For this last episode of the year I revisit the Long Play (LP) template, inspired by vinyl records, as a way to intentionally reflect on and celebrate this past year and to be more intentional about how we move into our new year. The Ps of the template are personal, people, play, and projects and we use the Ls to reflect across there:  what did you land, love, labor on, and learn this past year review, and what do you want to look forward to, let go, let grow, and let be for the next year. You can download a template to create your own personalised reflections and plans, individually or within groups, to help you shape your good academic life.

Overview:

00:29 Setting up the LP

03:34 LP Replay

05:05 Introducing the LP Table Template

08:59 Taking Time to Savour and Celebrate

12:06 Looking forward to the 2026 LP

16:12 Wrapping Up and Summary

19:09 Final Pointers

19:49 Outro

You can download your LP template here. Feel free to tailor it to what works best for you! And I'd love to hear back how you used it and evolved it.

Welcome to Changing Academic Life.

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I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick, and this is

a podcast series where academics and

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others share their stories, provide

ideas, and provoke discussions about what

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we can do individually and collectively

to change academic life for the better.

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Welcome to this very last episode for

the year on changing academic life.

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Really happy to have you here.

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We started off this season seven

at the beginning of September

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where we talked about the value of

fresh starts and being intentional.

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And if we can pick up on that theme

now in this last episode for the

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year, because we are coming to one of

those really interesting transition

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points, the end of a calendar year

and the beginning of a new year.

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For many people it's a time

of celebration, of family, of

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connection, of rest, hopefully

taking some time away from work.

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And so I offered this episode in

support of that, reflecting on the

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past year and being intentional

about the fresh start we want to make

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coming into our next year, into 2026.

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And to do this, I'm going to do an

edited version of the LP episode that

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I did on the 1st of January, 2025.

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And you may or may not remember, LP

is for long play record and I use LP

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to set up some different ways of both

looking back and looking forward.

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And I'm sharing this again because

many people have come back to me and

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said how useful that template, that LP

template, was in helping reflections.

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A lot of people did it just as an

individual reflection, and I also

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know of people who've taken this on

and used it as a tool for a group

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reflection on how the research group

or the project team has been going this

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last year and how they want to show up

more intentionally for the next year.

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When I did this episode on January

1st this year, I also included a

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lot of personal reflections in how

I instantiated the LP for myself.

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I won't do that this time because we

did some good season reflections at

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the end of July, finishing off that

previous season, and the last episode

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was also very personal, so this is just

purely a walkthrough, a template that

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hopefully will help you with reflecting

back and celebrating, taking some time

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to celebrate and sav all that you've

done, and to be intentional about how

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you set yourself up for your next year.

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So here is your LP template for

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and looking forward to 2026.

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A pop quiz question for you.

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Do you remember the LP?

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Or do you even know what an LP is for

those of you who maybe aren't old enough?

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Well, an LP is a long play vinyl record.

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And it used to be our source

of music when I was a teenager.

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This was clearly a long time before

online music streaming services.

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Though, I believe LPs are

making a bit of a comeback.

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In this episode, I want to play with

LP as a template for reflecting on and

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celebrating what will be our long play

mix or compilation of our last year . And

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also as we look forward to what might

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. I'll explain how I'm playing

with L and P as I go along.

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And you'll also be able to

find a template that you can

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download and use for yourself.

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And you can find this on the

episode, webpage that you can access

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via www.changingacademiclife.com.

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I'm going to first walk through the

template and explain the L's and the P's.

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And then I'm going to go on and

use that as a template for myself

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to reflect on my past year.

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And to look forward to next year.

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I've set it up for myself as a table.

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And the labels on the

columns reflect the PS.

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And the Ps are personal,

people, play and projects.

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And for myself, I've added in

podcasts, and the L's reflect the rows.

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And I've got different Ls for

reflecting upon the past year.

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And for thinking about the next year.

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So the L's for reflecting upon

this last year on those P areas

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are land, love, labor and learn.

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And for thinking about what we want for

the next year . The Ls are look forward

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to, let go, let grow, and let be.

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Now I've been playing

with these just for fun.

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So you could create column

labels to reflect whatever

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areas are important for you.

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And if those Ls provide questions

that don't connect for you create

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your own questions or your own labels.

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So let's start reflecting

on this past year.

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And to give you a little bit more

of an explanation of the P's and

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the L's are the L's and the P's.

