So you've succeeded in navigating the long, demoralizing, painstaking process of landing a job offer. Congratulations!

Chances are the first thing you'll want to do is share the good news with family, friends and mentors -- and get their take on whether you should accept it.

But wait! Picking up the phone too soon can be a serious mistake. Why?

The only person’s values you want driving your career decisions are your own.

And until you clarify what's most important to you, it's best to avoid input from others that could muddle your decision-making process, or possibly bind you to satisfying their preferences over yours.

For example, your family likely values your safety and security, which influences their guidance on whether you should accept that higher paying, prestigious, stable job offer. Whereas your friend who recently left her Fortune 500 job for a startup may nudge you to reject a stable offer.

But the best predictor of your future happiness isn’t whether the job would impress, soothe or feel right to others -- it’s how the job aligns with your values.

To help my coaching clients tackle the challenging endeavor of checking in with themselves before seeking the advice of others, I developed an exercise called the “Offer Evaluation Matrix” which simplifies the decision-making process in a few key ways:

1. It enables you to effectively compare your offer(s) to your current position within the context of what's most important to you -- decreasing the likelihood that you'll be influenced by others or parts of an offer that aren’t sincerely important to you at this time (e.g. a company prestige or an on-site gym).

2. It gives you a one-page document to share with others so that when you ask "What should I do?", they can help you make the best decision for you, not themselves.

3. This exercise also helps you gut check whether you're pulled one way or another, and sets the stage for negotiating. After you’ve compared your options side by side, ask yourself, "What would need to change about option A or option B to make this an easy decision?" Once you have that answer, you can ask for it from your current or prospective employer.

Here's HOW TO CREATE YOUR OFFER EVALUATION MATRIX:

First, list all of the aspects of a job that are important to you.

The NSC matrix (included in my Land Your Dream Job program) includes the below categories, but you should also add any additional categories that matter to you.

• Financial Package

• Job Description

• Opportunities for Growth/Advancement

• Long-Term Goal Alignment

• Stress Level

• Hours/Flexibility/Balance

• Travel

• Location/Commute

• Manager Quality

• Company Mission

• Company Leadership

• Brand/Prestige

• Job Title

Second, fill in the details for each option side by side.

If there are details you’ve left blank because of incomplete information (e.g. your offer didn't include benefits information or a job description), follow up with the company, your network, or conduct online research to get answers to those questions -- you can't fully consider an offer otherwise.

Last - and most importantly - re-order your categories from most to least important.

This is where you hone in on your values.

Values are defined as "what's most important in one's life," and so you want to ask yourself:

"In the coming 2-5 years, which aspects of my job or career are most important to me?”

It can feel hard, but you have to make the tough decision for yourself — is the salary package what’s most important at this phase of your career? Or is it growth opportunities? The resume-building title? Or getting to work with a team and manager you’ll enjoy?

Two critical points to keep in mind while completing this exercise:

1. Every job requires tradeoffs.

2. There’s no “right” answer, because everyone’s answer is different.

That’s why clarifying what matters most to YOU is the most important step. By doing so, you will get a much clearer sense of which opportunity will most likely lead to your fulfillment.

And once you do, you can pick up the phone and call your network for advice, and rest assured that you’ve checked in with the right person first before opening up the discussion to your peanut gallery.

P.S. What I also love about this exercise is that it not only helps us put our values at the forefront of our career decision making -- it also helps us keep in mind that the next time a friend or family member comes to us for guidance, we may want to ask what’s most important to them before chiming in.