Welcome to the first session of 2026! Dame Eleanor and I will be co-hosts. The session will run through until Easter, as both of us are away some of April, so the last session would be 29th March. That makes this a shorter session than usual, only 12 weeks, so if people want to continue some informal goal setting over April, particularly people in the US whose teaching might not align with these dates, feel free.
As usual, this first week will be for setting session goals, introductions if anyone new joins (all welcome!) and first week goals. Normally, prompts will be related to writing: a mixture of quotations from real and fictional writers, and questions taken from Hattie Crisell's book In Writing, based on her podcast of the same name of interviews with writers about their practices. (If anyone is interested, I'd recommend the podcast over the book.)
For this first week, however, I wanted to use Susan's New Year post about kindness, because that seems such a good way to start what is already proving to be a tough 2026. I particularly liked the point that kindness is within our control. So how can we be kind in 2026? This could be to ourselves, to others or both.
I have no equivalent of a Shoutypants to entertain you all with each week, but have a photo of New Year's Day sunrise over the river, taken on my way to park run. May there be light for all of us these next few months.
So, for the benefit of anyone new, I'm Julie, a mid-career historian at a university in the north of England which is suffering the same pressures as everywhere else in higher education, but is prestigious enough to be still attracting students and thus not in imminent danger of collapsing. This year, I'm on research leave, so have no excuse for not doing TLQ stuff. I'm a widow, with a teenage daughter and son.
ReplyDeleteKindness: I think I try to be kind, but it's also easy to make the excuse that I'm busy. So I will try to be as supportive of family and friends who are struggling in as active a way as possible. I also think one way to be kind to myself is to make the most of pockets of time in which to rest, or to go for a walk or to do something creative. This last week, we've had a lot of sunshine, and in our house it comes in through the back windows in the morning. One morning I sat in the sunlight in a rocking chair and read for an hour before switching the laptop on. Yesterday morning, I did some painting by numbers in a patch of sunlight. To sum up, I'll spend as much time in sunlight as possible!
Session goals:
1. Research/writing:
(i) Big article, which I am hoping to send to a top journal. Plan is to have a full draft I can present at a seminar at the end of April.
(ii) Chapter for a local history: I have a 15,000 word draft, and the editor likes it, but wants it to be twice as long (!) to fit with other chapters, so I need to pad it out. (IMO this is ridiculous, but I am committed now. And I will be paid for this.) Due April
(iii) Review article for anniversary edition of a journal, due 1st April.
(iv) Grant application: start the process.
Teaching
(i) Preparation for new first-year teaching next year (we are redesigning our curriculum, so I have to participate in this): keep to the bare minimum.
(ii) PhD corrections for final PhD student.
Other academic stuff:
(i) Organising committee for big anniversary conference in April.
3. Life admin/house stuff
(i) Plan big summer trip to celebrate significant birthdays (the actual trip will be self-care/fun, the planning is too stressful to be).
(ii) Finances: tax return, but also some big decisions to make
(iii) Small to medium jobs: decluttering, new lamps, get pictures framed and hung, get a standing desk and new chair for study, new chair for spare room (for reading in the morning sun), touch up paintwork in various rooms.
Kids:
(i) Ongoing parenting stuff, plus school work, final-year assignments, daughter's driving test.
Self-care/fun:
(i) Meet-ups with friends, especially around significant birthdays.
(ii) Reading for pleasure
(iii) Journaling
(iv) Do more creative stuff.
(v) Exercise
It's amazing how many items are on the list even when you're on research leave! But a lot of them sound like "remember to have fun" or "plan fun for future self," which is good!
DeleteI love the idea of spending more time in the sun. (That's not usually a problem for me, though!) And 30,000 words for a chapter? That's a mini-book! I look forward to reading your important article!
DeleteAnd this week's goals:
ReplyDelete1. Research: go through notes and archive photos to find examples for Big Article
2. Writing: new, longer introduction to local history chapter.
3. House/life admin: return library books, do some research for summer trip, pay in a cheque, do some decluttering, organise for weekend away.
4. Self-care/fun: text friend, read, exercise (find a weights class?), weekend away with family.
A 15,000-word padding! Wow, I agree that that seems silly. But getting paid is not silly.
DeleteI love your idea of more time in the sunlight!
That does seem like a lot of padding! But maybe what they want is more repetition, for people who aren't used to retaining what they read??
DeleteHi, I'm JaneB, a late-mid-career academic at Northern University, a squeezed-middle regional university in England, and I'm working through burnout/recent AuDHD diagnosis on top of all the usual delights of academic life (we had major cuts to staffing last academic year and are feeling the consequences, and were reorganised over the summer into a new School, which has been interesting) and, of course, the madness that is 2026! Just me and my cat, blog nom-de-plume Shoutypants.
