How Do You Know if You Suck at Your Job?

I posed this question to a coworker yesterday. He wasn't sure. 1 week shy of 3 months into this adventure and the question is coming up. Looks like time to look over the measurables from our evaluation form and have a talk with the boss. There are tons of ways to know, if you suck at your job. Make an honest review of your performance against stated objectives like Sales goals and evaluation criteria. If someone in charge of you has provided formal feedback (a write up of some sort), that could be a sign. You can also tell by whether or not you are making deadlines and receiving notes from stakeholders that things aren't done as expected. These signs do not mean you will permanently suck at your job, but you are definitely sucking right now. Self-reflection can help, but this is not a time for you perfectionists to beat yourself up. You are just looking for the points where things went sideways to see how you can avoid that in the future. A few of my great trips sideways have been a product of applying my frustrations or distractions to my work. Things fall through the cracks and erode my reputation as a timely and accurate support professional. It is recoverable, as long as the slump doesn't last too long. If your slump looks more like the Detroit Lions than the New England Patriots, you need to fire up your resume and practice interviewing. Otherwise, suck it up and get back out on the field and prove yourself.