I'm in desperate need of a life coach

It's that annoying time of year again: review season. This ritual of forced reflection on what I haven't accomplished over the past twelve months does nothing to motivate me; if anything, it only increases my despondency. And as I've been bullshitting my way through the most painful part of the review process - each associate has to do a self-evaluation - I've realized that if anything, this year I've regressed. My hours are significantly down from last year, and with the exception of defending a deposition, the bulk of my work has been research and doc review. I can't remember the last time I had to write something that wasn't a memo or a routine motion. And to be honest with you, this memo I'm writing right now is the first thing I've had to write since June! No wonder it's such a pain in my ass - I'm desperately out of practice.

But the worst part isn't even that I have to go through the tedium of listing out my most significant contributions to matters and to the firm. The worst part is that as I'm inflating everything I've done on this stupid form, my mind has started to wander and the slow awful realization that dawns on me is that I've made no progress in anything else in my life.

A quick look at my student loan balance reveals that I've barely made a dent in the principal. All I've really done is pay interest. A look over my credit card statements shows that while I haven't added more debt, I haven't really cut it down much either. I don't have a house. I don't have a spouse. Both are reasons why paying down debt shouldn't be so hard and indicators of how pathetic my life has stayed. And given my very blah performance at work, let's hope I stay employed. Aargh.