Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Yesterday we talked about how to nail an upcoming annual
Speaker 1: performance review. Today's tip is more forward looking. You can
Speaker 1: plan a great year by writing next year's performance review.
Speaker 1: Now here's how this works. If your organization has an
Speaker 1: annual performance review process, at some point in the next
Speaker 1: few weeks, you'll sit down with your manager and figure
Speaker 1: out the past year's successes and opportunities for growth or
Speaker 1: whatever euphemism your organization uses. This serves its purpose but
Speaker 1: has its limitations. Yesterday we talked about recency bias. Whatever
Speaker 1: happens in October tends to matter more than what happens
Speaker 1: in February. This is a great opportunity if you handle
Speaker 1: October right. So that's what we focused on. Though it's
Speaker 1: kind of unfortunate if your big wins happened early, but
Speaker 1: most fundamentally, the past is done, gone over. If you
Speaker 1: had some major disaster in July, the time to deal
Speaker 1: with it and learn from it was in July, not
Speaker 1: in November or December many months later. Likewise, if you
Speaker 1: had some major success in May, that's the point to
Speaker 1: analyze what worked, so you can benefit from that knowledge immediately.
Speaker 1: We can't change the past once it's over. The future, however,
Speaker 1: is not so constrained. It is wide open. By figuring
Speaker 1: out what you'd like to say at next year's performance review,
Speaker 1: you can shape the next year to increase the chances
Speaker 1: of these victories coming to be. So today, try this exercise.
Speaker 1: Pretend it is December. If you work for an organization
Speaker 1: and you'd like to continue working there, you could pretend
Speaker 1: you're sitting down with your manager. But you could also
Speaker 1: just decide that your long term career is solely in
Speaker 1: your purview. You're going to give yourself this performance review.
Speaker 1: So it is December, and in this future vision, you
Speaker 1: are beaming. It has been an amazing year for you professionally.
Speaker 1: You are popping the champagne corks and celebrating. If this
Speaker 1: were to be the case, what three to five things
Speaker 1: would you have done to make the year so amazing.
Speaker 1: Think about what these three to five things might be
Speaker 1: and write them down. Now it can really be whatever
Speaker 1: you want. Maybe this is the year you score that promotion,
Speaker 1: or finally hire an assistant who makes your life easier
Speaker 1: Maybe this is the year you bring in a fantastic
Speaker 1: client or launch that networking event you keep talking about.
Speaker 1: Maybe you got accepted into a graduate program, or you
Speaker 1: wrote a draft to vote book. You gave a well
Speaker 1: received talk at your company's annual retreat. Feel free to
Speaker 1: be specific, and also feel free to think big, because
Speaker 1: the truth is, you don't have to show this to
Speaker 1: anyone now. I'd encourage you to share any big dreams
Speaker 1: you have with people who might help make them happen.
Speaker 1: But whether you share or not, if you know what
Speaker 1: you'd like to do by December, this can start shaping
Speaker 1: your schedule over the next year. You can put this
Speaker 1: list somewhere you will see every day, so it can
Speaker 1: start informing your schedule choices. If you know you'd like
Speaker 1: to give a talk at the annual retreat, you can
Speaker 1: prioritize looking over the last few year's topics and meeting
Speaker 1: with the organizers. If you'd like to bring in a
Speaker 1: new client, you can prioritize going to events where you
Speaker 1: might meet such people, or renewing connections with old colleagues
Speaker 1: or friends who have taken jobs at organizations that might
Speaker 1: work with you. Now. Of course, in life, we need
Speaker 1: to be open to possibility too. We can't plan everything.
Speaker 1: If I were to have written my twenty nineteen performance
Speaker 1: review at this point last year, in early October, I
Speaker 1: would have had no idea that I would launch a
Speaker 1: podcast called Before Breakfast in March. I would have had
Speaker 1: no clue that by the end of the year many
Speaker 1: millions of people would have downloaded the show. I am
Speaker 1: thrilled with this development, and it certainly listed as a
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen highlight, but I wouldn't have anticipated it until
Speaker 1: I looked into some late brainstorming sessions with the right people. However,
Speaker 1: I did know that I wanted to do certain other things.
Speaker 1: I wanted to launch my time management fable, Juliette's School
Speaker 1: of Possibilities, and I wanted to come up with a
Speaker 1: new book topic. And so I've made time for those
Speaker 1: things while leaving space for whatever other wonderful opportunities might
Speaker 1: come up. These things are not either or so right
Speaker 1: next year's performance review. Now, as we know from Stephen
Speaker 1: Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly effect to People,
Speaker 1: successful sorts tend to put first things first. A big
Speaker 1: part of putting first things first is knowing what those
Speaker 1: first things are writing next year's performance review. Now helps
Speaker 1: you identify those priorities so you can make them a
Speaker 1: part of your life. In the meantime, This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. That
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.