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For the Ps.

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Personal is about where you're

currently at in your life and career

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and, and how you look after yourself.

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Thinking about what makes you, you.

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People is pretty obvious.

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And that's both people who

support you, who make life fun and

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worthwhile, and people that you've

been able to support and serve.

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Both directly and indirectly.

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And we're thinking about friends,

family, colleagues, peers, here.

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Play is about doing things that

aren't work, that are fun, that are

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hobbies or passion projects, or just

hanging out or things that just don't

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have any direct, functional purpose.

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And projects is my catch-all

for all things work.

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What you're paid to do or projects that

you've chosen to take on for yourself

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that contribute in some work-like way.

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And the L's just by expanding a bit more.

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Land is about what have

you landed this year?

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And we could think about that

in terms of what have you done?

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What went well?

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What are you proud of?

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Love is standing back and reflecting

on what you've landed and looking

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at: what are the high points?

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When were you at your real best?

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What did you particularly love doing?

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When did you feel particularly

energized in the flow and what patterns

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do you see across those moments?

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And similarly labor is reflecting on

when did feel a little bit like hard

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work or, you know, going through treacle.

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What didn't you enjoy doing so much?

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And what patterns do you see here?

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And learn is pretty self-explanatory.

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It's what did you learn?

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And that could be, what did you

learn from what didn't work so well?

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Or what did you learn from

your mistakes or failures?

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And what are those lessons for next

time or what would you do differently?

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And in particular, what did

you learn about yourself?

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I found it really useful

before embarking on this.

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Just to spend some time.

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Going back and looking at my photos

and looking across my calendar entries.

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And skimming across the journal that

I've been keeping, surprisingly.

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Because I haven't usually been a

journal keeper, but I found it really

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useful just to have a commitment to

myself that I'll at least write a

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phrase or a sentence every day.

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Once you've done this what I want to do

now is encourage us all just to stop.

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And take a moment to stand back and

reflect on how much you've done.

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And how much you've achieved.

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How much you've learned.

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And to celebrate that.

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Because it's pretty impressive.

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It's pretty impressive.

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And we're so quick to focus

on what we haven't done.

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Or what's still to do

or what we got wrong.

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That we forget to take that

precious moment to actually stop

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and celebrate what we have done.

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And it can also be useful to

take a moment to think about.

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What are we particularly grateful for?

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And who might we be

particularly grateful for?

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Geri: I want to add in

something else here.

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When we think about who

we might be grateful for.

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We so often underestimate the

power and value of expressing

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our gratitude to people.

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So I'd love to invite you as part of your

own reflections and celebrations here.

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Is to take a couple of minutes to write

a very personal note or email to that

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person, being genuine, generous, and

specific, about what it is that they've

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done that means so much for you or how

much you've really valued their support.

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And this could be to your line manager,

to your boss, to your colleague,

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to your partner, to your friends.

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We cannot say thank you enough to

people, and we can think people

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know that we appreciate them, but

if we don't tell them they don't.

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So this can be a gift that you can give

to someone at this time of gift giving

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that can actually be more valuable

than anything you bought with money.

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Geri Fitz: It could also be useful

to step back and think about.

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What if you were your own best friend?

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And you were looking at the

review that you've just captured.

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What would that friend say to you?

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And they're likely to

be pretty blown away.

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Aren't they.

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So I think we should just take

a moment to pat ourselves on the

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back and say, well done, you.

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And also recognize the fact that we're

human and that we're on a learning

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journey for the whole of our life.

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And that we're never perfect.

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So we can celebrate still what we have

done and what we have learned and the

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impact that we have been able to have.

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So now we come to looking

forward to our new year.

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. I've continued playing with the LP.

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So you might like to

draw up another table.

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And you can put the usual Ps on the

columns, whatever your column labels are.

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For me, they're personal people

play and projects and also podcast.

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And the ELLs we're going to put

for our rows are going to cover.

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Looking forward.

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What are you looking forward to?

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What are you going to let go of?

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What are you going to

let grow and develop?

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And what are you going to let be?

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So again, I'm not going to go

through all these in detail.

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But I can just talk through those

Ls a little bit more to help

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give some questions that might

frame your own reflections.

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And for each of those Ls, you can consider

them again across each of your P areas

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or whatever your columns are labeled.

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The first L is looking forward.

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So, what do you already

know is on the horizon?

