Before the Vision Board: Why Working Women Need to Reflect First
Should it feel embarrassing to admit your business or you are not doing well right now?
It is a question many women carry quietly, wrapped in comparison and the unspoken belief that struggle somehow signals failure. We celebrate ambition and resilience, but rarely leave room for the truth that some seasons are heavy, disorientating, or simply quite hard.
Instead of creating a vision board this year, I tried a different approach. Before looking forward, we looked back. Without reflection, it is almost impossible to make clear decisions about what comes next. The vision board became a reflection board. Women were invited to choose colours, words, images, and illustrations from magazine cut-outs that represented who they had become over the previous twelve months.
I like this exercise because it challenges the neatness of traditional goal-setting. We can tick off SMART goals and declare success, but still feel unsettled. We can achieve everything we planned and end up as a version of ourselves we did not expect or particularly enjoy. Progress, it turns out, is not always proof of alignment.
Around the room, the contrast was striking. Some women were thriving, animated as they spoke about bold colours and expansive words. Others carried quieter stories, more difficult months, loss, exhaustion or grief. It showed, and that was okay. There is nothing embarrassing about hard seasons. It would be absurd to believe that every year unfolds gracefully, without dips in revenue, personal upheaval, moments of grief, or chaos arriving totally uninvited.
I noticed a hint of burnout too. Women who had worked relentlessly towards their careers, only to realise they had lost their spark along the way. In chasing what they thought they wanted, they had drifted from what mattered most, or from imagining that other possibilities might exist. One of the most powerful moments came from overhearing a current teacher talking to an ex-teacher, Lisa Fox, who had pivoted into teaching reformer pilates. A simple exchange, yet you could almost see the shift happening in real time, as the eyes opened as the possibilities were quietly re-entering the room.
If you are curious to try this yourself, the process is intentionally simple. It is not about artistic skill or producing something Instagram-worthy. It is about recognition of what has been.
Start by choosing colours that represent how the last 12 months have felt rather than how you wish it had looked. Then collect words or short quotes that resonate, describing your energy, mindset, challenges, or growth. Add images, photographs, or illustrations that symbolise moments, roles, or identities that shaped you, whether literal or abstract. Place everything onto a piece of paper or card, moving things around until it feels honest. When you look at it, you should be able to recognise yourself in it.
Once complete, write notes around the board or journal alongside it. If it feels supportive, share it with a friend and talk through what it represents. Meaning often sharpens when spoken aloud. Useful questions to sit with include:
What does this board reveal about the season I have just lived through?
Which parts of me feel energised, and which feel depleted?
What patterns am I ready to release, and which ones deserve protecting?
What needs to change to support the version of me that is emerging now?
Recently, I learned that elephants are the only other land mammals to experience menopause. The theory is that matriarchs are needed to pass down wisdom, guidance, and memory to the herd. That detail has stayed with me. Because women need spaces like this. Spaces where those who have gone before can speak honestly about what comes next. Where success is only part of the story worth telling, and struggle is not something to hide or rush through.
Perhaps the most important question is not whether your business is thriving or faltering at this moment. It is whether you feel able to say where you really are. Reflection does not weaken ambition, it grounds it to where you are right now. Sometimes, naming the truth of the season you are in is the most powerful decision you can make about what comes next.