ReplyDeleteThe shorter session actually suits my work quite well as two of the papers that were submitted last session came back as revise and resubmit with deadlines at the start of April, and I'm lead author for one of them. SIGH.
Kindness - "pedagogy of kindness" was an idea I got very interested in around the COVID pandemic. It can be seen as soppy or soft, but being kind to me is about treating everyone as an individual and not assuming I know their context or they know mine/ours as academics, about having integrity and being open and honest. It's maintaining rigour in standards and processes - but it is doing that in a human, communicative, facilitating way. It's actually kind of subversive in the academic setting - the hallmarks of the stereotypical successful academic are the conferences, the papers, the grants, and they have to put student interactions and support and colleagiality lower down the list because there is only so much time in the day - they mostly have to be careless towards the little people in the system - or their carelessness is considered excusable or to be expected BECAUSE they are so smart/successful!
SESSION GOALS:
DeleteSELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement for at least 20 minutes three days a week or 15 for four days a week (this can be stretching or more active exercising, but it needs to be intentional and additional to just "doing life"),
b) some kind of making (art or craft) a couple of times a week,
c) doing something gently social (playing D&D online counts, or a multi-text exchange with a non-work friend, or spending time on a forum a couple times a week
d) keep up reading for pleasure and read at least one non-fiction book
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) keep doing the weekly list of chores - aiming for 75% done every week to be realistic.
b) sort out new shelving in my living space - and maybe a sofa
c) clothes storage solutions (currently all my actually-in-the-rotation clothes are either in the laundry basket, on the airer, or piled on a chair or in the clean undies basket. This is not ideal).
d) plus pay more attention to my finances. Not quite sure what that will look like, but it got dropped last trimester, and I need to be less careless!
TEACHING AND ADMIN: This is a lighter semester, but the first month is full of grading from the first semester whilst preparing for the second's teaching. Process goals here for the session because the session doesn't line up with our academic calendar (which is a mess...).
a) end each work week (Thursday) with everything set up ready to go for the following week and, if possible, have a solid start on the week after that.
b) limit working on teaching and admin issues over the weekend (let's say no more than 5 hours) and if possible ZERO
RESEARCH
I have a lot of balls in the air, but for this session I do have some very concrete goals, very different for me!
a) revise and resubmit two papers by due dates in early April (one I'm a minor author on, one I'm leading)
b) be on top of contributions to large project where I have a small part - by the end of the session I would like a clear plan for the little part of the project where I am the leading expert.
c) complete and submit a first-stage grant application
d) keep up with all the other pieces of research and writing as things come in and go out (they're all collaborative, so what happens when isn't entirely in my control).
c) make measurable progress with at least three other writing/data processing projects (I'll make a list now of what I'm working on)
THIS WEEK'S GOALS:
DeleteSELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2
c) something gently social x2
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day this week
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) 75% of weekly list of chores
b) make an appointment with declutterer
c) make a plan for the shelving in living space
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) finish second year grading and start first year grading
b) set up ViLE for module that starts late February
c) schedule and complete appraisal meetings (it's a "cascaded duty" which makes it rather pointless - but I have to appraise three juniot colleagues this week)
d) prepare lectures for first week of teaching
RESEARCH
a) read over referees comments and suggested responses for minor author paper
b) schedule a meeting to discuss plan for lead author paper
c) read papers in advance of meeting for Large Funded Project
d) read and reply to email from Unexpected Collaborator
Oh, and e) make a list of all the projects that might need attention this session!
DeleteThat's a lot of things! But very exciting about articles that are nearing completion! And many of these sound like thoughtful ways of improving your day-to-day life (e.g. gently social activities--I like that one in particular--and making/creative work).
DeleteI like the idea of pedagogies of kindness. Will explore that more before going back to teaching next year.
DeleteYour list of research goals sounds a lot, and it would drive me mad having things come in unexpectedly. (Obviously I don't know exactly when journals etc will get back to me once I've submitted, but I can usually make reasonable assumptions about when they might.) Maybe that's just how it is in your field, but it's impressive to me that you juggle so much.
The prompt is a good reminder--I'm already feeling very anxious about Too Many Things, which makes it harder to be kind to anyone, myself included. Can I believe that I'm doing the best I can? And that it will all work out? At any rate, I have the whole semester's worth of readings and assignments loaded to the ViLE site the night before classes start, which is far more prepared than I sometimes am, so that seems like a good start on kindness to myself, my students, and my TAs. But I still feel like something is going to jump out at me (another error on the syllabus? some deadline I have forgotten?).
