The business world loves a plan. A structured, bullet-pointed, data-backed plan. You sit down at a desk, stare at a blank screen or a crisp sheet of paper, and list your goals: Where do you want to go? How will you get there and when? A rational exercise, but also, a little soulless.
I believe the most meaningful goals—the ones that stir something in the gut—rarely begin as a spreadsheet. They emerge from the wildest corners of the imagination, where possibility isn’t a straight line but a shifting landscape. Before we build anything real, we must first see it—not only in language, but in images, colors, and textures.
Imagination is the blueprint of every ambition. I was reminded of its power after leading a visioning workshop at the F*Bomb Breakfast Club’s Bold[HER] Summit, a conference for women and non-binary small business owners. There, through a series of creative exercises, I showed participants how to create a vision board—a collage of images that represent one’s goals.
For Maureen Jann, a marketing leader and workshop participant, this exercise provided a much-needed shift in perspective:
“When I sat down at my table at the BOLD[HER] Summit, I hadn’t started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this year. I’ve been living in survival mode for so long that the opportunity to be thoughtful about what I wanted out of 2025 was beyond my reach. The act of choosing the images, textures, and visuals with the new year in mind gave me an opportunity to turn wordless thoughts into ideas. And then I was able to organize my ideas into goals and priorities through a creative process. It really helped me fast-track my ideation and thought gathering into a succinct and fun process.”
According to neuroscientist and executive coach Dr. Tara Swart, vision boards engage the brain’s neuroplasticity, activating key structures responsible for filtering information, like the reticular activating system (RAS). This bundle of nerves at the brainstem acts as a gatekeeper, allowing subconscious information to reach the conscious mind while filtering out distractions. By visually focusing on specific goals through the art of vision boards, we effectively train the RAS to prioritize opportunities and insights that align with those ambitions.
Perceived as whimsical or woo in some circles, vision boards also stimulate the brain’s reward system by activating dopamine pathways. Swart notes that this anticipation of reward is crucial for sustaining long-term motivation. The constant visual reminder makes goals feel achievable and inevitable.
“What we cannot imagine cannot come into being.” bell hooks
This is why visioning matters. Too often, goal-setting is a joyless ritual—a stiff to-do list. And aesthetics? An afterthought. But when we begin with imagination—when we make space for beauty and play—goals stop feeling like obligations and start behaving like magnets that pull us forward.
La’Kita Williams, Executive Coach and founder of CoCreate Work, participated in my visioning session before leading her own on SMARTER goals. She recognized how visioning pushes us think beyond the rational mind and trust our inner wisdom:
“Visioning expands your perspective of what’s possible as you set your goals—it allows sacred space just for dreaming. As someone who is very goal- and logistics-centered, using tools like writing, drawing, and collaging helped me shift from the process orientation of capturing my next logical steps to a place of trusting my intuition. And when I trust my intuition, my goal-setting is more aligned and bigger than I might have initially thought.”
But how do we move from inspiration to action? According to Williams, that’s where the SMARTER goals framework comes in:
“When we have clarity on our vision, it feels energizing and exciting. This usually inspires us to activate and get started right away. But how do we keep going? How do we ensure we are clear on the actions we should take, have a plan for pivots, and feel prepared to handle limiting beliefs that may come up? We use a framework. SMARTER goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Evaluative, and Re-adjustable is a great framework for moving our vision to intentional action that we can track and repeat over time. It brings our vision into a structured roadmap.
As an executive coach, I’ve seen how this integration strengthens commitment and allows for adaptability. The creative process of creating a vision board brings clarity to what truly matters, while the SMARTER framework ensures you stay in alignment with actionable steps and continuous refinement. Together, they foster both intention and execution—helping us to set meaningful goals but also stay engaged, energized, and flexible throughout the journey.“
This is the alchemy of it: vision boards light the fire, but SMARTER goals keep it burning.
One gives us poetry, the other the scaffolding. Without vision, goals become bland busywork. Without goals, a vision is a well-decorated room we never step inside. When paired together, we create a bridge between dreaming and doing.
If you’re a visionary leader ready to turn imagination into meaningful action, let’s bring this work to your team. Reach out to plan a workshop for your organization, and subscribe to my Creative Moments newsletter for insights and offerings to fuel your purposeful path.
