Even if you’re an excellent employee, performance reviews can be a daunting process. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your accomplishments and value, distinguishing yourself to management. Going over everything you’ve done and then coming up with goals can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. By doing a few things throughout the year, you can make this process much less stressful. By following the tips in this blog, you’ll be more prepared than ever to have an excellent review.

1. Track Your Responsibilities

We’ve covered the importance of tracking your accomplishments in a previous blog and it’s so crucial that we’re going to mention it again.

When it comes to your performance review, preparation is extremely important. No one pays closer attention to your work than you do and your manager will most likely not remember everything you've accomplished during the year.

Knowing this, you should take some time to look over your job description and create a spreadsheet of all your current responsibilities and projects. You shouldn’t be picky; if you played any part in a task, write it down. You never know if it might be useful to bring up.

Overall, you should highlight your accomplishments and document your progress on important milestones. The case you make can have a large impact on whether you get a raise and/or promotion.

2. Create a Brag Folder

Another excellent way to prepare for the review and showcase your value is to create a brag folder.

Anytime you get a note complimenting you on a job well done or a thank you note from a thankful client, place it in that folder. When review time comes, search through it and pick out the best ones.

If you haven’t started yet, take a look through your calendar and email to find some examples.

3. Look Towards the Future

Think ahead to the future roles or responsibilities that you might be interested in. Get a sense of what subjects pique your interest and what objectives you want to improve on. From there, you can start to set your goals for next year. From there, make your goals your mission for the next year. Keep your goals current, track your progress and update them as appropriate to reflect changes in your role or responsibilities.

4. Tackle Your Weaknesses

An important factor in moving your career forward is making sure that you’re aware of your weaknesses. You should monitor the areas that challenge you and translate those into goals for improvement, whether it picking up a new skill or a gaining subject knowledge.

Armed with a list of accomplishments and a plan for goal setting, you’ll be ready to ace your next performance review.