00:00: Introduction
01:57: The benefits of drawing
08:08: Drawing exercise 1… describe how you’re feeling about work this
14:20: Drawing exercise 2 … a strength you want to make stonger
16:59: Drawing exercise 3 … a confidence gremlin that could get in your way this year
23:26: Drawing exercise 4 … your dream work day
31:14: Closing remarks
Helen Tupper: Hi, I’m Helen.
Sarah Ellis: And I’m Sarah.
Helen Tupper: And this is the Squiggly Careers podcast where every week we borrow some brilliance from ideas or things we’ve read or people we’ve talked to, and we turn that idea into something practical you can do to support your development.
Sarah Ellis: And this week we are borrowing brilliance from drawing, which we had to talk about first to decide whether it was a noun or a verb, but we decided it was a doing word. You can tell we’ve both got young kids. So we are borrowing brilliance from drawing. And this is one of our episodes in partnership with Post it Notes. And we are really going to use these post its today. So if you are listening, we are going to do our best to describe so you. You won’t miss out. But it might be a good one to head over to YouTube or wherever you watch your podcast as well to see some probably relatively low quality drawings, I would say to manage people’s expectations.
Helen Tupper: So our videos. Cause I might not have known this, but our videos are on Spotify. So you can go on there and you can watch them. Just go to Squiggly Careers on Spotify and you’ll be able to see it there. Or like you say on YouTube, you just go to the Squiggly Careers channel and you scroll through lots of strange shots of us, like our faces frozen on thumbnails.
Sarah Ellis: Well, even if. So, I don’t usually watch podcasts. I only listen.
Helen Tupper: I watch.
Sarah Ellis: But there is one on Spotify where they’ve started doing video. And so that does pop up now automatically for me. And so actually occasionally it’s helped me to change my habits. So if I’m sitting on a train, I might then think, oh, I’ll watch it at the same time. Or sometimes I just cross it. Cause I think I’m just listening. So I don’t need to watch.
Helen Tupper: But sometimes. Cause I have flipped to watching. So I always used to listen when I was driving. And then I’m driving less.
Sarah Ellis: So you’re not watching while you’re driving.
Helen Tupper: I’m driving less. But what I do do is I will, you know, there’s on the pelaton I watch because they’ve now got on the peloton that integrated YouTube. So I watch my podcasts while I’m cycling because podcasts are generally around half an hour and that’s like perfect time for me to exercise. So that’s a. That’s a win. And then also sometimes I’m on a train. I will. I just, I don’t know. I just find, I just watch on a train.
Sarah Ellis: So I find watching these nice. Um, so why have we picked drawing?
Helen Tupper: Why have we picked drawing?
Sarah Ellis: So a few fun facts for you before we get drawing. So when you draw, there was a study that found it has an immediate impact on your short-term mood. Oh, that’s interesting.
Helen Tupper: I thought you were going to say memory.
Sarah Ellis: No, memory is coming. So you are right, memory is coming. The next one is supercharges memory.
Helen Tupper: Tell me more.
Sarah Ellis: It’s more than writing. So they compared and contrasted the writings, you know, will often be like journal or write things down. Actually, even a single act of drawing produces more immediate mood benefits for adults. And this is for adults. And even if it’s just like shapes, I think it’s because it’s quite a mindful activity. I was thinking you can’t really do anything else and draw, and maybe that’s also kind of part of it. It’s quite an active rest activity. Drawing is, I suppose, you could be listening to music, but you can’t be answering an email and drawing at the same time. So good mood booster. It does work for memory. It’s called the drawing effect. So you get both richer and more durable memory traces than other techniques like writing, rereading or verbal repetition. So I suppose if you’re like studying for something, the best thing you could do, actually is visually come up with a way of trying to, I don’t know, you know, if you’re studying for an exam.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: Trying to create drawings that will help to remind you.
Helen Tupper: It’s really interesting because listening to you, I could be a bit. Because I. Because we’ve chatted about this. I think you are naturally better at drawing and thinking in visuals and visually communicating than me. And so I could almost rule myself out. But what I have learned from you, like one way that memory thing definitely works for me. Sarah and I spend a lot of our time running sessions, workshops, and presentations for companies to bring careers to life in those companies. And we’re often talking for an hour, 90 minutes. And there’s quite a lot to remember. And the way that we prepare for that is because I’ve done it on the train this morning, I’ve got a session tomorrow, a keynote that I’ve never done before. And I was both thinking about what I wanted to say and I basically create little grids and in each grid is like a thought or a drawing and all I do is remember those drawings. So I haven’t got like a script.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah.