ReplyDeleteHello! I'm a late-ish career English prof in the American Midwest, despite my British nom de blogue (which feels a bit embarrassing now, but I chose it to do hono(u)r to a fifteenth-century woman translator). I work at what I call Large Regional University, though it's smaller than it used to be, and even more cash-strapped: we are in such a perpetual budget crisis that I think it's more of a budget chronic.
Goals for this session:
*Research:
--abstract due end of this month for summer conference #2
--conference paper for April travel
--very overdue essay to finish ASAP (currently at 5005 words, so I have made progress during break)
--regular scholarly reading and language study, a process goal
*Teaching:
--read two PhD exams, consult with student as necessary
--plan out all class prep for the term and keep on top of it
*Personal:
--collect paperwork for taxes
--clean the garage and de-mousify it
--plan/organize travel for April trip and three others (two conferences, one purely fun)
--replace my ancient i-Pad
In general, I'd like to do better at managing my time. I'm not sure it's a good sign that I'm posting this after 9:00 p.m. the night before classes start--OTOH, I'm doing it now rather than on Tuesday, so that's something!
This week's goals:
--2 hours writing/research on each of 3 days
--Latin prep for Friday's group meeting
--meet with TA's
--meet with other faculty
--tackle teaching report for annual review
--put together that list of class prep items, with time estimates
--3 hours on garage
--remember book group meeting
--remember to look at calendar/lists every day
Ha, I have an unstated goal of doing my TLQ check-ins on Mondays instead of, you know, Thursdays as has been my wont!
DeleteWe have evidence of mice living in one of our cars. Not sure what to do about that. Apparently lavender is supposed to help?
Have a good first week of classes!
I didn't realise mice in cars was even a thing until it happened to friends of ours recently. Are cats any help with the basement mice, or is catching food too much like hard work when there's a human around to fill a bowl?
DeleteAbsolutely you are doing the best you can. If stuff is done last minute, that's usually because there's too much stuff, not because you're managing it badly.
Sir John doesn't like to have evidence of feline-wreaked carnage, and one does have to watch for signs of parasites if the cats get as far as eating what they catch. But you never know; someone might accidentally get into the garage (it's attached, so it's not like accidentally getting out) while he's out of the house!
DeleteMice and rats in cars are definitely a thing. And they do considerable damage, because they eat wires. My brother now leaves the hood/bonnet open so it's not warm and dark!
DeleteThey already chewed wires in Sir John's car. We're both now parking in the driveway rather than the garage, so the cars will get cold and be less attractive.
DeleteHello! I'm heu mihi, a mid-career (or senior? I'm not sure what the dividing line is) medievalist in a literature department at a large public research university in the American Northeast. I have a husband (The Minister) and a 13-year-old son (Bonaventure) and two jaunty boy-cats.
ReplyDeleteThis semester is going to be terribly busy. I'm only teaching one class--a combined undergrad/graduate seminar--but allow me to share a selected list of the other particularly big things that will take up my time this semester: 1) Not only am I Program Director and Associate Chair of my large department, unofficially in training to take over as chair next year, but now I'm also Undergraduate Program Director while a colleague is on medical leave; 2) Faculty advisor for a journal; 3) on the department's executive and personnel committees, and the latter will be an unusually large amount of work thanks to some changed deadlines and new procedures; 4) conducting an external review of another department; 5) chair of 5 doctoral committees: of these, one is defending this year, one is writing and defending her prospectus, two are doing their comps; 6) giving 3 short talks, all about my book, but they're all for different audiences; 7) writing an article due in July and co-editing a festschrift that's due May 1. AND 8) co-organizing a huge conference in my field that's taking place in March!
So, now that I've complained, let me think about kindness!
Everything everyone has said above applies. JaneB, your articulation of what a pedagogy of kindness looks like resonates a lot, especially that it includes upholding standards (it is not kind to pass subpar work) but also recognizing that we don't know everything about anyone's situation and circumstances. So I want to think about obstacles to kindness, and how to mitigate them. Feeling overwhelmed and put-upon will impede my ability to be kind, so--even though I just conducted my big woe-is-me listing exercise--it will help to simply keep this work within normal bounds, not make too big a deal out of it, and proceed through the long list of the semester in an orderly, ideally peaceful way. It can be done. At least, I hope so! Proceeding in this way is also a kindness to myself, which is on-prompt, right?
Session goals:
1) Finish messy, partial draft of article due in July (I'm teaching the book that it's about in April, so there's no sense in getting too far ahead of myself, since rereading it will be helpful)
2) Edit festschrift essays and draft at least part of the intro
3) Maintain exercise
4) Creative writing: average 2x/week, however drafty and silly it may be
5) Add occasional meditation to my weeks
6) Languages: Read one Italian novel; work on Latin and/or Old English
7) 3+ good habits a day*
*I started this long list of good habits on January 1 and am checking them off daily--some are easy but beneficial (e.g. No Facebook; stretch); some are more involved. But hitting 3/day is pretty doable. And I haven't opened FB in 2026!
