When someone asks if you’re happy in your job, the answer is generally “yes” or “no” after a short pause.
But something very interesting happens in between the question and the answer.
During that brief moment, your brain goes through an assessment to: compartmentalize, weight, and rank all aspects of the job which are most/least important to you. Your job satisfaction is then determined from the aggregate sum of these parts.
Imagine a set of 4 or 5 buckets. Each bucket has a label representing a desired job characteristic. There’s no set combination of buckets or labels – it’s entirely up to you. Just don’t end up with 10 buckets because then you dilute the importance of each. The labels could be anything: social impact, impressing the opposite sex, compensation, contribution, entertainment, work/life balance, ethical practices, whatever would constitute your “dream job”.
Once your satisfaction has been broken down into the buckets, it’s time to re-size them. Think about what’s most important. Determine how heavily each one weighs on your happiness. This will be a very personal process and different for everyone, which is why there are well-paid bankers who overlook their long hours or not as well-paid non-profit employees swelling with pride from their sense of purpose.