tl;dr
These 3 career assessment questions really matters for work-life happiness and satisfaction.
- What you do?
- Who you do it with?
- What you get paid for it?
A minimum of 2 out of 3 is necessary. Otherwise, reassess your status quo.
1. What you do?
The work you do on a daily basis matters a lot. You spend most of your waking hours on or around it. It needs to be engaging, inspiring, satisfying. It needs to be inline with the purpose you have in mind. Alignment with your inner self is necessary. Is it where you wanted to be and worked for? Is this going to take or keep you where you want to be?
For example, if you are a developer and want to work on mobile development, and are working on building a mobile app or system, you are good on this one. If you want to do mobile development and are doing either, say testing or web development, chart a path to where you want to be and figure out how to get there. Carve at least an hour to practice and work on it.
You are what you do.
2. Who you do it with?
Any business is a people business. It is centered around people. Even if you are saving turtles, it is with people, and funded and directed by people. So, having the energy and attitude that is inline with your own is paramount.
Surround yourself with good, talented and hardworking people. Those with a growth mindset are constantly working to better themselves, their work and people around them. Talented set of people with an arrogant attitude are no help to anyone. Seek people who are fundamentally good humans and have a great attitude or intent to life and work. Good people improve the experience the livability of working on something that you may not be 100% passionate about. You are improving nevertheless.
Experiencing life and work, is everything.
3. What you get paid for it?
It’s not all about the money. However, it is an exchange of value. It’s easy to overestimate and underestimate the value of your work. If you are greedy or not, if there is a mismatch in the value you offer and the value you receive in return, it will eventually catchup.
For example, if you are overpaid and are atrophying, your work value delivered will not be equivalent to value placed on you. On the contrary, if you are underpaid for the value you deliver, over long periods of time, the work assignments you receive in the future may not fuel your growth. Eventually, this situation may sour your growth or motivation and catchup to you.
Keep a pulse on your value.
Hope these discrete questions help with the reflection of your value, situation, growth curve and maturity.
Let’s keep learning and moving forward.