Beating the appraisal blues for good

The other day an email came around my department announcing the timetable for the annual review and appraisal process. Inwardly I groaned, and a knot started to form in my stomach.
This is a process which I have tried to engage in honestly and constructively for years, with disappointing results. Some managers treat it as a tick box exercise, others as a way of enforcing their authority or bargaining down requests for a pay rise or promotion.
Some do their best to make it valuable, but they're usually stymied by their manager's goals and the budgeting process. Regardless of whether I emerge from the final meeting with a good or mediocre rating, or even a healthy bonus, I can't think of one time when what I contributed actually made a real difference.
That's why reading that email gave me the creeping dread. Then, as I was a about to file the email away, my mood suddenly lifted and was replaced by a smugness bordering on joyful. Why? Because I'm a contractor, so none of that applies to me anymore.
I've only been contracting for a few months, but I love the sense of freedom and control over my future, as well as the improved financial rewards. It had its downsides: lack of security, jumping through bureaucratic hoops to set up a limited company, business bank accounts, VAT registration, payroll service, accounting, and so on, but I accept those. Even the lack of security is a feature of the honesty of your relationship with the client - you will be retained as long as your skills are sufficiently valuable. There it's no pretence of loyalty, nor is it demanded in return.
Coming back to the annual appraisal, I realised I don't need to fill in forms to plan my professional development, and I never have. All those development plans were there to make me more valuable to my employer, not more valuable to potential future employers, and certainly not more valuable to myself. I now plan my development for the job I want to do in five years time, not the job my manager wants me to do in six months.
And I'm happier that way.