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Career Zingers #30: Your Career is Never a Solo Endeavour

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Picturing Your Career – The Double Ensō and The Venn Diagram

I don’t believe that life is linear. I think of it as circles – concentric circles that connect. ~ Michelle Williams

While working at my desk today my ice water glass created a double ensō as it rested upon a piece of paper beside my computer. Ensō means circular form and may symbolize elegance and strength as well as the void. Rather than career as a linear progression or feeling we are “going around in hopeless circles at work” we can embrace the circular nature of our career.

If you have a mathematical mind you might see the same image as a Venn diagram, named after John Venn, with two overlapping circles indicating where items share something in common.

To be successful, view your career as circles of relationship. How well do you overlap what you love to do with what you need to do? How successful are you in joining your work contribution with what your organization or client needs? How united are you with others at work? And what other circles do you need to join to be successful at work?

When two circles merge into one we experience perfect engagement. This may be a fleeting career ideal but it can draw us forward to a greater feeling of belonging at work.

 

Career Zingers #26: What’s Your Currency?

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Money often costs too much. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is Only Paper (David Zinger, 2018)

What’s your currency at work? Currency is a medium of exchange. We narrowly think of currency as being money. I am not saying money is unimportant, just that it is not as important as we think. Countless studies have demonstrated that on the list of important motivators and contributors to employee engagement money is lower on the list.

Pause right now, consider what do you truly exchange your time, effort, and self for at work?

Over the years, I have learned my personal currencies for work are:

  • curiosity,
  • connection,
  • creativity,
  • playfulness,
  • stories,
  • learning,
  • expression, and
  • contribution.

When work offers me these currencies I am engaged and motivated. I have said numerous times, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this work.” I forget I am getting paid in the currencies listed above. When you exchange your work for the right currencies, work will make you well.

Career Zingers # 24: Beauty Is Not About How We Look, It Is About How We See

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To find beauty, see with fresh eyes

Susan, my wife, received some lovely roses. After a number of days I was ready to throw them out as they were withering. Susan stopped me, she cut the stems and put the roses in a new vase. The next morning while I was eating yogurt and granola for breakfast, I found myself staring at the roses. They were not new, they were not fresh, but they were beautiful. After reading this post, I encourage you to find beauty in yourself or in others even as you and others age and wither. Beauty is not about how we look, it is about how we see.

Career Zingers #20: Tilt and Flip

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In the game called your career, what puts you on tilt and how do you flip out of being tilted?

To play pinball well we must know just how much we can shake the machine to alter the ball’s path in our favour without tilting the machine and ending the game, and we also want to keep flipping the ball back into the game area where we can score points. If you imagine your career as a game of pinball, what puts you on tilt and how do you flip out of it?

Tilt. Do you know who or what puts you on tilt, shutting you down, and leaving you feeling “out of the game.” Do you have common triggers and habitual ways of responding to being tilted? Once tilted, how long, in minutes, hours, or days, does your emotional and mental tilt leave you shut down.

Flip. After you have been tilted how do you flip your career ending tilt around? Do you have a specific routine, person, or mental perspective that renews or rejuvenates your career quest?

Career Zingers #19: Know Your Audience

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Who is your audience?

Carlos Santana Concert in Winnipeg (David Zinger, 2018)

I recently attended a Carlos Santana concert in Winnipeg. I enjoyed the show but there would have been no show without the audience. You also would not have a career without others. You required parents to be brought into being and so many relationships will provide threads as you weave your career tapestry. Don’t think solo in career, think about your impact on others, their impact on you, and the contributions you make to others from co-workers and customers to family and friends. Turn the lights on in your career and see “your audience.” Ask yourself: how well am I performing in my work to enrich, enliven, educate, enthuse, and entertain my audience?