Personal Long Range Plans/Vision Board

At the beginning of 2025, I created a Personal Long Range Plan for the year.  Some might call it a Vision Board. It was my first time making one. When I messed about with collage and paints to create it during the quiet days before New Years’, I didn’t realize how helpful it would be.  

It’s not like I was unfamiliar with long range plans.  In teaching, we created them for when, and what, we would be teaching in the coming year. They were a helpful map when I got bogged down by all the busyness of teaching. They reminded me of what unit I was planning to do next. They allowed me to create a flow of units that made sense. The unit on multiplication came before the unit on measurement, or else the students wouldn’t have the prior knowledge necessary to find the area of a rectangle. 

Unlike my teaching plans, for my 2025 Personal Planning Board the flow of the items didn’t really matter.  Some things were single events (visit Newfoundland) and some were designed to flow through the entire year (reading a range of genres).  What was helpful was the overall theme and creating a visual reminder of what I’d planned. 

Creating A Theme Was Key

The theme was the message that I wanted to lean into for the year: the direction I wanted to travel. It was the reason why I chose each of the 12 items for my collage. They were not just a random selection of “to-dos.”  As I completed each one, I was reminded that they were important parts of the overall plan. They were not “bucket list” items or wishful thinking. Each item was realistically possible.

Make It Visible And Visit It 

I put the collage on the wall next to my desk to force myself to look at it regularly. Of course, it became part of the “wallpaper” and by March my brain was ignoring it. But I did remind myself to review it on my birthday, and at the beginning of the Summer. I celebrated each item as I was able to accomplish it. In true teacher form, I popped a sticker on each one.

Celebrations And Curiosity

Now, it’s almost the end of the year and I have one more item planned that will be completed next week. Then 11/12 will be done. Yay!  Of course, my brain is about to beat me up about the one thing in my plans that was neglected this year. But instead, I’ve chosen to be curious about it. What was it about this item that lead me to overlook it?  Maybe I’ll carry it forward to next year? Or not. Maybe it could be included as part of a bigger category next year? Or not.

Not A To-Do List But A Map

It’s not a failure to finish the year with some items on my Personal Planning Board unaccomplished.  That’s not the point of the board. The theme is the point. The guiding theme that I chose for the year was supported by the items on my board. Having a long range plan, made me consistently aware of the general direction that I wanted to go. It made it easier to recognize other opportunities that popped up during the year that could be part of the journey, and include them. This further amplified the success of my theme.

After the success of this year’s Personal Long Range Plan or Vision Board, I will make a new one for next year. In the quiet moments before the new year, I will mess about with some paints and scraps of paper. It’s was helpful to develop a theme for the year and then create a visual representation of my intentions. It’s worth doing again.

Would you create a Vision Board for next year?  What theme would you like to lean into?

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