Map Your Career: 5 Visual Tools to Find Clarity and Direction episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 21, 2025 · 38 MIN

Map Your Career: 5 Visual Tools to Find Clarity and Direction

from Squiggly Careers · host The Squiggly Career

This week on the Squiggly Careers podcast, Sarah and Helen borrow brilliance from an unexpected source — maps. Inspired by Jürgen Appelo’s Substack post “I Started Drawing Maps”, they explore how mapping can help you find clarity, confidence and direction in your squiggly career. You’ll hear about five different types of maps you can create to understand yourself and your work better — from mapping your energy and relationships to visualising your skills, possibilities and problems. Episode 504 🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster: PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction — Borrowing brilliance from maps 01:00 Why maps matter for our squiggly careers 06:40 The value of visuals for clarity and creativity 08:37 Map 1: Energy Map 13:30 Map 2: Give–Gain Map 18:45 Map 3: Skills Map 24:15 Map 4: Possibilities Map 30:00 Map 5: Problem Map 38:00 How to pick the right map for you 🎯 What You’ll Learn - How visual thinking can bring clarity to your career - Five creative ways to map your work and growth - How to use maps for reflection, self-awareness, and team development - Practical examples you can try right away 📚 Resources Mentioned I Started Drawing Maps by Jürgen Appelo https://substack.jurgenappelo.com/p/i-started-drawing-maps The Secret Language of Maps — Stanford Design School https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Language-Maps-Stanford-D-School/dp/1984858009 AI Skills Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=5fD8VGW4Z46LgJFr For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected] More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction 📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the Squiggly Careers podcast, Sarah and Helen borrow brilliance from an unexpected source — maps. Inspired by Jürgen Appelo’s Substack post “I Started Drawing Maps”, they explore how mapping can help you find clarity, confidence and direction in your squiggly career. You’ll hear about five different types of maps you can create to understand yourself and your work better — from mapping your energy and relationships to visualising your skills, possibilities and problems. Episode 504 🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster: PRH US - https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn Amazon UK - https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction — Borrowing brilliance from maps 01:00 Why maps matter for our squiggly careers 06:40 The value of visuals for clarity and creativity 08:37 Map 1: Energy Map 13:30 Map 2: Give–Gain Map 18:45 Map 3: Skills Map 24:15 Map 4: Possibilities Map 30:00 Map 5: Problem Map 38:00 How to pick the right map for you 🎯 What You’ll Learn - How visual thinking can bring clarity to your career - Five creative ways to map your work and growth - How to use maps for reflection, self-awareness, and team development - Practical examples you can try right away 📚 Resources Mentioned I Started Drawing Maps by Jürgen Appelo https://substack.jurgenappelo.com/p/i-started-drawing-maps The Secret Language of Maps — Stanford Design School https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Language-Maps-Stanford-D-School/dp/1984858009 AI Skills Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=5fD8VGW4Z46LgJFr For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected] More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction 📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Map Your Career: 5 Visual Tools to Find Clarity and Direction

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This episode was published on October 21, 2025.

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This week on the Squiggly Careers podcast, Sarah and Helen borrow brilliance from an unexpected source — maps. Inspired by Jürgen Appelo’s Substack post “I Started Drawing Maps”, they explore how mapping can help you find clarity, confidence and...

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