Now that 2017 is in full swing, this is the perfect moment to reassess your professional goals and get to work on achieving new ones—even if it doesn’t feel like it.  While you might be in between performance reviews, it may already be time to start preparing for the next one, whether it’s midway through the year or at the end of 2017.  Even though it sounds slightly overzealous, remember that if you’re hoping to receive a raise or promotion, it works best if you can prove to your supervisor that you’ve earned it—with definitive numbers.  That’s why tracking your performance throughout the next 6 to 12 months can be so beneficial.

Regardless of your role, there is always something that you can track to prove how much work you’ve done.  Whether it is production numbers, sales numbers, traffic, or customer reviews, you can show that you’re not arbitrarily asking for a reward; through these numbers, you can prove that you’ve earned it.  To carefully track your accomplishments throughout the year, follow these preliminary steps to put your best foot forward:

Start an excel sheet

For starters, you’ll need a document to keep track of all of your information, so an excel sheet is the easiest way to organize everything to your liking.  Plus, the table structure makes it easier to compare and compute numbers quickly and easily.  While the organization of the document may depend on your position and what metrics are important to you, remember that this should be quick to update, as it shouldn’t take a lot of time away from your day.  Additionally, be sure that the your format makes it easy to compare your performance over time, as you must show how your progress warrants a raise or promotion.

Update it regularly

If you want this tracking method to work, you can’t get lazy about it.  Whether you decide to update your document daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly, consistent data to analyze is the key to showing improvement over time.  In addition to this being beneficial at the end of the year, you may even find that tracking your accomplishments more closely in the short-term can help you evaluate your own performance and what you may need to improve upon.

Compare to the previous year

If you’re able to add some numbers from last year to your document, that will be a good starting place.  This way, at the end of the next year, you’ll have solid data proving that you’ve done better than the year before, thus warranting a raise or promotion.  If you don’t have numbers from last year, consider analyzing your data from month to month to show your progress over this year.  By doing some simple calculations, you’ll be able to prove how you’ve helped the business through your individual contributions.

Arm yourself with the numbers

When preparing for your next review, get your best numbers ready to show your supervisor what you’ve accomplished.  Depending on your comfort level, you may want to print your full data sheet or the numbers you’d like to reference.  When analyzing your accomplishments in the last year, be sure to pick out specific points where you feel you’ve improved the most.  Then, use those specific points to preface your request for more responsibility or higher pay.  By saying, “Because I’ve accomplished X, I think I deserve Y,” you’re much more likely to hear a “Yes.”