Last week I attended a Christmas wreath making workshop. It was a great experience that left me not only with a beautiful wreath but also a reflection that I believe is very applicable in our lives and business.

The workshop was very nicely structured. We started by filling our frames with moss which then served as the base for the wreath. Once this stage was completed all attendees were invited to a table with various foliage and decorations: various kinds of tree, plants, flowers, bows, cinnamon sticks, you name it.

 The florist reminded us to have a vision of what kind of wreath we want to create and choose the decorations accordingly. I knew exactly what I wanted to create. I had a picture in my mind of the end product.

 Each person picked their decorations and got on with making their masterpieces. I was so focused and absorbed in making my wreath that it took me good 20 minutes before I looked at what others were doing. What I realised was that I was the odd one out whose wreath was “different”. No red or gold colours, no bows, no cinnamon sticks. Mine was green and white, different, but exactly how I envisaged it. What I also realised was that the lady next to me, who liked the look of my wreath, started to change hers and replace her decorations with similar ones to mine. In the end, her wreath looked like a cross between mine and her original wreath.

This observation got me thinking that the wreath is a nice metaphor and representation of our vision and our goals.

The end product is our vision of what we want to achieve. The clearer we are on what it is we want to achieve at the end, the more confident and focused we are on building that vision, making it right and putting it to life. If we don’t have a clear outcome in mind then it is likely that our vision might become tainted or influenced by someone else’s in which case we will end up with a product, or outcome that is not fully ours and may not serve your purpose. The frame of the wreath represents the structure and strong foundation that we are building our goals on. If the structure (your plan) is not strong and tight, then the foliage, the substance we put into our wreath will not be secure and will fall out.

The substance, the decorations (pine cones, oranges, bows etc.) represent the small steps that we need to take to make our end result complete. We can’t complete the vision without putting some work into the final touches.

The workshop made me think about my vision and it has strengthened my confidence in sticking with what is right for me. Not everyone will always like your “wreath”, agree with your vision, your goals, your actions, but you are the one who will look at your wreath each time you open your door. If you don’t like what you see, you won’t have the faith and belief in your product and as a result others will not buy into your vision either, so align your goals with what is important to you, focus, and go for it!