How To Create A Vision Board: Part II

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2012. It has been updated & republished for your reading pleasure.

I’m back with another one! In Part I of How To Create A Vision Board, I walked through 5 easy steps to putting your visions and goals down on paper. If you haven’t checked it out, that’s a good place to start. In Part II, I’m going to demonstrate from personal experience, how powerful vision boards can be. Above is a representation of what my vision board for 2011 looked like, and in this post I’m going to lay out how I accomplished each and every goal on my board.

Aside from adding in the pretty frame digitally (I didn’t have it in a frame this year, but it’s actually a pretty chic idea for decoration), that picture is exactly what I looked at, day after day throughout the 2011 year. I put my visions up in my bedroom on the left side of my bed so I literally saw it when I woke up in the morning and before I went to bed at night. Like I mentioned in Part I, what worked for me was separating my visions into different categories. My three main sections were focused around Career, Health & Beauty.

Here’s a breakdown of my board:

In this section, I included images of women I look up to, who demonstrate the level of success I wanted to achieve and images that embody or represent goals I wanted to achieve in my career. Starting from the top left and going clockwise, here’s how I accomplished these goals in 2011:

1) Goal: Entrepreneurship

My fave girls Ginger & Liz, who own the nail lacquer line of the same name, represented entrepreneurship for me. Hence the “I’m A Hustler Baby” phrase underneath.

Accomplished: In 2011, I finally applied and got myself a real business license. On top of that, I placed runner-up in a local business plan competition, which gave me the confidence I needed to know that when I do officially start my business, I’ll have support.

2) Goal: Meet DVF 

Diane Von Furstenberg represented excellence for me. As a woman of distinction, she really inspires other women to be who they truly want to be. I’ve also always wanted to go to her show at NY Fashion Week, literally since I was 14 years old.

Accomplished: In 2011, I met Diane von Furstenberg three times! I was blessed to win a FREE wrap dress at her Fashion’s Night Out party (see here). I was privileged to attend her Spring 2012 show at NY Fashion Week (see more here). And I was also selected to participate in her NYC Wrap Rally to launch her Diane fragrance, which garnered major press (see pic below, I’m on the right!)

3) Goal: Become a Contributor

Since I started my career in journalism, I dreamed of becoming a contributor for some of my fave magazines. I added the word “contributors” to my vision board, and also put up a picture of Essence Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief at that time, Angela Burt-Murray.

Accomplished: 2011 was huge for me in regards to contributions. That was the first year I was featured in major national publications! I had an advertorial in Essence Magazine’s October Issue:

On top of that, I was quoted as a blogger/expert in Ebony Magazine’s Beauty Awards, LoveBrownSugar was declared one of Essence’s Top 40 Fashion Blogs, I landed my first article on The Huffington Post and I secured contributor status in a plethora of other publications, which I’m truly proud of.

4) Goal: Travel

In 2011 I wanted to get into worldwide travel. I placed images on my board that represented that, like the main character in Eat, Pray, Love and pictures of the Caribbean. I also put words like “Passport” on there.

Accomplished: In 2011 I visited Ecuador for 10 days (see HERE), and in early December I spent a luxurious weekend on St Thomas and St John. Two unexpected places, but two amazing experiences I’ll never forget. And both trips were sponsored, so I was able to do them without suffering financial strain.

1) Goal: Develop a healthy lifestyle

Another major part of my goals for 2011 was improving my health. That year, I focused less on losing weight on more on developing healthy habits like working out regularly, eating less fast food & processed food, and drinking more water.

Accomplished: During the summer of 2011 I participated in a 6-week program called NY Lean (see here). On that program I lost 12 lbs in a 6-week period and I felt absolutely amazing. It showed me that these health goals weren’t as hard as they seem. I also eat much more organic food, and I barely eat fast food. Of course, there’s more work to be done, but I did manage to accomplish a few goals and for that I’m proud.

1) Goal: Stay natural & grow!

As most of you know, I battled on & off with going natural for years (see here for my big chop post). I was natural all through college, then I broke down and relaxed my hair when I went into the corporate world. Shortly after that, I regretted it and went natural again. So in 2011, after doing the big chop in November of 2010, my goal was to maintain my natural tresses, learn more about them and keep my hair growing beautifully.

Accomplished: I grew my hair from teeny weeny afro to almost collar-bone length over the year. I couldn’t wait to put my hair in a high bun!

I also successfully waited an entire year until I got my hair straightened or applied any heat to it, which I’m proud of (see my video at Hair Rules Salon here). All in all, 2011 was an amazing year.

Check out Part III where I highlight how others have successfully created vision boards.

Can you believe all I accomplished that year? Have you had similar results from utilizing a vision board?

How To Create A Vision Board: Part I (Click Here)

How To Create a Vision Board: Part III (Click Here)