I think that the “Doom Loop” has been described the most times on a cocktail napkin during a conversation with a friend.

It’s easy to do.

All you have to do is to draw a 2 x 2 matrix as shown in the image and put the “good at,” “not good at,” “like,” and “don’t like” outside the matrix.  Label the quadrants “Q1 through Q4” as shown.

Inside the matrix put in how one feels if what they are doing falls into that particular quadrant.

Then you can talk about what you are doing in your job – or what your friend is doing in a job – and see pretty quickly into which quadrant those things fall.

You should not be surprised if your friend immediately identifies with the “Doom Loop.”

Then you can have a discussion about what sorts of things you can do to remedy the situation by using a new vocabulary – such as, “Hey!  I’m in Q3.  How do I get to Q1?”

The cocktail napkin makes it pretty easy to do – and you will be surprised at how many times you actually use it to describe the “Doom Loop.”

Give it a try!