How do you grade yourself?

When a client project or engagement comes to a close, what leaves you feeling like you did well? Months later, will you look back at this as one of your better times, or less so? How will you know?

Some possibilities:

• The amount of revenue produced for unit of your time or energy
• Whether the client is likely to want to work with you again (and if they’ve already brought it up)
• If you went in working at a skill edge, can you now market a new skillset more honestly?
• Did you actually solve the client’s problem?
• Did you help someone at a client organization make a good career move?

You can look around to other folks in careers and positions you don’t value and get a feel for how they grade themselves; often, it’ll help you to understand why those life choices don’t appeal to you. Some folks grade themselves on how many buildings they can plaster their name on, or how many people they can injure emotionally, or the quantity of possessions with expensive brand names on them they can acquire.

Knowing in advance which of these or other possibilities resonate with you & feel Important will help guide your decisions in the moment towards outcomes that you’ll value more–and to avoid the easy pitfall of just choosing societal defaults (which, stateside, is typically “work too much, try to get paid a lot”).