[Leadership Series] Leading Yourself Through A Writing Season

In this episode, I unpack what self-leadership really means: making decisions grounded in your mission and values that shape who you become, not just what you produce. I’ll explain why embracing seasonality—intentionally focusing on writing during specific periods while scaling back other commitments—is a powerful way to adapt to the challenges many academics face today, like frozen grant programs and shifting research priorities. Finally, I share practical tools and mindset shifts you need to lead yourself through a writing season with clear boundaries, effective time management, and focused energy.

If you’re ready to take control of your writing and academic career by mastering self-leadership, this episode is for you. Tune in to learn how leading yourself is the secret to writing more intentionally and productively.

What Is Self-Leadership and Why It Matters

I unpack how self-leadership is about making decisions aligned with your mission and values. It’s not just about managing your time—it’s a powerful form of productivity. When you lead yourself effectively, you focus on who you become through your work, not just the products you create. Self-leadership means setting clear priorities and boundaries to focus on what matters most—like dedicating a season specifically to writing. This approach shifts the usual productivity mindset from constant output to intentional, mission-driven progress that supports both your writing goals and your growth as an academic leader.

Embracing Seasonality in Your Writing

Right now, many of us are facing challenges brought on by the current socio-political climate—frozen grant programs, shifting research priorities, and uncertainty about future funding. These conditions often push us to pivot and refocus our efforts, making writing a natural and strategic response. 

Embracing seasonality means recognizing that you can’t do everything at once at full throttle. Instead, you intentionally turn up the volume on your writing during certain seasons while turning down other commitments like grant applications, teaching, or committee work. This focus helps you conserve energy, maintain clarity, and produce your best work without burnout. Seasonality allows you to honor the realities of your environment while advancing your academic goals thoughtfully and sustainably. But, it also requires self-leadership.

Tools and Mindset for Leading Yourself

Self-leadership requires more than motivation — it demands concrete tools like time-blocking, project management strategies, and boundary-setting to protect your writing time. I discuss the importance of knowing your optimal working times, communicating boundaries with colleagues, and making tough decisions that align with your mission, even when others might push you to take on other commitments or projects.

“The word productivity has so much focus on product – creation of products – which has this really factory-like, capitalized bent to it. Instead of focusing on the product of the work, focus on who you become as you are creating the products. That’s why I like this focus on self-leadership. Leadership means that you are making decisions based on your mission and values; that you have a mission and a set of values that define your work; that you understand what you’re doing in this world and for your career; and that you refining your ability to make decisions that support those mission, those values, and those products coming out.”

“The idea of seasonality is that we do not do all of the things at 100%. Instead we select what season we are in, like writing. So we’re going to write hundred percent and we’re going to turn other things down. What it takes to actually accomplish that and to consequently accomplish submitting the paper or submitting the book proposal or the book, is self leadership.”

We’ve opened the waitlist for our next cohort of Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap®. Check out the program details and get on the waitlist here.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:

1. Our 12-week Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap® program helps tenure-track womxn and nonbinary professors to publish their backlog of papers so that their voice can have the impact they know is possible. Get on the waitlist here!
2. Cathy’s book, Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing is available in print! Learn how to build your career around your writing practice while shattering the myths of writing every day, accountability, and motivation, doing mindset work that’s going to reshape your writing,and changing academic culture one womxn and nonbinary professor at a time. Get your print copy today or order it for a friend here!
3. If you would like to hear more from Cathy for free, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter, In the Pipeline, at scholarsvoice.org. It’s a newsletter that she personally writes that goes out once a week with writing and publication tips, strategies, inspiration, book reviews and more.

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