Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that you can win the year in October.
Speaker 1: People tend to best remember what happened recently, so you
Speaker 1: can use that insight to your advantage. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of organizations do annual reviews toward the end of
Speaker 1: the calendar year. You sit down with your manager, or
Speaker 1: you sit down with your direct reports and talk about
Speaker 1: people's successes and opportunities for growth or whatever your euphemism
Speaker 1: happens to be. Theoretically, an annual review is supposed to
Speaker 1: be just that annual. What happened in February matters as
Speaker 1: much as what happened in October. But let's be real,
Speaker 1: how much of February do you remember come November. Unless
Speaker 1: you kept meticulous notes and go back and really relive
Speaker 1: those experiences, the answer is probably not much. Whereas the
Speaker 1: project you just finished is fresh in your mind, it
Speaker 1: is naturally going to feel bigger than whatever happened in
Speaker 1: the past. So if that is the case, if you
Speaker 1: would like to shine in this year's annual review, you
Speaker 1: need a big win to happen shortly before the review.
Speaker 1: If you get reviewed in November or December, that means
Speaker 1: you can win the year in October. So think about
Speaker 1: how you would like to be seen. What story can
Speaker 1: you tell about yourself and your contributions. What could you
Speaker 1: do over the next few weeks to reinforce the story
Speaker 1: that you would like to tell about yourself. Maybe you
Speaker 1: landed a huge new client in February, to reinforce the
Speaker 1: story that you are someone who lands new work. You
Speaker 1: can talk about that and all the additional work this
Speaker 1: client has brought in since then, but then also show
Speaker 1: what you have done in October to reach out two
Speaker 1: similarly large potential clients. The big game hunter story now
Speaker 1: has multiple points of evidence. She didn't just kill a
Speaker 1: mastadon in February that we have been eating ever since.
Speaker 1: She is the kind of person who will kill another
Speaker 1: mastodon too. Or maybe you've got a track record of
Speaker 1: having very little turnover on your team. Perhaps you also
Speaker 1: lost a team member in September, which totally happens. Rather
Speaker 1: than risk that being the story in October, you do
Speaker 1: some new initiative to help your people shape their careers
Speaker 1: within your organization. Now they've all got the story of
Speaker 1: how proactive you are, and that is the story that
Speaker 1: they will tell to your evaluator. You can win the
Speaker 1: year in October. On the personal front. Two, maybe you
Speaker 1: set a new Year's resolution to get in better shape.
Speaker 1: Maybe for whatever reason, that didn't happen, But if you
Speaker 1: start working out with a trainer twice a week in October,
Speaker 1: you are still going to remember this as the year
Speaker 1: you took a major step for your physical health. It
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter that it didn't happen until Q four.
Speaker 1: So think about how you would like to portray this year,
Speaker 1: What would make it feel successful in the eyes of
Speaker 1: your employer and in your own eyes too. My guess
Speaker 1: is that you could do something in October to reinforce
Speaker 1: the story that it was a good year. And when
Speaker 1: you do, since it happened close to the time that
Speaker 1: we tend to reflect on the year, this will be
Speaker 1: what you remember. Everything else just seems far in the past.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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