I talked to a friend recently about how I think about different jobs, and I wanted to document it here so that I can also share it with others.
People
Like with most things, it starts with people. Are you working with brilliant, creative, hardworking, and kind people? It's tough to get all four at the same time. But when you do find it, it is like magic.
What
Are you working on projects that matter to you? This is highly specific to the person and will most often change. That's a good thing!
How
Are you working in a life-giving way? Whether you fall in the work-life balance camp or in the work-life integration one, it's clear that work has an outsized impact on how you experience life. Pay attention to this. Every day won't be perfect, but the aggregate should be revealing.
Learning / Growing
Are you learning and growing? Treading water can easily drain your energy and motivation. I love being in positions where I am constantly learning - about new topics, new capabilities, new technologies - and am in a position to grow and try out new things.
Valued
Are you and your work seen and valued? You can be doing some killer work, but if it isn't seen or valued, something needs to change. You shouldn't live or die by external validation, but be in a place that knows how to celebrate the wins along the way.
How you can use it
In the past, I've used this rubric to conduct regular check-ins with myself. I've experimented with answering these questions with both "Low, Medium, High" options and on a scale of 1 to 5, and I tend to like the 5-point scale. I've also used this to help assess different job options.
We're all at different points in our career and our lives, and different parts of the rubric may be more important to you than others. You may even be tempted to think about weighting these elements differently so that you can get a more "accurate" score.
Don't do it.
Don't overengineer it or overthink it.
This should be a quick, pulse check that can give you some light structure to reflect on what is and isn't going well - both at the moment and even over time.
George Box said: all models are wrong, but some are useful.
Similarly, focus on the utility of this rubric and less on the accuracy of it. Trust your gut.