¡Yay-me! file
Sorry, just had to find an excuse to flip the exclamation point (still having too much fun with ActiveWords).
Back in the day, when I was younger and still had that minty-fresh smell, I had a boss who turned me on to the "yay-me" file. I still keep one, and it works so well I encourage my direct reports to do the same.
The basic idea is simple: you just keep a file of good stuff you do. When you figure out some trick new process that saves hours per week, you make a note about (don’t forget to datestamp it) and drop it in the yay-me file. When you finish a project on time and under budget, you make a note that points to supplementary project files and you drop it in the yay-me file. Since it’s only your eyes on the yay-me file, you can feel free to drop in even the most trivial bits good cheer. Did you cover Eleanor’s phone while she went to lunch? Goes right in the yay-me file.
The reason for the yay-me file is two-fold. First, when you feel like you need to patch your personal suck you can crack open the yay-me file for a blast of good vibes from the past. The yay-me file reminds you that you aren’t always lame and that you make good decisions and you do good work. And gosh darnit, people like you!
The second reason for keeping a yay-me file is a bit more pragmatic. Each year, you haul that thing out and you grab the cream of the crop. You clean it up a bit and, depending upon your degree of boldness, you either staple the good stuff to your annual self-evaluation, or you send it seperately to your boss for their persual while they’re trying to remember who you are and what you do, or you just bring it along as ammo to the actual performance evaluation meeting. Or all three. The idea here is just to help other people remember how great you are.
If you’ve got a really great boss (greater than me, I’ll admit), he or she is keeping a file about you all year long. And it may not include all the "yay" stuff. You want to be sure they don’t miss any of the yay stuff–it’s a good countereffect to any "less than yay" stuff that might be in that file.
6 opinions for ¡Yay-me! file
Matt
Feb 10, 2005 at 6:29 am
The rare time I get a thank you card from someone, that goes in a file. Always good to pull those out when review time approaches
Bert
Feb 13, 2005 at 4:13 pm
As a boss (school administrator), I keep a “Yay-you” file for each teacher. I try to notice the good things and find that I bring up the goodies when they often forget the good things they do!
The Raw Prawn
Feb 20, 2005 at 9:53 pm
Carnival of the Capitalists
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Jay
Feb 21, 2005 at 7:04 am
Excellent idea. I saw a slimmed down version of this once, but yours sounds better.
Engineer2Entrepreneur
Feb 22, 2005 at 2:15 pm
From Done It to Yay-me list
Link: Slacker Manager: ¡Yay-me! file. This is a much better implementation of my Done It list. The Done It list is where accomplished To Do’s went, which is still a good idea. But a Yay-me file is a even better
Gaz
Mar 3, 2005 at 5:48 am
Someone should set up a yayme website where people can post all there yayme’s. then the world will know how good everyone else is.