How I got my strongest year-end review yet (as a Fortune 500 Dev)

If I was doing these things, these two things I'm going to share with you throughout the years, I' i've been a software engineer for multiple years. I

would have had way stronger performance reviews throughout. So, uh, this video

reviews throughout. So, uh, this video might really help you. The first the first thing that I did differently in 2025 was I

I made sure that I was matching my energy. I was matching the quality of my

energy. I was matching the quality of my mind to the difficulty of the task. and

and maybe not even matching, but making sure that my the quality of my mind, the energy that I was bringing was at the level or ideally even higher than the

level of task. So, I'm going to diagram things out with my hands a little bit.

And I I got a lot of respect for my previous self, my my younger self. But

what I would do a lot of times was when I would get a task, I would just try to put in hours. I would say I'm going to I'm going to put I'm going to spend 4 hours this afternoon on that and I'm I'm

4 hours should be enough to solve that.

And it was it was very noble. It was

very I have again I have a lot of pride in in in my my younger self who would just try to put in work and effort and and volume into things thinking that

that would solve everything. And that

that can get you pretty far. But what I was missing was that there there are times in the day or there there there are moments when my mind is a lot sharper. So again to diagram out with my

sharper. So again to diagram out with my hands, say a problem is here. No amount

of of working down here is going to solve the problem. I could spend 20, 30, 40 hours working on this problem here, but it's not until I attack the problem with a higher quality mind that I can

solve the pro that I can solve it.

Sometimes I might even solve it in 1 hour or 2 hours or less even. And so

what what I did in 2025 was I realized that my mind is consistently sharp, consistently focused, consistently able to solve difficult problems in the

morning. So I would multiple times a

morning. So I would multiple times a week get up at 6 6:30 a.m. and within 30 minutes of opening my eyes, hands on a

keyboard, working on uh working. And so,

and and to be honest with y'all, there were there were, you know, I fell off this multiple times throughout the year, but 2025 was probably the most consistent I've been with there were probably the most number of mornings

that I was working. I think that's of early mornings where I was working. I I

think that's the best way to put it um toward that. The the most number of

toward that. The the most number of early mornings where I was working.

Anyway, I I'm you guys know what I mean.

So anyway, but the and it's not just and I'm using mornings as an example because that's a guaranteed time when I'm focused, but I'm also naturally focused after a cold shower. I'm also naturally focused after a workout. So if if I had

a challenging task, I would either try to do it during my morning session or I would I would go and you know take a little time to get my energy level my energy up to get my mind to a better

sharper stronger place and then and then attack the problem. Whereas before I would just try to do this problem and or solve whatever it is uh you know whether it's uh putting together a presentation

whether it's doing a difficult ticket whether it's diving into an area of the codebase I don't understand whatever it is I would I'm trying to improve my state improve the quality of my mind before attacking it and that helped me

solve more difficult things and as I was solving more difficult things and and by solving more difficult things I think that's what led me to get a good performance review and as a Little

aside, um I used to always I used to think that number of tasks that I did was a good metric for my work. But now

I'm realizing that as a software engineer, it's the more complex things you can solve. If you're a software engineer who can solve very difficult problems, you become really really valuable to an organization. You know, I

if you're somebody who solves a bunch of easier problems or medium problems or gets a lot of things done, that's also really good. That's also really

really good. That's also really important and and very useful. But

honestly, the thing that's really hard to replace are the engineers who can solve very complex problems. So I have been really working on getting my mind sharper so that I can solve these really

difficult problems. So that's that's the first thing is is matching your energy to the task at hand. You know, nowadays if I if I have a difficult task and I'm not and my mind isn't right and my mind

isn't really sharp, I actually just let it go. I just allow myself to do

it go. I just allow myself to do something easier or maybe even just take a break, a nice break. um if I can.

Sometimes I have to be available, but if I can take a break, go for a walk or something or just unplug a little bit, that's actually more productive because I'd rather rest fully and then attack

the problem again when my mind is sharp.