Helen Tupper: I’ve just got visuals in my head and I can, I almost see like swipe, draw, swipe, draw. It’s like what’s in my head. So that does work for me.
Sarah Ellis: And drawing activates your brain in a really unique way because it requires logic and creativity. And here actually they are particularly talking about sketching because of your fine motor skills, hand, eye coordination. Apparently, new neural pathways are formed. Observational drawing. You know, if you, I suppose if you’re drawing people or an apple or whatever it might be, you’ve got to bring together kind of both sides of your brain. Yeah. And it just keeps on talking about all the different parts, like your prefrontal cortex, the region associated with higher-order thinking and executive function. Apparently, when you draw, that bit comes to life. I got really into how good you draw. I decided I was like, everyone should be drawing everything all of the time. It’s just so good for you. But obviously also, you know, you’re getting like confirmation bias at some point where, like it just starts telling you. Every research you read, your drawing gets better and better. So what we thought we would do today is show how drawing could help you in a working week, both by yourself and also within a team. Cause I think there’s some fun things you can do as a team here. And Helen and I are going to have a go because you could describe or you could draw. So we are going to have a go at drawing. So shall we get our first. We’ve gone for medium-sized, the super sticky, medium sized post it note first. I’ve got a pink one. What are you going for? Yellow.
Helen Tupper: I’m going for yellow.
Sarah Ellis: We are going to go for the large ones in a bit, which are, I would say are our favourites. It’s a bit like, are you allowed a favourite child? Are you allowed a favourite post it? No, I would say the large ones are our favourite ones.
Helen Tupper: We love them.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, we definitely do have a favourite. Okay, I’m going to put my iPad down because we’re going to do this at the same time.
Helen Tupper: Right. Can I just caveat this before we start that I don’t think, I think some people could think, well, I’m not a good drawer. Like this whole podcast, I’m not a good drawer. And I would say that I hold that thought, but I don’t let it hold me back. Like, I don’t think I’m a good drawer.
Sarah Ellis: I don’t think I am.
Helen Tupper: Well, I do think you are better than me. I do think I see you quickly connecting concepts to what you put down on a piece of paper. And I don’t think I’m that good. But I think the more you do this, the easier it becomes. And don’t, don’t worry, don’t set a bar for being a brilliant drawer, because I’ve really. I’ve learned a lot by following your lead here. You’re so. You are naturally good at it, and I think I’ve done it more because of you, and I find it really helpful. So I’m following your lead on the
Sarah Ellis: podcast today and I do think if people do look at our drawings, they will realise it’s a relatively low bar. And I think your point is also, don’t forget you don’t have to share. So you could do this and you could take away the pressure of anybody else seeing. I read something really interesting about that, about how good that is for you to do something for the sake of doing something rather than for the sake of sharing. So we will do a couple of activities today that are more about team, but I think two or three that we’re gonna do. Actually, at the start, you could just do this for yourself and that would be it. No one has to see the drawing. I think it is the. Think of it as looking after your brain, not improving your drawing skills.
Helen Tupper: Yes.
Sarah Ellis: Okay. I think that’s like. That’s what we’re aiming for here.
Helen Tupper: Yeah. Okay.
Sarah Ellis: I am going to add in a rule for it because when I’ve done these sorts of exercises before, I think this makes it harder. So I know, I know I’m making this harder, but I think we’ll get more benefit.
Helen Tupper: All right.
Sarah Ellis: No words.
Helen Tupper: Okay.
Sarah Ellis: So. Because often what people do is they draw something and then they just start adding words
Helen Tupper: Can I add a recommendation to your rule?
Sarah Ellis: Go on.
Helen Tupper: I think try to, like, fill the post it note sometimes. I see some people who aren’t confident and I totally get it. Like, as someone who doesn’t think they’re good at drawing, I get it. But sometimes they’ll pick up a post it note and they’ll do a drawing and it’s in the top right corner and it’s really small and it’s just because it feels a bit tricky to do. So we’re going to go for the recommendation. Fill as much of your post it note as you can and a rule, no words.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah.
Helen Tupper: Okay.
Sarah Ellis: So our first drawing. Describe how you are feeling about work this week. Describe how you’re feeling about work this week in a drawing. So I’m going to start drawing and we are going to do these super fast, everybody. Because I am mindful that us drawing live on an audio podcast is probably not the most interesting. But there we go. Even I’m tempted to sometimes I want to kind of put some words.
