Welcome to SalonCentric’s new series called “enVISION your future” where we hope to help guide you towards turning your career dreams into reality. Through the use of a powerful tool known as the vision board, we want to inspire you in setting your intentions for the New Year as well as in manifesting your goals and dreams. We’ll guide you through the vision board creation process while also providing inspiration and motivation from fellow industry artists and superstars with their vision boards, and how the practice has been successful for them. With this series, our hope is to help you towards achieving greater focus, fulfilling purpose and meaningful growth in your career.
You’ve probably heard the term “vision board” thrown around a lot in the recent past. And it’s no coincidence. From professional athletes to Oprah to the best-selling book The Secret, it seems everyone is tapping into the power of visualization and a vision board is the best tool for manifesting this practice. According to The Secret, “the law of attraction is forming your entire life experience and it is doing that through your thoughts. When you are visualizing, you are emitting a powerful frequency out into the Universe." Andrew Carruthers, stylist and Education Director for Sam Villa, is a big believer in the law of attraction. “Even if you don't believe in the ‘woo woo’ like part of it, you have to believe that you will naturally gravitate towards what you focus on in life,” says Carruthers. “It's easy to forget to keep our minds trained on what we want and in turn, it's easy for our minds to wander off into the negative things we don't want.” For him, a vision board is a daily reminder that helps keep him focused on who and what he wants to be, and who he wants to surround himself with.
Carruthers first got into the practice of creating vision boards when he was introduced to the concept by his life and business coach back in 2004. “My wife and I both created one and a year later when we sat down to do our next one, we were pretty surprised to see that most of what was on our board had come to fruition,” he says. “For me, a vision board needs to be tangible so we cut out images or words from magazines, print stuff out that we find on the internet, and try to get pretty creative. Then, we place all of it onto a foam board so that it can be hung somewhere that we can see it every day.”
Creating Your Vision Board:
1. Visualize your goals. The purpose of a vision board is not only to help you clarify your goals, but to help develop a process for achieving them. The first step, and arguably the most challenging, is identifying your goals. Take the time to think about the different areas of your professional life, and what objectives you would like to achieve in those areas to narrow down your vision. For example, do you hope to become a suite renter? Are you looking to learn a new skill? Do you want to retail fearlessly? Or do you want to actually charge what you’re worth?
2. Seek inspiration. Source magazines, books, photos, postcards, stickers, the internet, printable SalonCentric cut-outs, even small trinkets and more to collect images, quotes, sayings and reminders for your board. Anything that you’d like to see every day that will inspire you works. You can also refer to Pinterest to see examples of completed vision boards and the types of goals that have been set by your fellow beauty professionals. Plus, you can stop by your local SalonCentric store for help.
3. Gather materials. Get poster board, foam board or cork board to start laying out your vision—if you prefer a digital board, try a site like DreamItAlive.com. You’ll also need scissors, tape, pins, and a glue-stick to put your board together.
4. Dedicate time. Set aside a good hour or so to build out your board with focus and intent. You can even get your fellow beauty pros together to do it as a group, or attend one of SalonCentric’s in-store Vision Board Parties during the month of January.
5. Assess and refresh. As your goals and dreams will be ever-evolving, your board will also be a changing creation in order to be a true representation. Add and rearrange throughout the year as it feels right.
Keep in mind that seeing your board every day is important. And whether you choose to have one main board or a series of little boards is up to you. But to live the life you want, you’ll have to envision it first. In whatever direction you’re hoping to level up your career—be it ramping up your education bank with quality classes, mastering a new skill, becoming a retail ninja—vision boarding is the first phase of your journey. So, follow the steps above and check out this video with Andrew Carruthers for getting started with your very own vision board, and get to crafting the career of your dreams.
Photography: Courtesy of Andrew Carruthers
