By Julia Moore

I’ve had management theories, business jargon and ‘buzz words’ up to, and beyond my rucksack. Enough already. Apart from, of course, the one I am just about to impart on the world, allowing someone else, no doubt, to make bucks from it.

My partner, a talented maths teacher reminds me, often, that the Venn diagram principle is no longer part of the UK maths education national curriculum. This is both a tragedy, AND an opportunity, as the management SWOT analysts have told us, yawningly, for years. As one of the few aspects of maths which inspired me, the thought process required as one learns about the universal set and the overlapping intersections was a sound one. But, little did ye know, after some research, I find that the Venn principles has more layers than one first thought...

What even my talentteacher partner did not know is that Venn theory was used by the ancient, IndoEuropean subgroups. Absorbed by them from the Eastern Orients, they used it as a sort of farminghusbandry system, to guide them in their movements to rich pastures, resources vital to nomadic peoples. We, now, have lost touch with such lifestyle. If you do have a yurt (let’s face it, who doesn’t, these days?) I bet you go to the supermarket when your baking cupboard is bare, for example. Later civilisationsus, in other words, took ‘Venn’, and rebranded it, translating it into the language of maths.

Imagine, if you will, that your life, up to this point is the universal set. Do this with me, class, please….draw a rectangle box, with the letter ‘u’, top righthand. Then, draw two, large, circles, with onethird overlapping, in the middle. Now, if the weekend is rainy and no hope of anything more entertaining on the horizon, begin to complete the square and circle….thus:

1. The square box, outside the circles represents EVERYTHING in your life pencil cases, food, hats, family, friends, money, lifestyle choices (eg, filling in Venn diagrams). Write as many keywords, in the manner of above, as possible.
2. In the left hand circle, the nonoverlapping section, from the above list, enter again, everything/one that you would like to eliminate from your existence (be careful about naming anyone specificially, if they find the diagram, they might cry ‘murder’?).
3. In the righthand circle, enter all those things and people you would, ideally, like to have in your lifezone.
4. In the overlapping, intersection, write ALL the things which you think, are preventing you from achieving the lefthand circles.

Zhasam….or whatever the ancient civilisations would have exclaimed…….There you have it a 21st Century equivalent of a cosmopolitan farmingrotation system. It worked for a good few centuries from medieval times plus, it will, in all probability, make a gamechanger now?

Retain the diagram for a reasonable period of time and monitor how your lifepath changes and whether it conforms to the patterns of the circles.