Late last year, Issa Rae, (you’ll know her from the TV show, Insecure) made a video of her mood board on Instagram. In the video she talked about all the things she has done that were on the mood board, what was left and her plans for going after her goals. It was so amazing that she had envisioned her future many years ago and had worked towards it.
Think of mood boards as a visual representation of the future you desire. What are your dreams and goals? What is it you really want to do, and you haven’t even given voice to it? Mood boards are a great way of showing yourself the future you want. You can have the mood board in your office or in your bedroom, anywhere you feel like you need the reminder and inspiration, place it there. Remember the saying, “you can’t be what you can’t see?” It is like that with mood boards.
While many women use mood boards to project their future career, others use it for their family, their hair goals, body goals, finances goals etc. To start a mood board is easy. Get a paper and pen and do a brain dump. By brain dump, I mean get everything you are thinking from your head. For example, you want to start a business, put down all your ideas whether you think they are good or bad, write them down. If there are ideas you’ve found on the internet but haven’t thought through, add them. If the mood board is for a career change, do the same. Write down all your thoughts about possible new career directions. At this point, please be realistic. You can’t say you want to be Beyonce when you can’t sing. Or say you want to be Beyonce in two years because it took Beyonce decades to be Beyonce. In other words, make realistic plans.
When you are done, sift through what you’ve written. You’ll probably see words that stand out, ideas that are linked together. Make connections between them. You’ll see that your mind is leading you somewhere at this point. The last step is to visualize it like our girl Issa Rae did. Go on the internet for images that fits your ideas or look in old magazines. When you have all your images, you are ready to create your mood board. You can buy an actual board for this but if you don’t have the money or time, simply glue some cardboard paper together, make it as large as you want and put up your imagined future.
Ladies remember that mood boards not miracle workers, they are for inspiration. If you don’t actively fight for your dreams, the mood board will remain an imaginary thing.