self evaulation

The end of June marked the start of company wide employee evaluations at work.  The first process requires employees to fill out the self evaluation form, which is one slippery fish.  You've got to walk a fine line with those forms because you don't want to make it seem like you're a cocky bastard, but you also don't want to appear like an incompetent idiot.  At the same time, if you just give yourself the medium score for everything, then you're just average Joe/Jane, and if you're just an anybody, well, then you really could be anybody.  Why is it so special that you hold this position or that you should get a raise?


I don't know how many people lie or puff up their self evaluations forms, but I can see why they do.  For me, even though I answer honestly, I always double back and think about whether or not the scores I gave myself are accurate.  Accurate, not true.  As far as the answers go, they are all true because essentially it's the gauge of what I think of the work I did, and since I don't puff the form up, they are true.  What I wonder is, are they accurate?  Basically, I am pondering if my own assessment of myself is on the same page as my manager's assessment of myself.


I don't think I have any reason to worry, perhaps I just need more confidence in my work performance.  I think I need to ease up, huh?


I used to worry a lot more about pointless stuff.  Like after multiple choice exams I'd worry about whether or not I filled out the scantrons correctly.  I'd replay the exam in my head and try to remember if I skipped a question and then accidentally filled it in with a different answer and ended up shifting everything over.


Thankfully, I've stopped being as neurotic.  Life is much more enjoyable this way.