Helen Tupper: Okay. Okay. I’m not going to add to it. I’m just going to.
Sarah Ellis: Okay. Right, let’s do the reveal. You show me your drawing first. Okay, everybody. She has done a framework or a diagram. So I mean, maybe I should have made that a rule. I didn’t think I need somebody.
Helen Tupper: I’m allowed a framework.
Sarah Ellis: Okay. You are like.
Helen Tupper: It’s a cycle.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah. I mean, you have drawn almost like a strategy wheel. Helen. Right, Go on.
Helen Tupper: Would you like me to explain?
Sarah Ellis: I’d like you to explain.
Helen Tupper: Hold it up to the camera so
Sarah Ellis: everyone can see it. Okay.
Helen Tupper: Hopefully you can all see it. We’ll put pictures of this. I’ll tell you what, we’ll put pictures of this in our newsletter as well so that people aren’t watching.
Sarah Ellis: They can see the newsletter.
Helen Tupper: So what I’ve done is a cycle because this is how my week feels. It’s a very full on week and I feel like I’m constantly cycling, hence the cycle between conversations with people. So I’ve got a little like conversation bubble. Ticks my to do list. Like conversation, conversation, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. What were those circles?
Sarah Ellis: More cycling. More cycling. We can’t remember the circles.
Helen Tupper: I can’t remember what the circles are. Made sense at the time.
Sarah Ellis: Okay.
Helen Tupper: And then sleep, repeat. I feel like at the moment my, my week, I can’t remember what those circles were, but I do feel like I. It is a week where I am cycling through a lot of things on repeat. Doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it does represent how I feel this week.
Sarah Ellis: Which is useful to know. Right? Even just like listening to you, if I’m working with you, if I’m in the same team as you, just knowing that is really helpful. And actually probably by drawing it, maybe it’s brought it to life in a different way. Maybe it makes it easier to talk about. Even just hearing you describe it, I then think brings the drawing to life. What.
Helen Tupper: What was I doing? I think, I’m not sure about so fast. I think that’s the thing we’re doing. Drawing and talking about it on a podcast. Life. It’s an extra level of pressure that I hope other people don’t have to do.
Sarah Ellis: I would say take tiny bit longer with your drawings. And we are. We’re trying to do it in about five seconds so it doesn’t get boring. If you are listening, I think it
Helen Tupper: was when you said, yeah, like, you’re
Sarah Ellis: right, people are listening.
Helen Tupper: We’ve got to do it quicker. I was like, right, fast.
Sarah Ellis: Keep cycling, keep cycling.
Helen Tupper: Cycle even more.
Sarah Ellis: Do you want to see my one?
Helen Tupper: Yes. Okay. What have we got here?
Sarah Ellis: So these are two people in a tug of war.
Helen Tupper: Okay.
Sarah Ellis: And your face, you’re like, oh, God.
Helen Tupper: Who are the people?
Sarah Ellis: I suppose, sort of one of them is me. And actually the other, I think, is actually a nameless stick person. And I think the tug of war represents sort of the tension sometimes in our weeks, which I’ve felt this week between what needs to happen now or what needs to happen today or this week and what needs to happen in the next year or in the next two years. And I probably feel like this week, because we are always doing that. It’s like, I could have done juggling, but it doesn’t feel like juggling. It looks like the balls were. Oh, my God, I’ve got you to your balls. You look so excited. Okay, so that’s interesting, right? Cause I don’t feel like I’m juggling.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: I just feel like probably that I’m being pulled in the two different directions. Probably the short term is winning this week. It’s like, very much like what matters most now or what matters most today. But I. In my head, I can’t ever let go of what matters most in the long term. It’s always there for me. And so I find it hard when there’s no space for that. And actually, it starts to worry me, or I start to sometimes feel frustrated. And then it probably also starts to impact my being able to do what matters most, like, in a day. So I would say that kind of that tug of war for me, what
Helen Tupper: makes me reflect on, perhaps because I really value that you have that tug of war because. Because I think I’m so drawn to the near and the now that I. I’m very reliant on you holding that tension. And so it kind of makes me think about, oh, how could you? How could I help you not be the only person, like, holding that tension?
Sarah Ellis: Or perhaps me even knowing that it’s useful.
Helen Tupper: It’s really useful.
