Why is this combat? You and the boss should be working together, not you trying to find ways to get around it, and covering your ass.

As to "help my boss achieve his objectives," it's even simpler in my department. "Your job is to make me look good," I tell my folks, "just as it's my job to make my boss look good, and his job to make his boss look good, and so on up the chain." It's just life. It's business.

Trawl through your e-mail to remind yourself of what you did during the year.

Better yet, keep track of what you've done throughout the year so that this exercise is a simple one. I've done self-evals in the past where my boss has read it, his face lit up, and he said "Oh, I forgot about that project," please to have been reminded of another Cool Project I had done.

There is no job security. You cannot just cruise through your career without working on maintaining your skills and making sure that the appropriate people know about how great you are.