Saturday, January 01, 2011

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! How about some bullets of twenty-eleven?
  • Yes, we have to make the changeover from "two thousand and x" some time, so why not this year?
  • It was heavenly not to wake up and head out to the airport the day after Christmas for MLA.
  • On the other hand, that means that the new semester is coming up at the speed of light.
  • And so is MLA. Where'd I put that nametag, again?
As I was out walking just now in the very cold winter twilight, I started thinking about resolutions for this year and was wondering this: is a resolution the same as a goal? I think of resolutions as not having an end point--something like "write more"--as opposed to goals, which are more like "write x amount each day," or "exercise more" as opposed to "lose ten pounds."

Anyway, here's what I want to remember for 2011:
  • Curiosity and excitement about a project are your friends. Don't try to push them away by limiting the amount you want to do in favor of what you "ought" to do.
  • That goes double for listening to budget doom-and-gloom from colleagues or the internets. Can you do one single thing to help the situation? If not, stop listening and just check in once in a while rather than following each twist and turn of the drama.
  • Learn more. Write down what you learn, especially if you're piecing together something you found in an archive. You think you'll remember it. You won't.

2 comments:

Dame Eleanor Hull said...

I think I'll just adopt your points to remember, if you don't mind.

undine said...

Feel free, Dame Eleanor, and thanks! I liked your post about mysteries but couldn't think of anything useful to say about it, so I didn't comment.