Prompts for Seeking & Salvaging

8 prompts for a new year

“Reality is not a given: it has to be continually sought out, held—I am tempted to say salvaged,” wrote John Berger in “The Production of the World.”

Berger spent his career teaching people to see clearly, to separate what’s real and substantial from easy clichés. The implication being: you already know. You just have to do the work of discerning it.

That’s the work for this year: seek, hold, salvage. See y’all on the other side.

PS: all longer-form digital prompt booklets are available to download here.

Prompts for Seeking & Salvaging

1. GOT ME THROUGH IT

You survived 2025. Give credit where it's due. Who and what got you through the year?

The person:

The place:

The thing:

2. THE BACKLOG

In 2008, the National Archives reported that it had approximately one million cubic feet of records that were unprocessed, or: materials that had been acquired and shelved, but never fully examined or sorted. (The library science term is “backlog”: pending materials that are essentially hidden.)

Consider your own “backlog” and its various expressions: perhaps a Notes app list titled “Copenhagen ideas,” unedited since 2022? Screenshots of life-changing quotations you’ve never revisited? A sheet in an abandoned notebook outlining the ways you’re definitely going to change your life?

Choose a repository or list out a few. Dedicate 30 minutes to revisiting one lost corner of your archive.

3. GALLOP MODE

The Year of the Horse begins February 17, 2026, symbolizing forward motion. Less looking, more leaping. Pedal to the metal.

List something you’ve been waiting on to arrive that you could try galloping toward instead.

4. TRIVIAL PURSUIT