Sarah Ellis: So rather than me going, oh, it’s a bad thing, you actually go, oh, no, it’s helpful.
Helen Tupper: It’s really useful. I’m really glad you hold us to account for the long term.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, no, really useful. Take off that one. Take, take, discard, or put to one side.
Helen Tupper: At least put to one side.
Sarah Ellis: We’re not going to do a very. That was like a mixed. Mixed picture. Should we say? Okay, let’s do a very positive one. Okay.
Helen Tupper: This is already more fun than I thought.
Sarah Ellis: One strength that you want to make stronger. Like this year. So we’re a couple of months into the year, into 2026. Draw a strength that you want to make stronger.
Helen Tupper: Ooh, interesting. How do I do draw that? That’s what my brain is thinking.
Sarah Ellis: Interesting.
Helen Tupper: Okay, how do I. You’re not going to like this. I can’t draw that again. It was going to be another framework. Can’t draw any frameworks.
Sarah Ellis: You want to draw a framework, then draw a framework.
Helen Tupper: Okay. No, I’ve got it. I’ve got it. It’s coming to my brain.
Sarah Ellis: Okay.
Helen Tupper: I mean, it’s not very good. I don’t know how you.
Sarah Ellis: Okay.
Helen Tupper: Okay. That’s as good as it’s going to go first.
Sarah Ellis: Okay, go. Okay. So this is a strength I’d like to make stronger.
Helen Tupper: Okay.
Sarah Ellis: And it’s. I’ve drawn lots of. These are light bulbs, everybody, with kind of connecting. Connecting lines and intentionally some lines that go off the page.
Helen Tupper: Okay. Because that’s the specific thing that you’ve done off the page lines.
Sarah Ellis: Right off the page lines. Because it’s not just about having ideas. Because I don’t think that’s my problem. I think I can come up with ideas. I’m good at that. But I think it is coming up with ideas that go beyond where we are right now that borrow brilliance from different people and places that we don’t know about. It’s sort of ideas into the unknown. And so it’s like, that’s this kind of strength. I want to make stronger. And I think you do that by curiosity, going to new places, talking to new people. So it’s not just, like, come up with more ideas or come up with better ideas. It’s almost like the creative process that’s sparked by going off the page.
Helen Tupper: Nice.
Sarah Ellis: That’s where I kind of.
Helen Tupper: Nice. I like it also. I can see you doing it a little bit more already, and I’m valuing it. I’m like, oh, what have you learned from doing that thing?
Sarah Ellis: What did you get to. Let’s see.
Helen Tupper: So this is mine.
Sarah Ellis: Diamonds.
Helen Tupper: It is a diamond. Lovely.
Sarah Ellis: That’s a good drawing.
Helen Tupper: I’ve drawn a diamond. Well, I was trying to think, is
Sarah Ellis: this because you want diamonds?
Helen Tupper: I mean, I would like some more diamonds.
Sarah Ellis: No, it’s not that.
Helen Tupper: It’s because I was thinking about clarity, and I think that one of my strengths, diamonds have clarity. They have measures of Cs for things, for clarity. The three Cs. I’ve forgotten what Carots. Clarity. Something else can’t remember.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, definitely diamonds. I can’t help you.
Helen Tupper: Anyway, I’m sticking with the sea of clarity because I think one of my strengths is creating clarity. And I think I could potentially do it even more. I think I could help our team even more. I think I could maybe have some, like, clarity creating questions. I could maybe give the team some clarity creating questions. So rather than it being reliant on me creating clarity, I could reflect on what are the questions I asked to do that that they could then use as well.
Sarah Ellis: That’s a really nice build. It might be because there’s. There’s you creating clarity, sort of almost doing the hard work for the people, and then there’s helping other people to get better at creating clarity for themselves.
Helen Tupper: I mean, there’s probably a podcast episode in how to create clarity.
Sarah Ellis: We do it every week. So you can probably do one. I think that would be incredibly useful because I already see how much people value you creating clarity.
Helen Tupper: I like.
