READY TO MAKE A VISION BOARD? READ THIS FIRST.

So, let’s talk about vision boards! And how they can be a great tool, but only when done the right way. I have seen so many people that create great vision boards and sometimes actually achieve everything on their vision board, but it doesn’t actually light them up.

[00:03:51] It doesn’t actually fill their soul. It doesn’t actually lead them to who they want to be, to how they want to show up it. It doesn’t actually bring them joy and peace and rest and resilience.

We get this idea in our heads that if we just get the thing that we think we want, then we’ll have happiness. If we can just get the right amount of money, or the right car, the right house, the right, whatever it is for us, that we desire. That if we get that thing, that’s what’s going to fill us up.

[00:04:28] That’s going to make us happy, but here’s the true spoiler alert. Number one. Life is hard. Even life coach guru Brooke Castillo says that we can expect life to be hard about 50% of the timebecause we just live in a world or good things happen and bad things happen. If happiness is our goal, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment.

[00:05:01] But more than that, what we need to understand is that deep down what our soul desires is not happiness. It’s fulfillment. It’s a life of meaning and purpose. And so, if we set ourselves up with goals that don’t lead us to a fulfilling life, to a life of meaning and purpose, we’re going to feel disappointed.

We can achieve everything that we set out to achieve. We can hit the top 1% of our company and still find ourselves feeling empty inside. We can still feel the pull of stress and exhaustion and overwhelm in achieving that big thing that will help us feel great for a moment, but it’s not lasting. It’s not what we actually want. Friend, you and I were made for a meaningful life.

[00:05:55] So before we go create our vision boards and start pursuing something, here are five things that we need to do first.

1. 1. Know Your Core Values

Number one, we need to know our values. Now I have a worksheet set up for you. And all you have to do is go to milspousemastermind.com/values and you can download our values worksheet. This will take you through a step-by-step process to get clear on what your core values are, and what matters most to you, because it’s different for each of us.

[00:06:35] What my core values are, might not be the same as what yours are. They’re probably not. But the first thing we need to do is get clear on what is most important to us. What’s speaks to our soul.

1. 2. Know Who You Want to Be

And once we know our values, then we need to know who we want to be. You know, if you have listened to me for more than a couple of episodes, I am all about reframing the way that military spouses look at life.

[00:07:07] I’m about helping us focus, not on what we do or accomplish, or what kind of job we get or don’t get, or where we live or not. I am all about helping us discover who we are meant to be and how we want to show up. So the second thing we need to do before we create our vision board is know who we want to be. How do we want to show up in our life? What characteristics do we want to be a part of our.life?

1. 3. Know How You Want to Grow

 The third thing we need to know before we create our vision board is to know how we want to grow. Now. I talked in episode 55 about our growth goals and how important is to set the right goals for us, not goals based on what anybody else says is good or popular or successful, but the right goals for us. We need to have a direction that we’re growing and steps that we are moving in the right direction. We need to know how we want to grow.

1. 4. Know What You Want Your Life to Look Like

And then number four, we need to know what we want our life to look like and why. So this gets more into the vision component, because I want you to take the time and visualize what you want your life to look like a year from now or five years from now, or 10 years down the road.

[00:08:38] What are the elements that you want to be present in your life? But don’t just stop there. Think about why. Why do you want that? Do you want that because somebody else said you should want that, or because it’s the trendy thing to have, or do, or be right now, or do you want it because it speaks to your.soul.

[00:09:02] Because it fills you up, it lights you up inside. It brings you joy. Because it allows you to show up as your best self. Or it allows you to serve other people. So I want you to get a vision for what you want, but I also want you to know why that thing is important. Now you can have many different reasons for why it’s important to you, but I want you to take that second step to figure out why you want something. Make sure it aligns with who you are, who you want to be, and how you want to show up in this world.

1. 5. Know What Brings You Joy

[00:09:41] And then the fifth thing to do before you create that vision board is to know what brings you joy. What is it that you love to do, feel, or be? And again, a two-part question, how do you want to feel? I think this is yet another thing that not enough people focus on, because we think about things that make us happy. But we fail to really get into how we want to feel, what kind of atmosphere we want to have in our lives.

[00:10:21] Only then can we start reverse engineering what things are actually going to make us feel that way. If we want to feel encouraged or we want to feel this sense of peace in our soul, are the things that we’re doing leading us to that result? Are they leading us to what we actually want? Are the things that we’re trying to achieve, leading us to what speaks the most life to our soul?

DO YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS?

[00:10:57] So let’s quickly recap five things that we need to know before we create that vision board. Number one, we need to know what our core values are. If you need help in that process, then go to MilSpouseMastermind.com/values. That will help you determine what your values are, so that you can begin prioritizing what matters most and building a life that is really in alignment with who you are meant to be and what makes you come alive.

Because we know that we only have a limited amount of time in our day, and I want you to be able to figure out and prioritize what matters most. And we can start by understanding what our core values are, what makes us tick. The second thing is knowing who we want to be and how we want to show up.

[00:11:56] And then the third component is where we want to grow, what our growth goals for the year are. We need to know what we want our life to look like and why. And then number five, we need to know and understand what it is that brings us joy, lights us up, and how we want to feel. Once we have done that deep dive into understanding what will truly bring us a fulfilling and meaningful life, then we can start to create that vision board.

[00:12:35] We can start to put the words and pictures on the page that we will use to remind us of how we’re trying to grow, who we want to become, what we want to be a part of. Of our everyday life, so that we can show up as our best self, so that we can build a life that we truly love, one that lights us up and impacts the world for good.

[00:13:01] You, my friend, have something to offer and it’s not about success or accolades. It’s about using what you have to serve others. It’s about exploiting your uniqueness in service of others, and ultimately building a fulfilling life for yourself and working together with others to make this world a better place.

[00:13:32] So friend, go out there, and create your vision board. But before you do that, know who you are, how you want to grow, what you value, what you want out of life, and what brings you joy. I hope you have an amazing week this week. I can’t wait to see you over in the Facebook group or at our live training on January 24th, where we put together our plan for our best year. Until next time, may you live filled, fueled, and full of joy.