Ditch Your Vision Board - Do This Instead!

I'm just going to come out and say it - traditional goal setting is terrible.

This may be weird coming from a "goal-setting" Queen-like myself, but I promised that I was going to keep things real with you, so buckle up. Here's my gripe with traditional goal-setting.

All that stuff about putting together beautiful vision boards to "envision" your future is all wrong and a complete waste of time. As if a piece of paper that you've hung up in your house can truly keep you grounded, inspired and motivated…

Got your attention? Great. My problem isn’t with the piece of paper per se. My problem is that the way is that makes us view (and approach) goal-setting is all wrong. Far too many of us set our goals in line with what other people reckon a goal should look like. I want to share with you what you should be doing instead because if you can alter how you view your goals, you can actually begin to change your life (far more than a piece of paper can).

Why setting goals traditionally just doesn't work

Here's the secret that all of the books on goal setting won't tell you: If you begin your goal-setting process by writing down all of the results you want to achieve (the house, the car, the six-figure income), then it's highly unlikely that you're going to achieve them. Even if you do achieve them, you're not going to have any real satisfaction.

The reason you won't reach your goals on your vision board (or be satisfied if you do), is because you're leaving out the most important part of the equation - your values. Starting out with the results you want to achieve is a "top-down" approach. In this instance, having a vision board with these goals creates an environment where you have to "live up" to these ideals, instead of seriously taking the time to consider what's really important in your life. This is completely backwards.

"Make six-figures" is not the goal you think it is, especially because it's not clear why you want to make more money. You might want to be able to send your kid to private school. Or perhaps you love cars and want to add a Rolls-Royce to your collection.

In any case, by not taking the time to analyse why you want to achieve something, you're just randomly adding goals to a list. As you don't know your why, your list of goals will move further and further away from what's really important to you, and so that intrinsic motivation and drive is simply not there. No matter how "cool" these goals may sound, pursuing them may cause you significant physical, emotional and psychological harm. What's more, pursuing goals that aren't truly rooted in your values will rob you of your passion because you'll become a prisoner of your own goals - in other words, be an avid traveller on the rat race.

What you should do instead:

First, you have to let go of your vision board in order to wipe the slate clean.

Once you've done so, now ask yourself these three questions:

1) What are your true values (the real ones, not the ones you're "supposed" to have)?

2) What makes you feel fully alive?

3) What are your biggest strengths and best character traits?

This may take some work, but if you can't honestly answer these questions, then you are nowhere near ready to create some authentic goals. The answers to these questions will guide you in taking a "bottom-up" approach to setting your goals, which will totally revolutionise your priorities by carving out a path aligned with your core values.

And what happens if you don't hit your goal? The traditional way will leave you discouraged whilst this updated way will keep you full of immense optimism. Why? Because it's more rewarding to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to be on, than halfway up a ladder you don't want to be on.

Living in a big house won’t make you happy, but knowing that you did your very best work to get there, will. This process has literally changed the start of my 2023 - and it can change yours too.

But it all starts with throwing out your vision board.