Sarah Ellis: I watch it happen, you know, sort of, because that’s not my skill, and I think it’s something that you kind of bring to conversations. So when I’m part of conversations and you will often listen to me, so often I will, you know, golf in a few different directions or talk about different things. And I just feel like you’re so good at sort of listening and you’re sort of. You’re like, processing. I can almost feel like you’re like the clarity creator in your brain is like, I feel like it should have a sound. And then you go. And it’s a question or it’s a statement or it’s. These are the three things that matter most. And I just think. I think I said this to you earlier this week, actually, like, never underestimate, I think, how helpful that is for the people, how much people appreciate that. I think it’s one of those. One of the ways that you are uniquely useful. And, you know, we often take our natural talents for granted. I think you even came back to me and you were like, oh, yeah, but I don’t want to be. I don’t know. I don’t. I don’t want to get too involved. I don’t want to get in people’s way. And I think I was going, oh, I think you’re doing the opposite. I Actually think you’re being really helpful. So I think that’s a really good one. I think the diamond is genius. That’s good thinking.
Helen Tupper: Ah, thanks.
Sarah Ellis: Next one is a bit tougher.
Helen Tupper: Okay, ready? I’m ready for it now you’re ready.
Sarah Ellis: You’re in it. You’re in it. Draw a confidence gremlin that you’ve got that is either getting in your way or could get in your way of what you want to achieve this year. So sometimes we just talk about confidence gremlins generally, but I’m trying to connect the dots here with the confidence gremlin that we’ve got that could get in the way of the things that we want to do, the things that we want to achieve. Okay, here we go. This one is worse because we actually have got some beautiful confidence gremlins drawings from a professional illustrator. So just don’t compare ours to his,
Helen Tupper: okay? Okay, you ready? Yeah. Ready?
Sarah Ellis: You go first this time.
Helen Tupper: Okay, so I’m holding up to Sarah a picture. What do you think it looks like? Describe what you see. Oh, it’s like that game.
Sarah Ellis: Oh, what, like Pictionary?
Helen Tupper: No, the one with Roy Walker.
Sarah Ellis: Oh. Oh, catchphrase. Say what you see. Say what you see.
Helen Tupper: Say what you see.
Sarah Ellis: A tree?
Helen Tupper: No, it’s a brain. You haven’t won the game.
Sarah Ellis: Okay.
Helen Tupper: It’s a brain with arrows going into it. With crosses.
Sarah Ellis: Right? Cross.
Helen Tupper: Not angry crosses, but, like crosses.
Sarah Ellis: Okay.
Helen Tupper: What do you think this might represent?
Sarah Ellis: The hurt? Don’t know. You stop yourself from learning something about stopping yourself.
Helen Tupper: I feel like I’ve got a confidence gremlin about not. Not, like, adding newness into my brain. Like, I feel like part. I feel like part of my vow, part of the value you bring is, like, newness. And. And I think I’ve got a gremlin that if I’m not bringing newness, then it’s not valuable. And I don’t. Right now, I’m like, well, I don’t know where the newness is coming from because I’m stuck in a cycle. Back to the earlier drawing. I’m in a cycle, and there is no space for newness. And then I think, like, I’ve got a gremlin. Like, well, how long can you be good for if you’re not letting the newness in?
Sarah Ellis: Okay, so what’s the gremlin?
Helen Tupper: The gremlin is that I’m not. I’m not adding as much value. I’m not used to. I’m not contributing. I’m not creating. I’m just not. I’M not as good as I want to be because I’m not. I’m not, like, using my brain. I’m not like, okay, I’m just kind of. I don’t know. There’s not a thing could do a thing. It’s different to, like. Like, I’m doing more than I’m thinking. It’s not that. I just. I think you have to look. I really think you have to look after your brain. I really think you have to feed it. Like, I think you have to sleep well. I think you have to feed it with newness. I think you have to be curious. And I think if you are not doing that, then you’ve not got a very good brain. And I have this. And back to things like with AI, I think we really have to have, like, good brains, Brains with newness, brains that are connecting, brains that are creating. And I think I’ve got a bit of a confidence gremlin. Like, am I building the best brain or am I, like, sort of just,
Sarah Ellis: am I getting worse or am I staying still?
Helen Tupper: That’s it. Yeah. Gosh, yeah. I want to keep going back. There you go.
Sarah Ellis: If it’s reassuring. One of the exercises we’re going to do shortly. I tried it this morning on Claude and it didn’t work. I quite like it when some things do and it didn’t. We’ve not done it yet, but when I get to it, I was like, I’ll just see whether this is, like, better or faster. And I was like, this is, like, way worse. It cannot do this yet. Okay. I mean, do I think it will be able to at some point, obviously. So these are my boxing gloves.
Helen Tupper: Okay. Who are you fighting?