So matching and and so the actionable thing is the actionable thing that I'd like to give y'all is is be like a scientist. Think about when is my mind

scientist. Think about when is my mind naturally sharp? When is my mind

naturally sharp? When is my mind naturally more focused? And whenever

you've once you once you start doing this, you'll start to realize, okay, I'm sharper after I lift weights. I'm

sharper after I after I take a cold shower. I'm sharper after I eat this

shower. I'm sharper after I eat this type of food. I'm sharper at this time of the day. And it doesn't have to be the same things as me. You know, there are plenty of engineers who are way better engineers than I am who are night

owls. But be like a scientist. Think

owls. But be like a scientist. Think

about what when is my mind sharp? And if

and once you start to find that out, make sure that you're working during those times where your mind is sharp.

and you're going to naturally start seeing that you're completing more difficult tasks which is going to lead to a strong performance review. The

second thing is is to punch above your weight. So I spent a lot of time as a in

weight. So I spent a lot of time as a in in the past where I would just do stuff that I felt was matching my job description or or or

level. I would think, okay, that's not

level. I would think, okay, that's not my job. I would I would legitimately be

my job. I would I would legitimately be looking for tasks that were in my wheelhouse all the time, which is just not a good way to grow. You know, I remember in in the past, I would look at a Jira board and I would say and I would

look at these tickets and I would say, "Okay, that ticket I can is in my wheelhouse. I'm going to try to grab

wheelhouse. I'm going to try to grab that one. That ticket looks looks like

that one. That ticket looks looks like something I can do. I try to grab that one." And the tickets that I was

one." And the tickets that I was intimidated by, I would secretly hope that somebody else would grab them. But

now I really try to grab the more difficult tasks if I can because I know that if I grab the more difficult tasks, I'm punching above my weight. I'm I'm

I'm I'm trying to grab the more difficult tickets. I'm trying to jump

difficult tickets. I'm trying to jump into the meetings where people are making architectural decisions. I'm

trying to trying to punch above my weight. And an action item here is to

weight. And an action item here is to use affirmations. So one of the things

use affirmations. So one of the things that I frequently tell myself almost every day is that I perform at a senior level engineer. I tell myself I I

level engineer. I tell myself I I perform as a I I am a I perform at senior level. I perform at senior level.

senior level. I perform at senior level.

I'm a senior level engineer. I usually

say I perform or my output isn't that of a senior engineer or sometimes I even say my output is that of a staff engineer because I'm technically amid engineer. When I

say I am a senior level engineer, there's something in my mind that says you're you're not actually right now.

Like you you're going to be but you're not right now. And there's like this little conflict in my mind. So instead,

what I've been saying is I output as a senior engineer. I I I perform at a

senior engineer. I I I perform at a senior engineer. And sometimes I still

senior engineer. And sometimes I still say I am a senior engineer, but I'm trying to use the other ones a little bit more cuz it just works a little better for my brain. Uh but those affirmations, constantly saying those

affirmations get me my mind attuned to punching above its weight. Um so I I I you know, and just giving you guys a little funny anecdote. I was playing table tennis, table tennis open play

recently and I played this guy who's just way better just just way better than me, you know, and I and I could say as we were warming up, my mind immediately could tell this dude was good and my and immediately my it was

just funny. My brain just I my brain

just funny. My brain just I my brain came up with this thought that said I I am at this guy's level. I perform I perform at this level. I'm an advanced I I can play at an advanced ping pong

level. And it's just funny that I I I

level. And it's just funny that I I I just found it uh humorous that my that even though I've been using all these affirmations for work that I just like when I'm doing stuff for leisure also

these affirmations uh just randomly pop into my head. It's almost as if you know I'm I'm attuning my mind for higher quality work with these affirmations but my mind is now starting to try to unlock

itself in other areas of my life which I think is pretty cool. But anyway, that's all I got for y'all today. I still have a lot to learn. One of the things that, you know, again, as an aside, one of the things that I want to get a lot better

at at work is is is being more articulate, being able to speak more succinctly in meetings, and specifically being able to describe technical problems really succinctly. I think

that's a really really good skill if you want to move up. Um, but these two things led me to a very, very strong performance review in 2025, and I'm planning to do in 2026 to eclipse my

2020 to eclipse the my performance of 2025. Um, I think that's the right use

2025. Um, I think that's the right use of eclipse, but surpass maybe is a better word to use. To recap, number one is is match your energy to the

difficulty of a task. And number two is to aim to punch above your weight. So,

so that's all I got for y'all and I'll talk to you'all on the next one.