Tracking Your Work Experience With Data
I love to track and log things. I always have. I write down what I do each day. I keep track of the meals I cook, the runs I do, the trips I take, and all sorts of other information and data. Yes, it’s a lot, but it’s fun for me to have data to look back at and from time to time I like to see patterns with it.
When I was having a hard time at work, it made sense to me to start keeping track of basic information. I wanted to know if what I was experiencing was a blip in time or a pattern that was more long-lasting.
So I started to do a monthly check-in to keep track of things that were important to me like: my happiness, my stress level, and the value I felt I was adding through my work. I scored them all on a scale of 1-10 and did so every month for years.
I used this data to determine when it was time to switch roles or when it was time to leave a job. The biggest factor for me was my stress level, which can be hard to quantify. So when I saw that I was an 8 out 10 (on feeling stressed) for many months in a row, I knew it was time to make a change.
If you want to track what’s important to you at work, here’s how.
What to Measure
Measure what’s important to you. Brainstorm and start to think about the following questions:
What do you need to feel energized at work?
Take some time to brainstorm what this is for you. Is it being challenged or connecting with people? Maybe it’s plenty of quiet time for yourself to dig into a problem.
What factors are important to you in a job?
Maybe it’s being happy at work or having coworkers you enjoy collaborating with. Maybe it’s your pay or how you and others are treated.
What skills do you want to develop in the next year?
Is there a technical skill you are working on? Do you want to learn a new part of the business? Is there an area of leadership you are focused on improving?
Finalize Your List
After you brainstorm, come up with a list of your top 3-5 things that are most important to you. Frame them in a way that you can rate them on a scale of 1-10.
Some examples:
Am I challenged at work?
Do I feel valued at work?
How happy am I?
Am I treated with respect?
How stressed am I at work?
Are my project management skills growing?
Tracking the Data
Come up with a mechanism for tracking the data, ideally it is something where you won’t see previous inputs. This could be a Google Form you fill out or a Google Calendar Reminder. I had a Monthly Google Calendar Reminder Email that contained all of the questions I wanted to ask myself. I would reply to that email with the answers to the questions. Then every few months I would take a few minutes to put the results of those answers into a spreadsheet with the previous answers.
You also should determine the cadence. It could be weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
Keep It Simple
This should be something that is easy and doesn’t take up too much time. It used to take me less than 5 minutes a month. The simpler it is, the more likely you are to keep doing it. If you are able to consistently do this over a period of time, then you can consider adding more information/complexity.
Look at It Over Time
See what patterns emerge. Try to look at it objectively. If a friend showed you the data they had, what would you think of it? Are there areas that can be improved? Feel free to add new questions or adjust the questions as life and work changes.
In an upcoming post, I’ll share how to take action based on this data. Until then, enjoy the logging.
Disclaimer: I’m not saying this is the most scientific method in the world, but it’s better than nothing and provided me with what I needed to make decisions about what was best for me and my job.