Sarah Ellis: Well, nobody. And that’s probably sometimes my problem. So obviously I don’t want to actually fight people, but I think boxing gloves represent conflict for me. Always been a gremlin, doesn’t go anywhere. I think that will always be with me. But I still don’t say the hard thing as much as I would like to, in a way that is useful for other people. I think the hard thing, that’s never my problem. And I am good at spotting issues, and I’m a good critical thinker. It’s naturally the way that my brain works. But I think the gremlin still gets in my way. And then I think it gets in other people’s way because I don’t say the hard thing. I’m expecting people to guess what’s going on in my head, and obviously, that’s impossible. And then I get frustrated if things don’t get better or if we don’t improve or whatever it might be. And so since we came up with, say, the hard thing, which is in learn like a lobster, I’ve watched you do it very well and I think, like, you’re just, you’re just better at it than I am. And I’m sort of very admiring from the sidelines.
Helen Tupper: I can see myself doing it well.
Sarah Ellis: I know that you have. And you know, we talk about, we say the hard thing. You start with a question and you try and understand where people are and then you kind of work through it and make sure that you’re acknowledging what you’ve heard and then you are saying the hard thing, but in a sort of simple, straightforward way. And so I think I can spot opportunities that pass me by to cage this gremlin that I don’t currently take. And so I’m like, oh, it’s a really specific thing, which I think I know when it’s happening. And I’ve got to increase my own accountability to cage the gremlin. Because this is sometimes something I hear when we do work with confidence with people is, you know, like, you almost give yourself a get out of jail card of being like, I’m too busy to do anything different or only you can cage your gremlins. And often I hear people sort of blame external factors and I could definitely do that. I could blame being busy. It’s not my job. They should just sort something. You know, like, it’s really, it’s really easy to go, this is, this is not about me, but your gremlins are about you. And so that I have done a good job of caging that gremlin way, way better than say like 10 years ago.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: And there are some situations now where I think I’m good at it, but there are still some where I’m like, I’m not as good as I would like to be. So that’s my one.
Helen Tupper: You know, you’re like, there are still some. I wonder whether you prioritise the sum, you know, because if you’re spreading, say, the hard thing across lots of situations, whereas I think if you were like, in that, in that situation, that’s the biggest. That’s not my. That’s why I’m saying the hard thing is going to make the biggest difference right now. I wonder whether it might make it easier for you to do it.
Sarah Ellis: So we’re going to switch to a new kind of post it note. Well, it’s not a surprise for us because we do use these ones. These are the ones where when people were talk. You were talking about using the grids, the drawing grids that we both use to prepare. This is what we use. So for people who are watching, we’re onto the. We call them the massive yellow sticky. Post it, though. I think they’re called large.
Helen Tupper: So I was in Canada last week. I don’t quite know when this podcast will be coming out, but I was literally there last week and I’d taken the lobster post it notes with me. And also. Cause I was running a session on Confidence Gremlins, where I was getting everyone to do a confidence gremlin gallery, which is an exercise that we do when we’re running that session in person with people. I’d taken those, the lovely giant yellow ones that we love, and people were like, in awe of them. And I. Cause I’d taken so many. I had a whole pack and I, like, I gifted them to somebody and wrote on it and gave them. And I think it, like made. It made me feel.
Sarah Ellis: I just had to order some more because I took them to Denmark last week, gave them out, but nobody gave them back. You know, like, people were like. Because there were some leftover at the end, but people were putting them in their bags. So I was like, oh, okay, okay, I’ll just leave those. I was like, I just need to order some more. Right.
Helen Tupper: What are we doing?
Sarah Ellis: So this. I think this is where Claude, who is usually obviously my best friend, did not work.
Helen Tupper: Okay.
Sarah Ellis: He’s failed. Failed.
Helen Tupper: I don’t know.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah. Anyway, it doesn’t work doing it the way. Also, I think you miss out on all of those benefits that we talked about at the start of the episode. You’re not getting any of that good stuff. If you just put a prompt into AI. I’m like, you do need to draw. I think this is really nice as a partner activity.
Helen Tupper: Okay.
Sarah Ellis: I think this would be a great thing to do at the start of a team day, you know, when you’re always looking for something to get everybody chatting and talking early on and maybe connecting, getting to know each other. So what I’m going to ask you to do is to describe your dream day. Work day. So we’re going to go. Work day. Describe your dream work day to me, and I am going to try and sketch it as you talk to me. Okay, Go for it.
