As you move onto a new chapter – say your adult children are all off to college for example – you’ll need to spend time creating new interests or getting back to older passions.

I’ve discovered a new and more immediate use for a vision board. Creating time for fun and life balance.

I was visiting my terrifically creative sister-in-law, Joanne Hus, a creative design professional and as I walked into her oh so gorgeous home office, I noticed her life balance board right away.

After looking at hers, and hearing about her board, I realized that I was missing something.

Vision boards remind us of who we want to be. Or what we want more of in life. Boards have favorite sayings, pictures, values, and words of inspiration. They are inspiring, as is the process for deciding what goes on your vision board. My vision board is discussed here.

What was missing for me? Something more immediate that would help me with life balance. Although I love my “work,” what is it that makes my non-work hours so special, so interesting, so enervating? What do I do with my time off? What will refresh and rejuvenate my energy in between vacations, or as I work towards those loftier vision board ideals? Or how do I take smaller steps towards those vision board ideals? Enter Joanne.

This is a picture of my new life balance “board,” along with (upper right) my supplies: scissors and post-it note flags. 

Not as filled up or beautiful as Joanne’s is YET, but it’s already working for me.

I adopted the idea from Joanne, who showed me her magnetic white board version when I stayed with her and my brother recently before an author’s talk I was invited to give in Connecticut.

I noticed she had some sense of a timeline on the board. The time seems to go from left to right, so the later events, where she had more time to get to are further to the right. See the post-it note flags on my board? That’s also adopted from Joanne as a way to highlight when the exhibit is over or when she wants to think about going.

A  natural way to match how we read, left to right. And a nice mixture of left brain and right brain!

I’ve tried so many ideas over the years to remind myself of what I want to do.

Remembering to look at it

You still have to make the connection between wanting to go somewhere and getting yourself there. What I love is that Joanne’s is right near her computer and so her calendar. As she walks into home office/studio, she walks right by this board, before she can sit at her desk. A visual reminder!

Mine will be hanging in my home office, since that’s also where I do my household management and scheduling for my personal life.

Stay tuned… but so far, it’s working!

Microsteps

• Find your board – poster board, magnetic, white board
• Grab your scissors
• Get your post-it note flags or cut up your post-it note pads
• Find a spot to gather and hold onto things you want to do
• Start it up!

Or are you thinking that this is a great use for Pinterest? This article (link here) is about vision boards, but think about this approach for life balance.

Resources/more reading I enjoyed

How do you refresh and rejuvenate? In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking the author points out that how we refresh and rejuvenate is linked to how much of an introvert or extrovert we are. Introverts will generally find their energy again by seeking out quiet time and space. Extroverts get back with people to build up their energy again. (This by the way is the true definition of these two terms, not “shy” versus “gregarious.”) And as with all labels, we are a mixture of both.  (It’s interesting to me that when I read a book, I watch my world with a different lens or perspective for as long as I’m reading that book.)

From a favorite site, The Change Blog: 5 Items that should be on everyone’s bucket list

Vision boards on Pinterest – but consider using Pinterest for your life balance board instead.

Need ideas for hobbies? Discover Your Passions – a quick quiz might start you thinking.