Reviews & performance
Keep a running wins list
A micro habit for remembering what you did, and what it changed, before anyone asks
Once a week, add one line to a running list: what you did, and what it changed.
- 5 minutes a week
- Just you
- Weekly
- Make time
Why this can work
You won't remember this year's work nearly as well as you'll need to, so write it down while it's fresh. By review time, the details that make a contribution convincing, who it helped and what moved, have usually faded or sunk into old threads. One line a week keeps them, and the list tends to steady you long before anyone else reads it.
Read moreHow to keep a running list of your accomplishments
You’ll come away with a list that remembers your year so you don't have to.
- Pick one place for the list.
A note on your phone, a document, a paper notebook. Somewhere you can reach in ten seconds.
Tip: Choose somewhere that's yours, not only a work laptop you might one day hand back.
- Put five minutes on your calendar each week.
Friday afternoon or Monday morning suits most people. A fixed slot means the habit doesn't depend on remembering it.
MonTueWedThuFri9 am11 am1 pm3 pm5 min, yours5 pm0.3 hrs a month, for you4 hrs a year you didn’t have beforeSame slot so it stops being a decision - Write one line: what you did, and what it changed.
Start with the thing you did, then its effect: who it helped, what it made possible, what moved. Add a number if there is one. For example: rewrote the onboarding checklist with the support team, and new hires filed about half as many first-week tickets.
Tip: Small counts. The favor that unblocked a teammate is exactly what you'll have forgotten by the end of the year.
- Add the effect when you learn it.
Plenty of work only shows its effect weeks later. When you find out, go back and add it to the line. That second pass is often the most useful thing in the list.
- Read it from the top before any big conversation.
Before a review, a 1:1 about your growth, or an update to your resume, read the whole list. There's usually more in it than you remember.
Good times to repeat it: every weekright after something goes wellbefore any review or conversation about your growth
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Mentoring someone, fixing a broken process, covering for a colleague. This kind of work rarely shows up in any system, so your list may be its only record.
What might make this harder
Don't try to catch up on everything. Write the one thing from the gap you're proudest of, and start again this week.
Questions people ask
What is a brag document?
A running record of your accomplishments, kept as you go, so you can remember and explain your work when it counts. A weekly wins list is a lighter version of the same idea.
How do I remember my accomplishments for a performance review?
Write them down as they happen. One line a week about what you did and what it changed is far easier than rebuilding a year from email the week before your review.
What should I include in a list of my work accomplishments?
What you did, what it changed, and who it helped, with a number when there is one. Include quiet work like mentoring or fixing a process, since it rarely gets recorded anywhere else.
How often should I update my list of accomplishments?
Weekly suits most people: often enough to catch the details, rare enough to keep up. Five minutes at the end of the week is plenty.
Why this works, and where it comes from
Memory is generous to the last few weeks and stingy with everything before them. By review time, most of a year's work has shrunk to whatever happened recently and whatever went wrong. The project you rescued in March has become a vague sense that March was busy, and the specifics that made it impressive, who it helped and what it saved, are gone or buried in old threads.
Your manager is working from the same fading memory, usually for several people at once. They tend to see outcomes and escalations, and much of how you got there happened out of their view. When you arrive with specifics, you're not showing off. You're giving someone who wants to write a fair review the material to do it.
A weekly habit won't rescue a review that's only days away. For that, block one long evening, go through your calendar, sent mail and finished work month by month, and rebuild the year in a single sitting; start the weekly line the week after. Once it's running, the list often does its best work on an ordinary bad day, when a quick scroll is a reminder that the year has been more than this one day.
Software engineer Julia Evans made a strong case for keeping this kind of list in her post on writing a brag document, a running record of your work that you keep so it doesn't go unrecognized. Truest keeps her core idea, including writing down what each piece of work changed, and shrinks the habit to one line a week. Writing down what changed, week after week, trains you to notice impact rather than just effort. Over time, that tends to change which work you reach for.
Other simple things to consider
What to do next
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Written by Truest, based on Get your work recognized: write a brag document (Julia Evans). Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.