding it as your desktop background or print it out and hang it on your mirror so you can visualize your goals each morning.
Add checkboxes next to some of your images/text so you can mark your achievements! Everyone loves the feeling of crossing off something on their to-do list, so give yourself the opportunity to check things of your to-goal vision board! Once a quarter take a few minutes to see if you are still striving towards the same goals – and add a checkmark to the ones you feel you have done (and give yourself a pat on the back while you’re at it!)
That’s a wrap! We’d love to see the vision boards you create, so once you’ve got yours in a good place send it to us via Slack or post it and tag @womenintoys on social! We look forward to cheering you on as you reach your goals and set out to make those visions a reality this year!
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