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The Bugs Test: Take ownership of your career in 10 minutes

The Bugs Test: Take ownership of your career in 10 minutes

Last week we broke down why job searching should be one of everyone’s 2017 New Year’s Resolutions. But the first job search step I tell all my clients to take is to honestly assess your potential to turn your current position into one you love, before you double down on looking elsewhere.

One of the best exercises I've found for assessing challenging situations and getting moving in the right direction is The Bugs Test, which I learned from my mentor Tony Brown at Duke University.

What makes The Bugs Test so powerful is its immediate ability to provide clarity by categorizing problems into:

  • the problems we can easily change,
  • the problems we should accept (because they’ll never change), and
  • the problems we might be able to change with serious thought and effort (hint: these are often the most important ones).

Whether you’re interested in moving on or simply making an already strong work situation even better, in 10 minutes you should have clearer insight into how to take ownership of your next steps and your future happiness at work.

Define Your Values In 10 Minutes

Define Your Values In 10 Minutes

Identifying your values is an important step in understanding what motivates you in and out of the office. 

  1. On the chart below, circle the top 15 values of most importance to you out of the 150 values listed
  2. Once you have your top 15, strike 5 from your list to find your top 10
  3. Once you have your top 10, strike 3 more from your list to find your top 7
  4. Now rank your top 7 values from most to least important. This will help you evaluate potential opportunities and how to take the right step in the face of challenging decisions in the future.

Once you have completed this exercise, you can move on to our career direction diagnostic to help you define your purpose at work.