Helen Tupper: I’m getting up early. It’s five o’. Clock. Sorry. I’m going to get up early and. Oh, it’s Spring. The sun is shining. It’s spring. Sun, birds. Like, I’m up. I’m up with the wildlife.
Sarah Ellis: Okay.
Helen Tupper: And I’m gonna start outside. I’m gonna get some. Like, it’s quiet. Everyone’s still asleep. My children are not around. So I’m outside and I’m having breakfast. Nice healthy breakfast. I’m thinking overnight oats and an espresso, if you wanna. I’m getting very specific on how my dream day started. And I’m reading. That would be dreamy. And then I am probably on this dream day, I’m working from home. So I’m in my. I’m in my office and I’m like ready to go by 8 o’. Clock. And in the morning I’m. I’m. I’m probably taking all that energy that I’ve created by starting my day like that and I’m giving it to people. So I’m running some workshops. I’m spending time with the team. Like, all the sunshiny energy is going to back to the business and to people. And in the afternoon, my dream day, I’m then reading, probably with some poster notes, and I’m like thinking, oh, yeah, that’s a good thing that I could write. Or that’d be a really good idea to share with Sarah. Or that’d be a really good thing for a podcast. And then I’d probably end my day on my peloton doing a hike, watching something interesting on YouTube. Dream Day.
Sarah Ellis: Dream day.
Helen Tupper: Dream day. Very excited about that.
Sarah Ellis: How often do you reckon you have those dream days?
Helen Tupper: I mean, not that often, but. But to be more positive, next Friday, I have completely. I’ve. I’ve put no meetings in capital letters in my diary. And other than picking my kids up from school, it is a day that I can design as I choose. And it is. It is quite springy. I could do that day maybe next week.
Sarah Ellis: Do you wanna see your dream day? Yeah, and I’ll hold it up.
Helen Tupper: I can see cups. I can see.
Sarah Ellis: So you’ve got your. Like, I’ve done it sort of that way, so it kind of flows like that. I probably. If I’d have had more time, I’d have drawn a squiggle to, like show the flow. Yeah, but you’re getting up, you’re in nature. You’ve got your coffee and your books. This is you in your studio, which looks tiny bit like a tent there. You don’t work in a tent. But it does sort of look. It’s very woody. This is you giving your Energy to other people, books and ideas and post its and you’re kind of pelotoning. And I think what’s interesting about doing that is we’re not going to repeat it for me, but ours would be very different.
Helen Tupper: Yes.
Sarah Ellis: So you’re like, actually sometimes we assume that our dream day is everybody’s dream day. But I mean I can tell you I’m not getting up at 5 o’ clock for a start. But some would be similar, some would be different. And I think the point isn’t to feel demotivated that you’re not having your dream day at the moment, but is to sort of notice, okay, well what are the things that then maybe you could do every day?
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: And that’s not your day every day. Like I know it’s not your day every day.
Helen Tupper: Okay. Do you know if it was my day every day, it probably wouldn’t be
Sarah Ellis: dream day every day. Yeah, yeah. So I think that’s an interesting insight. Like your dream day is not the same as your every day.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: But if you were to now take that drawing and if you were to going well out of those things, what do you want to make part of your everyday? Which would be the area where you’d be like, oh, if I was circling.
Helen Tupper: Oh well, I don’t know if it’s every day because I think it’s a bit weather dependent. But I’m thinking next day I’m like, I’m thinking having done that and I’m like, okay, well what, what’s, what’s the, the soonest thing that I can do?
Sarah Ellis: Yeah.
Helen Tupper: And I’m thinking it’s sunny at the moment. I could definitely do my early morning tomorrow. Like I could definitely get up, sit outside. I’m quite, I’m like quite looking forward to the thought of that. Yeah, yeah, that’d be a great way to start my day.
Sarah Ellis: And I think if you are doing this as a team exercise and if you’re using the giant yellow post notes or anything different, I think having them up on the wall is really nice. A bit like when we talk about having a confidence gremlin gallery and almost then you can go around and see different people’s dream days or different people’s confidence gremlins and just get people talking about them. When we do the confidence gremlin gallery, we always get people to sign their pictures, which I always think is really, really nice.
Helen Tupper: Works virtually though as well, doesn’t it? Like if you had a team and maybe you go into like a breakout room as a two and I draw yours, you draw mine, and then you come back and you kind of. You can hold it up to the screen. That’d be quite a nice, like, team screenshot, I think.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah.
