appraisal time

It's that time of the year again, when words like "appraisal", "banding", "promotion" and "salary increment" are on the minds and lips of everyone at the office.

For the past week, my colleagues and I have been stressing ourselves putting together a file of our best work and filling out self-appraisal forms before handing them all over to our supervisors... and worrying about how they will judge our performance this past year.

I know it's important to be recognised at work. After all, we spend about half the day, five times a week, in the office doing what we do.

But today, when I realised how much energy I was giving to worry, I decided that I no longer wanted to give it a hold over me.

I stopped looking for more samples of good work to add to my file, and simply handed in whatever I had already prepared and filled out.

Then emotionally and mentally, I dusted my hands. The sense of relief was immediate.

The truth is, the supervisors very probably already have their own preconceived ideas of me and my work. Whatever I hand in to them or say in my self-appraisal isn't likely to change their minds. At least, not much.

But for me, the most important appraisal will come when my soul returns to God.

When I look back on my life and can say, with truth and joy, that I managed to fulfil what my soul set out to achieve in this lifetime. That's when I'll know I passed with flying colours.