OK, so today’s Blog Post is a bit different than the usual, but I think its a really important topic. Today I want to talk to you all about VISION…  Only when you can see your vision vividly, can you achieve greatness.

Without a vision, it is difficult to achieve anything in your life. You need to know the destination before you set out. Only when you have a clear vision of where you want to go, will it be possible for you to set goals, and action steps to help you achieve those goals.

A vision is different to the GOALS that you will set to achieve your vision. A vision is a BIG PICTURE of the way you see your future. A vision is also different to a dream… a dream is just hypothetical, where as a vision is real.

In his book “The Success Principles”, Jack Canfield defines vision as “a detailed description of where you want to get to. It describes in detail what your destination looks like and feels like.”

In terms of your career as a makeup artist/hair stylist, your vision should include things like what area of the industry you want to work in, where you want to work, who you want to work with, will you be travelling, etc etc.

So, for example, you might decide that you want to be a full-time wedding makeup artist, with a team of other makeup artists and hairstylist working in your team. You might decide that you want to work on blockbuster films in LA, or Bollywood. You might want to travel and work on the Fashion Week circuit, Milan, Paris, New York…

Its all very well to say you want to be an internationally famous makeup artist, but what does that look like for you? What will it take to get there? Who is the person you need to become to achieve that vision?

When you are working out your vision, remember it’s all about the JOURNEY and not just the DESTINATION. Getting a magazine cover is just a stepping-stone (a pretty big stepping-stone if its Vogue!). Do you love the challenge? Can you keep on going through the tough times? Just because you have one magazine cover, have worked on one feature film, or done one wedding, doesn’t mean you’ve made it. I remember when I moved to Brisbane, and got my first “big break” assisting a very well established makeup artist on a big TV Commercial. I was so excited thinking the big jobs would come rolling in after that… Boy was I wrong! It still took a lot of work, testing, networking, honing my craft, working on my skills, keeping up to date with trends and fashions….

What are you willing to do to achieve your vision? Eric Thomas says: “Fall in love with the process and the results will come”. Nobody is an expert or famous when they start, and a big part of success will be learning the skills you need to develop yourself to the level you want, to achieve your vision. Practicing these skills, making mistakes, learning from mistakes, this is all part of the process…

What are your strengths? What areas do you most need to improve on? The ability to accept constructive criticism from others, and also to be able to look critically at your own work is really important when it comes to the path to success.

One of the biggest tips I learned when I was starting out was the ability to look at my work, at my portfolio with a critical (but not TOO critical) eye. A mentor once told me “You are only as strong as your weakest image” and that really helped me when I was putting my portfolio together. Another Golden Nugget I learned in those days when it came to portfolio building was “All Killer, No Filler” meaning that a few really strong images made a much better portfolio than one with a couple of strong images, and a whole lot of mediocre images. (I guess this is another way of saying Quality rather than Quantity) I could write a whole post on Portfolio building…

What are your fears? Is it meeting and working with new people? Dealing with difficult clients (bridezillas perhaps!)? Working with different ethnicities, skintones, skin types, hair types? Learning to face those fears will be part of your vision.

Your vision should be flexible. It will likely change (and grow) as you grow into the artist who will live that vision. It’s important to review your vision regularly and see if it is still in line with who you are at that time.

Once you have outlined your vision, you can set goals around that vision, and action steps that will be required to achieve those goals. And then, the most important part, you need to start communicating that vision, in order to have other people enrol in your vision and work towards it with you.

Remember, like Tony Robbins says: “Most people over-estimate what they can achieve in one year, but under-estimate what they can achieve in five years”

Your vision can be like the five-year plan… and your goals can be for one year, one month, one week, even one day! Celebrate each win, and remember, that life is like a roller-coaster, sometimes up, sometimes down. The only way to fail at anything is to quit. Never quit on a bad day! It will get better. Keep going, and keep growing. See your vision vividly, focus on it daily, and eventually you will achieve all of it, and more!

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Photo credits:

Makeup Artist:  Michelle Cato
Photographer:  Gavin Cato