Helen Tupper: Of, like, everybody’s dream days, especially if you’re in a global team.
Sarah Ellis: I think everything that we’ve done would work virtually.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: I can’t think of anything that we’ve. You could. You could do your drawing, right? Yeah. Sitting at home and just. Just hold them up.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: I just think often what we’re definitely seeing a bit of a trend towards is now, I think, probably because post the pandemic, everyone’s been working out how to work again. Teams are getting together a bit more frequently, valuing kind of connection and, like, time. Time to, like, reconnect. And I think often activities like this is how you get to know more about who people are, not only why we’re together as a team and what we need to achieve. So when I talk to teams about things like values, everyone always says, I’ll start with the why. But I always think it’s really interesting to start with the who, because then you’re just connecting with, like, who someone is what matters to them. Like, that’s given me a bit of an insight into your values. Right. You know, like, you know, I know some of your values around, like, freedom and, like, energy is like. Like, your values are showing up in your dream day. And I think it could be a bit intimidating to be like, right, we’re gonna start our team day talking about values. Unless you’re our team, in which case they’d probably be like, sure, we’re expecting it by this point, but if you were just like, we’re all just gonna talk about our dream work day or just our dream, maybe even your dream weekend day, if you don’t want to make it a work day.
Helen Tupper: I think my dream weekend day probably would be that day.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah, ours would be that different. But I think you get quick clues, quick clues about what motivates and drives people. So how are you feeling about our drawing exercises today?
Helen Tupper: Well, I was going back to the start in my head, and you said. What did you say? Mood. You said memory. And there was a third one.
Sarah Ellis: You said, well, it activates all the different kind of parts of your brain.
Helen Tupper: Yeah, well, I definitely. The pictures are memorable. Like, you know, I’ve got your boxing. I’ve got them in my head. I’ve got my diamond in my head. But my main thing is mood, particularly because of how we’ve done it. Like I started thinking I’m not very good at drawing and I really want other people to find this easy. But it was really easy. And I feel like I’ve connected with some of the things that I’ve drawn and I’ve really enjoyed like hearing what you’ve drawn and why you’ve drawn it. It’s been a very enjoyable process also
Sarah Ellis: for most people in most jobs. How often do you draw in a day? Yeah. Like for most people, I imagine the answer to that is never.
Helen Tupper: I mean you might doodle.
Sarah Ellis: Yes.
Helen Tupper: But like you’re not necessarily thinking and creating a drawing that connects to what you’re thinking.
Sarah Ellis: And you could even make it a bit of a practise or you could do. You could experiment for a week.
Helen Tupper: Right.
Sarah Ellis: You know the. How am I feeling about work? You could do, how do I feel about work today? At the end of every day and just do a picture at the end of every work day and just do that like completely. Like a drawing diary completely for yourself. And again, nobody needs to see it, but just like just notice, like how does that help you? Does it help you reflect? Does it help you learn? Does it improve your mood? And it just might be interesting, I think just given it’s not a big part of most people’s working day, but it’s probably something we all did loads as a kid because who didn’t draw as a kid? I think it’s just a skill we forget. And also I do think people get really preoccupied by I’m not a good drawer. Yes. So we kind of have this fixed view and then it stops us from having a go.
Helen Tupper: I think drawing and talking makes a difference because my drawing, it doesn’t have to be a good drawing because I’m gonna explain it anyway.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah.
Helen Tupper: I just wanna like.
Sarah Ellis: It’s fine.
Helen Tupper: Yeah, yeah.
Sarah Ellis: So actually when I first say to people, you’re not allowed any words. People often look a bit angry at me. They’re like, well, I was gonna use those words to explain it. And I’m like, well no, that’s okay. Cause you’re gonna share instead of a draw and a share, which is really nice.
Helen Tupper: Well, thank you. I enjoyed that a lot.
Sarah Ellis: Welcome. That is everything for this week. We hope it has inspired, inspired you to have a go at drawing and to have a play with post its whether you’re playing with the tiny ones, the medium ones, or our favourites, the massive yellow ones. But that’s everything for this week. Thank you so much. Whether you are listening or watching, if you ever have any feedback, you can always email us. We’re helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com and if you have time for a five minute favour. We always really appreciate a review. A star rating really helps other people to find us and we really appreciate it and read everyone too. That’s everything for this week. We’re back with you again soon. Bye for now.
Helen Tupper: Thanks everybody.