I just received an annual performance review, and I don't think it was a fair assessment. The expectations set out for me are clearly too high, and I'm doing my best, and I actually excel in most areas. How can I respond to this without looking bad?
It's never easy to be told we aren't doing our job well, especially when we're doing our best. High expectations are important to help us achieve our best efforts, but when they're unrealistically high they tend to set up even the best professionals to fail. It sounds as if this might be what happened in your case.
You should talk with others doing your job or a similar one in other companies, and find the benchmarks for it. Identify what's the accepted and best performance for each task. After you've compiled a fairly complete list, go back to your boss and ask for a formal interview to discuss your review. During the interview ask him or her to specify your tasks and to set your performance criteria. Define the means (people, time, money, tools, and resources) that will be at your disposal. Once this is done, show him or her the results of your survey. You then can negotiate your job for the future and what will be expected of you by linking what he or she has listed with what you've discovered in your research. This is called "linked negotiation" and was used often by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in international negotiations with much success.
After you come to an agreement about what your job will look like for the next year, confirm it in writing and thank your boss for taking the time to clarify your position. It's only in this way that you both will understand what's expected of you and how you'll be able to meet the challenge for the next year.
A final thought -- if your boss doesn't respond to this approach, it may mean that he's setting you up to fail and ultimately will let you go. If you suspect this is the case, try to stay on good terms for the present and begin a job hunt immediately.