What you need to do now to get a stellar year-end review

I know, I know...it's only March, so there's no chance you're even thinking about your year-end performance review right now.

But you should be. That is, if you want to knock it out of the park.

In this quick tip video, I will tell you exactly what you need to do THIS MONTH to set yourself up for a stellar review at the end of the year.

• Read the video transcript

  Today I am going to tell you how to set yourself up for an absolutely stellar performance review at the end of the year.

  I'll tell you a quick story.

  So in our house, one of the biggest challenges we face is this norm, this habit of leaving stuff out all over the kitchen counter in the living room, the table throughout the week. It just accumulates and it drives me crazy every time I walk into that shared living space. I just, I can't relax when there's stuff everywhere. And then we go into the weekend and it's just like Mom asking everybody to clean up.

  So I recently implemented a new routine. I stripped away any other chores from my girls and I have asked them to focus on one specific thing. Well I guess it's two specific things.

  Every morning before they go to school, I want all of their stuff picked up in the shared living spaces. And then every night before they go to bed again, make sure all of your stuff is picked up in the shared living spaces.

  Implementing this daily routine, with a chart to check it off, is helping them to maintain some focus. So by the time we get to the weekend, it's not this scramble to clean it all up so we can relax in the home. No, we have stayed on top of it throughout the week.

  It is the same thing with your annual performance goals. I don't know how often, and I was guilty of this back in the day, but how often I hear of people saying, oh shoot, performance reviews are coming up. I better pull out that goals document and remind myself what I was working on this year. That completely defeats the purpose of setting these goals and striving to drive performance in them.

  So instead, you need to establish some regular routines around checking in on those goals, making sure those are actually the focus of your work and your improvement this year.

  So this is your friendly reminder that we are coming up to the end of the first quarter. What I want you to do is in your next one-on-one with your manager, actually use that one-on-one as a time to pull out your performance goals and check in on status on them. You create in your performance review an extra column that says, Hey, here's what I've done so far this year. Here's how it's going. Here's how I'm on track to accomplish this goal. Or actually we're seeing these roadblocks. We need to now maybe pivot or strategize around this goal. Okay?

  So take the initiative to set up a specific quarterly check-in on your goals. Do that every single quarter and you will be on track to get that stellar performance review at the end of the year. And guess what? Your manager will be aware of how you are diligently pushing forward on these goals.