This week:
1) Finish syllabus and ViLE page
2) Get to 5500 words of messy draft of essay; read over it to see where I am, figure out next steps
3) Creative writing x 1
4) Finish knitting sweater for friend's new baby
5) 35 pp. of Italian
6) LoR for former student
7) Sit some amount
8) Finish book for festschrift intro
Classes don't start until the 29th, so I have some time--although this week I'm spending two days at a workshop to learn how to be a better mentor to graduate students. Not particularly excited about this, but at least lunch is provided?
That sounds like a very busy session. Maybe the kindness will be to remind yourself that things don't have to be done perfectly, they just have to be good enough? I love the idea of a list of good habits you tick off, look forward to hearing what more of them are.
DeleteYes! Good enough! And three out of five things ticked is good enough, and that sort of "make the task smaller" approach rather than expecting All The Things Done Perfectly and Fully. My online/screen time is already low but I'm trying to make it lower still, and more mindful: if I'm too tired to be mindful, then I should take a nap, go outside (or do something physical indoors), or make a cup of tea, rather than messing around with a screen.
DeleteI like kindness as a theme, and it's kindness both to ourselves and to our students/ colleagues. Like JaneB, I got into the pedagogy of kindness during the pandemic, and try to keep up with it. But frustration is a problem.
ReplyDeleteI'm Susan, a senior historian at a still new university on the west coast of the US, but I study British history, so frequently cross the Atlantic. This is my last semester as an employed person, and so most of my goals will be around doing all the things that need to be done to retire and to (if the stars align) move to a smaller home in a different city.
Session goals:
Research: minimal.
Famous Author: On Sunday night at 8 PM I submitted the corrected proofs and index for Famous Author, which will be published in March. There are going to be events and publicity stuff around this. But it's DONE. (It also means I had a minimal break and no relaxation over the holidays, which is not good.)
Rest of my life project: I have microfilms in the library and I need to scan them. I have two now, and I'll get the rest. It's something I can do during the semester, without worrying about reading everything or doing anything with it.
Other: My department is planning a small conference in honor of my retirement, but since the person who would have done all the work is now dealing with a mother who has terminal cancer, I'll probably do most of the planning.
Teaching: I am inventing a new course, mostly because I wanted to teach stuff that is relevant, so I'm mushing together parts of two different courses that I think speak to our current moment. The title is stolen from the American Historical Association's tagline, "Everything has a history". I want to do a good job, stretch myself and my students, but not kill myself. Classes start next week.
Admin: I'm chair of our graduate program, and budget cuts etc make life challenging. I also need to identify someone to take over. Or maybe I don't. But I'd like someone good (i.e. both efficient and kind) to do it.
Life: The plan is to sell my house and move at the end of the semester. So I need to do SIGNIFICANT decluttering, getting rid of academic books that supported teaching I won't do again, books I won't read, etc. It's a lot.
Goals for this week:
1. Finish syllabus for new course, post on LMS
2. Create budget for conference
3. Revise letter of reference for student for the perfect job
4. Pack up two boxes of books for second hand bookstore, and two for the "book sale/giveaway" I'm doing on campus.
5. Keep up with exercise and physical therapy exercise.
6. See people and be nice to them.
7. Have some fun
That sounds like a lot, when you add in the de-accessioning and preparing to move! The academic stuff alone sounds fairly manageable, though of course tasks always expand to fill the time available.
DeleteCongratulations on finishing Famous Author! I look forward to seeing it out in the world. Preparing for retirement is no small task. I think it's a huge kindness to your students to be teaching a new course: it would be easy and completely understandable to go with what you've always done. Instead, you're making clear to them that you're not just marking time until retirement, you're giving them something special. I hope they realise that.
DeleteHello! Stopping in to put up session goals... I am on my way to nice lab in central Europe where good pastries live... First week of class chaos combined with sample prep and organizing everything for week away with major conference abstract deadlines made for a nutty week but most things are done and flights are in progress so I can chill for a few hours.
ReplyDeleteLove everyone's goals and the kindness threads through so many of them.
Session goals
One new paper as first author... seriously, just one, I can surely do that???
Be effective and kind supervisor for two grads and two undergrads.
Do good job on massive important review committee.
Do something fun with friends once a week.
Exercise!!!!
Thanks for hosting another iteration of our sane little corner of the interwebz...
Yay, you're here! I hope your travel goes well and that you get lots of your favourite pastries!
Delete