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And what would you like to make happen and

what are the opportunities and potentials?

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The second L is let go.

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And I think letting go is a

really important one to consider.

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And that's about what do you want

to leave behind or stop doing.

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That isn't serving you well,

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what do you want to do less of.

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So that you can do more of something else.

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What isn't the best use of your time and

attention and energy for the difference

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you can make when you are at your best.

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For me, some of that is, I need

to let go of feeling inadequate.

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Measuring myself against others and

recognizing that they're in different

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situations and stop doing that.

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Also need to let go of

trying to do it all.

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There are so many things on my list

that I would love to do or try out.

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And I can't do it all.

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Moving on the third, L is let grow.

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What do you want to let grow?

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What do you want to take forward?

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What do you want to develop more?

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What do you want to do more of.

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How do you want to show up for yourself?

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And what will help you

do that in the best way?

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And our final L is let be.

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What are the things that you

just need to be comfortable with?

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And that can be about not knowing

or not having all the answers.

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And that also may be not ever having

all the answers or it could even

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just be not just yet having the

answers or not just yet knowing.

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So can you just let it be okay that

things are open and uncertain for while.

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What do you need to give space

and time for them to work out.

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And what do you need just to

accept that there are some things

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that you can't change and have

absolutely no control over.

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So there's lots that you could think

about for each of your P areas.

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And along those Ls, like what.

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What are you looking forward to?

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What are you letting go of?

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What are you going to

let grow and develop?

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What are you going to let be?

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So wrapping up now.

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What I've tried to share here is a little

bit of a template for reflecting on

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your long play record that was this past

year . And give some questions to think

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about moving forward into this new year.

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To summarize, we talked about

the P's in terms of personal

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people play and projects.

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And for reflecting on the past year.

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I offered the L's of land,

love, labor, and learn.

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And looking forward to the next

year across those same areas, it's,

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as I said, what to look forward

to let, go of let grow, let be.

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You could also play with the whole

LP record metaphor, if you wanted

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to and think about if you're doing a

mixed music pop compilation for your

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last year or for this coming year.

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What would that be comprised of?

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So, as I said at the beginning, There's

a template that you can download by

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going to www.changingacademiclife.com.

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And whether you use this template or

not, I just offer it in case it's useful.

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I think it is really good just to take

some time at these transition points,

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artificial as they are in lots of ways,

just to put our head above all the details

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and the messiness of work and life, and

just think about where have we come.

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And to take the time,

as I said to celebrate.

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And then to think about where are

we going and how can we be a little

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bit more intentional about that?

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So that we can better connect

to who we are at our best and

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to what's important to us.

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Because that's when we're going

to make our biggest and best

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contributions by doing that.

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And this may be a reflection that you

do just on your own, or it could be

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something that you do with colleagues.

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Or if you're in some sort of supervisory

or leadership relationship, it

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could also frame a discussion that

you have setting up the new year.

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So I'm curious to hear from you

if this works for you at all, and

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thank you at this end for being with

me on the journey this past year.

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And I'm really looking forward to

what the next year brings us all.

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As we work together to change

academic life for the better,

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both our own academic life.

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And the collective academic life

that we all co-create together.

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And if you will allow me to end

with a little bit of self promotion.

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If you're interested in exploring

more about any of the offerings that I

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have through my consulting, training,

speaking, coaching work, you can

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go to www.geraldinefitzpatrick.com,

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Geraldine Fitzpatrick, all one word.

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And I would also ask a final favor of you.

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That you share this podcast

with at least one other person.

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Geri: And that's the end of our LP replay.

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I hope you enjoy reflecting back,

celebrating, and embarking on

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your new year with intention.

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You can find an updated template

to download on the webpage for this

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episode on www.changingacademiclife.com.

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And I am going to take a break now

for a few weeks, walking the talk,

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and I look forward to being back

with you in the middle of January

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with some great, new conversations.

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See you then.

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Geri Fitz: You can find the summary notes,

a transcript and related links for this

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podcast on www.changingacademiclife.com.

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You can also subscribe to Changing

Academic Life on iTunes, Spotify

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and I'm really hoping that we can

widen the conversation about how

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we can do academia differently.

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And you can contribute to this by rating

the podcast and also giving feedback.

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And if something connected with

you, please consider sharing this

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podcast with your colleagues.

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Together we can make change happen.