For me, sketchnotes are the ideal way to organise my thoughts, bring the undefined and unconscious to the surface, recognise structures and often find completely unexpected solutions to problems. When I see a difficult situation drawn out in front of me, I always feel like changing something, adding something and finding a solution. Somehow, visual notes manage to connect my brain with my gut feeling, my intuition and my emotions, and I am very grateful to be able to use this tool to find more creative solutions to problems.
One topic that I keep coming back to is work. What do I need to be able to work well? How do the things I do make me feel? When do I feel joyful, fulfilled and productive, and when do I feel exhausted, frustrated and powerless? How do I treat myself when I work independently and am therefore solely responsible for my working environment? It is a constant process of reflection, whereby my aim is not to make my work process more and more effective and increase my ‘performance’, but rather to find a balance and feel fulfilled and in the right place in my working life. This process of reflection is perfectly accompanied by drawings.
I now know that it is very important for me to create something, to really get things done, to ensure that my work is meaningful and can actually be completed. Projects that require a lot of energy but are never implemented due to external circumstances feel like a bottomless pit to me and are not good for me at all, as shown in the following visualisation.
The starting point for this was an idea from Doug Neill on the Verbal to Visual platform, who asked how we could turn a sink into a visual metaphor. When I look at the drawings, I immediately remember how meaningless and meaningful work feels.
A few months ago, I explored the topic of work in more depth as part of a coaching session. I was given the task of figuring out what my ideal working environment would look like. I first visualised it using Post-it notes and then summarised it in a sketch note that shows the extremes between which I am trying to find my perfect middle ground. This is especially important when I am working on a project that I plan and carry out myself – and in which I am solely responsible for creating an adequate working environment for myself. I don’t always succeed, but sometimes I manage to stay in the middle ground. 🙂
