Hey lovely people, I hope you’re having a blessed start to the week and you’re not as stressed as I feel at the moment lol(work+ studies = stressville).
This post is for all the people who set goals and feel like they never see them through. For the people too scared to set goals for fear of not fulfilling them. And for the people who could do with a few tips when considering a visionboard for the new year ahead.
Peep my visionboard above. You may recognise it from my first post titled Dear Uni Students which you can check out HERE
Guys, I can’t lie, I have flopped on all of these goals in many different ways. Whilst it is easy to beat myself up over it, I’ve decided to flip It around and really reflect on why I flopped and how I can make sure it doesn’t happen again in the same way. Of course, I won’t know if these tips will work until I put it into practice but I thought it best to share my thoughts in hope that it may prevent anyone falling into the same mistakes.
WHY MY VISIONBOARD FLOPPED:
1. First of all, I didn’t create it properly
When creating this visionboard, I didn’t really think deeply about why I was creating the visionboard. I saw loads of people were doing visionboard parties/talks, I saw a whole bunch of tweets encouraging people to make them, I saw people around me creating them but I didn’t think deeply about why EYE SPECIFICALLY wanted to create one for MYSELF.
In connection with that, because I didn’t go to a visionboard party or have access to all the materials to make a physical one, I decided to make a virtual one using the canva app. It was a really efficient way of creating one but it wasn’t detailed enough. I literally just put pictures there knowing what they signify, but not specifying what they meant. Were they an end goal or just something to try? Did I want to do them consistently over the year or a short period of time? These all highlight the issues with setting ambiguous goals. When you look back on them, you don’t have a clear way to keep yourself accountable and you can end up forgetting the purpose behind why you wrote them down . This happened with me and as much as I have an idea of the significance of the pictures I used, I’m not completely sure what my end goal was at the time. Therefore, I have no idea how far I’ve gone in fulfilling them… Not great Ayo.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: give your vision board commentary. Put pictures to signify what your goals are but add in keywords or sentences to highlight and remind yourself of the actual goal you have in mind. Don’t be afraid to put metrics in order to measure your fulfilment of that goal.
‘I want to consistently go to the gym twice a week.’
‘I want to release a blogpost once a month’
‘I want to dedicate 4 hours a week to bible study’
2. I didn’t reaaaaally commit to it
Looking back, because I didn’t create it properly, I didn’t really commit to it. Once I created it, it became a ‘graphic’ that gathered dust on the app, shifting lower and lower down out of sight as I created new graphics on the app. I didn’t print it out, I didn’t refer to it once I created it, I could’ve even tried to put it as my background on my phone but I did not do that. There was nothing to suggest the significance of the visionboard or what it meant to be.
Deep it.
These were elements of my life I wanted to change/improve/try out this year and I didn’t even look at it again throughout the year. What kind of rubbish is that Ayo? There was no substance to the goals. It fuels what I was saying above about how I didn’t think about why I wanted to create this visionboard. As a result, although I had certain goals at the back of my mind, some of them ended up being completely neglected. I completely forgot I wanted to get back to into playing the piano, I completely forgot that by the end of the year I wanted to be a confident swimmer. So, as you can probably guess, I haven’t made a dent in these goals at all.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: print out your vision board, make it physical and put it somewhere where you’ll see it often. Near your bedside table, in your bathroom, on your wardrobe. Put it somewhere that will force you to see it and consider it in your day to day life. Also, be prayerful about your goals. Give them to God and ask Him to guide you on how to fulfil them. The process and the journey are so important when it comes to the vision of your life. Make sure you are praying for this as much as you are praying for the end goal.
3. I didn’t really tell anyone about it
This feeds into the fear we all tend to have about speaking up about our plans and our goals. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe we should be careful and cautious when talking about what we’re doing or hoping for in life. I recognise it’s not always appropriate to talk about things whilst in motion or to talk too soon about achievements. However, I do think sometimes we use that as an excuse not to share our thoughts and aspirations with trusted people. Sometimes we don’t want to talk about goals in fear they won’t be fulfilled or in fear that someone will remind us if we don’t succeed.
I get that, holding the L in front of people is not great.
However, there’s so much more to gain from having someone to hold you accountable than there is to have your goals silently die in your head. Don’t be afraid to speak up and talk in detail bout your goals. You never know the advice or help the people around you may have. For example, when talking about starting swimming lessons, I was able to refer a friend to a swimming provider based on my experiences too.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Share your vision board, tell people you trust about the goals you have for yourself so you can be held accountable. Even consider asking your nearest and dearest about how they see your future and use that as a tool to frame your goals too. Again, pray about it. Tell God about your goals and ask that His will be done in your life. God-driven goals are the way forward and I pray that your goals will be destined for success from the beginning (although please remember that they may not necessarily be easy).
I hope someone was able to take something positive away from this post. All the best for your visionboard and please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or need an accountable partner <3
All the best,
Ayo
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