How to Prepare for Your Performance Review

Guide on How Not to Undersell Yourself

It's that time of year again. The time when we all start thinking not only about the present but also about how to properly showcase our achievements without underselling ourselves. Performance review season can feel daunting, but with the right preparation, it's an opportunity to shine and set yourself up for growth.

Why Preparation Matters

Walking into a performance review unprepared is like taking an exam without studying. You might remember some highlights, but you'll likely forget the full scope of what you've accomplished. Worse, you risk underselling your contributions while your colleagues who came prepared get the recognition they deserve.

Your manager is juggling reviews for multiple team members. They can't remember every project you touched or problem you solved. It's your responsibility to remind them.

Start With a Personal Audit

Before your review, take time to reflect on the entire review period. Go through your calendar, emails, project management tools, and any notes you've kept.

Ask yourself:

🔹 What projects did I complete or contribute to significantly?

🔹 What problems did I solve that weren't part of my initial job description?

🔹 How did my work impact the team, department, or company?

🔹 What new skills did I develop or improve?

🔹 What challenges did I overcome?

Quantify Your Impact

Numbers speak louder than generalities. Instead of saying "I improved the onboarding process," say "I redesigned the onboarding process, reducing new hire ramp-up time from 6 weeks to 4 weeks, which saved approximately 80 hours of team training time per quarter."

Look for metrics like:

🔹 Time saved

🔹 Revenue generated or costs reduced

🔹 Efficiency improvements (percentages)

🔹 Number of projects completed

🔹 Customer satisfaction scores

🔹 Error reduction rates

If you don't have exact numbers, reasonable estimates based on your observations are still valuable.

Document Your Achievements Throughout the Year

Here's a pro tip for next year: don't wait until review season. Keep a running document where you log your wins as they happen. Every Friday, spend 10 minutes noting what you accomplished that week. When review time comes, you'll have a comprehensive record instead of scrambling to remember what you did eight months ago.

Address Challenges Honestly

Your review isn't just about celebrating successes. It's also about growth. If you faced challenges or didn't meet certain goals, prepare to discuss them thoughtfully:

🔹 What happened and why?

🔹 What did you learn from the experience?

🔹 What would you do differently next time?

🔹 What support or resources would help you improve?

Owning your setbacks with a growth mindset shows maturity and self-awareness, qualities every manager values.

Prepare Your Goals and Development Plan

Performance reviews aren't just backward-looking, they're also about setting direction for the future.

Come prepared with:

🔹 Career goals for the next 6-12 months

🔹 Skills you want to develop

🔹 Projects or responsibilities you'd like to take on

🔹 Specific ways your manager can support your growth

This shows initiative and makes it easier for your manager to advocate for your advancement.

Practice Your Delivery

It might feel awkward, but practice talking about your achievements out loud. Many of us have been conditioned to be humble and downplay our contributions. Practice helps you find the balance between confidence and arrogance.

Try explaining your key accomplishments to a friend, partner, or even to yourself in the mirror. Notice when you use diminishing language like "just" or "only" and replace it with more confident phrasing.

Know Your Worth

Research salary ranges for your role and experience level in your market. Sites like Glassdoor, Payscale, and industry-specific forums can provide benchmarks. If you're asking for a raise or promotion, come with data to support your request.

Create a One-Page Summary

Prepare a concise document summarizing your key achievements, impact, and goals. Share this with your manager before the review. This gives them ammunition to advocate for you and ensures you cover everything important during your conversation.

During the Review: Listen and Ask Questions

While you should come prepared to talk about your accomplishments, also listen carefully to your manager's feedback.

Ask clarifying questions:

🔹 "What does success look like in this area?"

🔹 "What should I prioritize over the next quarter?"

🔹 "How can I better support the team's goals?"

🔹 "What skills would help me advance to the next level?"

Prompt for Performance Review
(How AI can help you create perfomance review)

Once you've collected all your achievements in one file, AI can help you transform your raw notes into polished, impactful content for your performance review. It's always useful to check your company's values and consider writing your self-assessment according to them, as this shows alignment with organizational priorities.

Here's a comprehensive prompt you can customize based on your role and company culture:

Performance Review Self-Assessment Prompt:

I need help preparing my performance review self-assessment. Below are my raw achievements, projects, and contributions from the review period.

My Role: [e.g., Software Engineer, Product Manager, Marketing Specialist, Sales Representative, Data Analyst]

Review Period: [e.g., January 2024 - December 2024]

Company Values (if applicable): [e.g., Innovation, Customer Focus, Collaboration, Ownership, Excellence]

My Achievements and Contributions: [Paste your list of achievements, projects, metrics, and notes here]

Please help me:

1. Organize my achievements into clear categories (e.g., Key Projects, Impact & Results, Skills Development, Collaboration & Leadership, Problem-Solving)

2. Quantify impact wherever possible - help me frame achievements with metrics, percentages, time saved, or business value

3. Align with company values - connect my accomplishments to our organizational values where relevant

4. Use strong action verbs - start bullet points with impactful verbs like "Led," "Delivered," "Optimized," "Implemented," "Drove," etc.

5. Highlight business impact - emphasize how my work contributed to team goals, company objectives, or customer outcomes

6. Address challenges professionally - if I mention any setbacks, help me frame them as learning opportunities with clear takeaways

7. Suggest future goals - based on my achievements, recommend 3-5 development goals for the next review period

Tone: [Choose one: Professional and confident / Collaborative and team-focused / Results-driven and ambitious / Humble but assertive]

Format preference: [Choose one: Concise bullet points / Detailed paragraphs / Mix of both / Structured by company competencies]


Additional context:

My career goal is: [e.g., promotion to senior level, transition to leadership, deep technical expertise]

Key stakeholders I worked with: [e.g., cross-functional teams, C-level executives, external clients]

Any specific asks for my manager: [e.g., more leadership opportunities, specific training, different project types]

Variations for Different Career Paths:

For Individual Contributors: Add: "Emphasize technical depth, innovation, and individual impact. Highlight how my expertise benefited the team."

For Managers/Leaders: Add: "Focus on team development, strategic initiatives, and how I enabled others' success. Include metrics on team performance and growth."

For Client-Facing Roles: Add: "Highlight client satisfaction, relationship management, and how I represented the company externally. Include testimonials or feedback if available."

For Creative Roles: Add: "Showcase portfolio highlights, creative problem-solving, and how my work influenced brand/product perception. Include campaign results or user engagement metrics."

For Early Career Professionals: Add: "Emphasize learning velocity, adaptability, and initiative in taking on new challenges. Show growth trajectory and eagerness to develop."

This prompt is good starting point that helps ensure your self-assessment is comprehensive, well-structured, and positions you for the recognition you deserve.

Follow Up After the Review

Send a brief email summarizing the key points discussed, commitments made on both sides, and any action items. This creates a paper trail and ensures you're both aligned on expectations moving forward.

The Bottom Line

Performance reviews are your moment to advocate for yourself. No one else will do it for you. By preparing thoroughly, quantifying your impact, and communicating confidently, you ensure that your hard work gets the recognition it deserves.

Don't undersell yourself. You've earned this moment.

Make Your Next Review Effortless with Jotts

If you’re struggling to remember what you achieved this year, you’re not the only one — and you don’t have to do it again. Jotts helps you capture your wins as they happen, so your next review practically writes itself.

Log achievements, milestones, and impact in real time. When review season comes around, everything is already organized — no digging, no guessing, no searching through old emails.

Jotts becomes your quiet, year-round record of the value you create.
So when it’s time to advocate for yourself, you have the proof — ready, clear, and complete.

The best time to prepare for your next review is the moment you finish this one.