Performance Review Preparation:

Your manager pings you on a random Tuesday afternoon. The subject line reads “Performance Review Preparation.”

Eek! She wants a list of your biggest accomplishments from the past year.

You open up a blank document, ready to make yourself look good. But after about thirty seconds, that confident energy completely disappears…and the cursor just blinks at you.

Now you are sitting there, mentally scrolling back through months of work, trying to remember the last time you did something that felt “review-worthy.” Your brain keeps offering up things like, “Well, I answered a lot of emails,” or “I helped with that big project…but what was that project again?”

Sound familiar?

It isn’t that you don’t have achievements. The problem is that everything you have done has gotten lost in the noise of busy schedules, new priorities, and that ever-growing list of deliverables.

Most professionals are so focused on solving problems that they barely pause long enough to appreciate the wins before they are knee-deep in the next challenge. And because of that, the best parts of your professional story (the parts that prove your value) vanish before you get a chance to write them down.

Year-Round Performance Review Preparation

Here is what usually happens: you finish a big project, the team celebrates on Friday, and by Monday morning, something new is on fire. Without even realizing it, you have already moved on.

By the time a few weeks, or, let’s be honest, a few months pass, the memory of that win fades. The metrics, the numbers, even the emails from happy clients all slip into the clutter of your inbox.

And here is the real issue: when you don’t capture those moments, they don’t exist in your professional memory. That means when you need to advocate for yourself, whether for a promotion, a raise, or even a new job, you are stuck trying to piece together evidence of your greatness like a crime scene investigator.

Your goal should be to walk into that review knowing exactly what you contributed, the impact your actions had on the team/company, and what problems you solved. But you cannot do that if your accomplishments are buried under six months of forgotten Slack messages and to-do lists.

The truth is, even the most high-performing professionals forget the magnitude of their impact. We are all wired to move forward, not look back. The work gets done, we check the box, and then the next “urgent” issue replaces it on our radar.

But without a record, all those wins that prove our growth, leadership, and problem-solving capabilities just disappear.

The Solution: The Friday 15

Here is the game-changer: something I call “The Friday 15.”

It is simple, and it works. You set aside fifteen minutes every Friday (seriously, just fifteen), and you document what you accomplished that week.

I am not talking about writing a novel… You don’t need a five-page breakdown. But you do need a few bullet points that capture the highlights and the impact.

The key is to use a tracker like a simple spreadsheet or table that follows a basic structure. I like to use the SARB framework when possible.

SARB stands for:

• Situation: What was happening or what problem needed to be solved?
• Action: What did you do to address it?
• Result: What came out of it (numbers, outcomes, improvements)?
• Benefit: Why did it matter to the team, client, or company?

That final “B” is the secret sauce. A lot of people stop at “Result,” but “Benefit” tells the story of impact. Did your action save money? Improve efficiency? Reduce turnover? Impress a client? That is the piece decision-makers care about most.

Fifteen minutes might sound like nothing, but here is what happens when you make this a weekly habit: you start seeing your work differently. You stop treating accomplishments as random accidents and start recognizing them as evidence of your influence.

It also takes the pressure off that end-of-year performance review preparation scramble. When your manager says, “Tell me what you achieved this year,” you aren’t racking your brain; you are opening your tracker. Everything is there: clear, complete, and ready to showcase.

Suggested Items to Track

Not everything you log will be headline material, and that is perfectly fine. But you do want to capture both the big, measurable wins and the quiet, people-centered successes that keep everything running smoothly.

Here is what to include in your Friday 15 tracker:

Numbers.

Always start with the measurable things. Maybe you improved study startup timelines by 15 percent, reduced vendor costs, increased site engagement, or saved the company $250K in resources. Numbers make your work tangible, so document specifics where possible.

Soft wins.

Not everything you accomplish can be measured on a dashboard. Maybe you resolved a tense conflict between two team members, trained a new hire who is now thriving, or redesigned a workflow that made your colleagues’ lives easier. Those moments often tell the deeper story of your leadership, and leaders notice them.

Feedback.

Save those unexpected “thank you” emails or shoutouts from clients and supervisors. Copy them straight into your tracker, date and all. You would be surprised how powerful those little notes become when you need a record of influence, teamwork, and results under pressure.

One more tip: don’t get hung up on making your tracker perfect. This isn’t about grammar or presentation. It is about recording your story in real time while the details are still fresh.

You can always polish it later when you turn it into a resume bullet, LinkedIn update, or performance narrative. The important thing is to have the raw material waiting when you need it.

The Outcome

Here is what this habit does: it changes the way you see your career.

Instead of feeling like you are constantly reacting to things, you start realizing how much you actually drive outcomes. Every week, you are building a record of value.

So the next time your manager asks for that list of accomplishments, you don’t panic because you have engaged in performance review preparation all year. You simply scroll through your Friday 15 tracker, pick the best stories, and organize them around themes that matter most to your organization’s goals.

Better yet, you stop waiting for performance reviews to remind you of your worth. You start noticing your strengths, patterns, and moments of growth every single week. That awareness builds confidence, and confidence makes you bolder when new opportunities show up.

When you track your accomplishments consistently, you stop searching for a job or promotion. Instead, you start selecting your next opportunity.

And that shift, from searching to selecting, is the difference between hoping someone sees your value and already knowing it yourself.

So this Friday, block out fifteen minutes on your calendar. Make your coffee, pull up your tracker, and add three quick notes about what you achieved this week.

Because the truth is, nobody else is going to keep that record for you. And if you wait until your next performance review to remember your brilliance, the best parts of your story might already be forgotten.