Charles C. Jett All Posts, Using The Doom Loop

Use the “Doom Loop Language!”

The “Doom Loop” is just a shorthand visual method of determining what might be affecting you at various times in your career such as the six “career crises” discussed.

Rather than entering into a long discussion about how you might feel at a particular moment, you can simply use the shorthand language to “say it all” in one simple sentence.  For example:

“I’m going Q3!”   What this means is that you have been in a particular job for awhile, have basically learned the skills and nature of the tasks that you have to do, and now you are beginning to have feelings of frustration and/or boredom.  This does NOT necessarily mean that you are “doomed” in that particular job – because other factors may be the cause of this feeling.  However, it MIGHT mean that the “Doom Loop” effects are starting to take hold.

“That job looks like a Q1/Q2 opportunity for me!”  This is generally a good sign – it means that the job contains responsibilities and tasks that you “like” to do, but there are some aspects of the job for which your skills and training might be a little lacking.  That’s not bad at all – in fact, if those jobs and tasks fit the sort of skill profile you are trying to build, then taking such a job just might give you a significant amount of motivation and enthusiasm for learning.

The important things you want to remember about the “Doom Loop” are as follows:

  • Learn the matrix . . . it is simple.  Here it is.
Matrix With Feelings
Matrix – With Feelings
  • Understand what “Q1,” “Q2,” “Q3,” and “Q4” mean.  Those are the quadrants in the matrix that will define how you either feel or will feel in a particular job.
  • Understand that the “Doom Loop” measures only TWO variables – “like/don’t like” and “good at/not good at.”  There may be other aspects of the job (i.e., other variables) that come into your equation – and these might invalidate the entire “Doom Loop” calculation.
  • Understand that the “Doom Loop” is DYNAMIC.  How you feel will change over time as you learn and grow in your job – or as you start becoming frustrated and bored.

So learn the language – it can give you a shorthand to self analysis of what is going on in your career.

~ CCJ