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.