Career Progress Framework (Job Moves)

Value Proposition: Stop choosing jobs based on features (salary/title) and start "hiring" roles that provide the specific experiences and progress you need. By identifying your current "Quest" and analyzing your energy drivers, you can find a role that reduces stress and increases productivity.

1. Diagnose Your Career Quest

Identify which of the four primary "quests" is driving your desire to change. Each quest requires a different strategy for your next move.

• Get Out: You are in a toxic or exhausting environment. Your priority is to stop the bleeding. Look for a "Jobcation"—a role you can do with "one hand tied behind your back" to rest and recover.
• Take the Next Step: You have mastered your current role but the path upward is blocked. Optimize for skill acquisition and "half-steps" that lead to your ultimate long-term goal.
• Regain Control: Your work is bleeding into your personal life. Optimize for time management, boundaries, and autonomy over your schedule.
• Realignment: You were promoted or shifted into work you dislike (e.g., a maker moved into management). Optimize for getting back to the core tasks you actually enjoy and excel at.

2. Conduct an Energy Audit

Analyze the specific contexts that give you energy versus those that drain it.

1. Review the last 12 months: List 3–5 moments where you felt a "2X or 3X" surge in energy. Identify the context: Who were you with? What was the specific problem? What was the pace?
2. Identify Drains: List moments that left you depleted. Use the "Bottom 5" of a strengths assessment (like StrengthsFinder) to identify tasks that inherently drain you because they are outside your natural wiring.
3. Define Requirements: Convert these into design requirements.
   • Bad: "I want to learn."