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48. Lights, Camera… Courage: Dany’s Arctic Documentary Journey
Episode 4831st December 2025 • Psychologically Speaking with Leila Ainge • Decibelle Creative
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In this deeply honest and energising episode of Psychologically Speaking, Dany Johnston — data & AI consultant, documentary filmmaker, and PhD researcher — shares her most ambitious and vulnerable goal yet: to create and release a new documentary filmed during a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to the Arctic Circle.

Dany’s story is one of dual passions: 25 years in business transformation and data, and a lifelong pull toward storytelling, creativity, and human rights. Her PhD bridges those worlds, exploring how data harvesting and AI shape the human rights landscape — and how documentary can help everyday people join conversations that usually happen behind closed doors.

But 2026 isn’t about theory. It’s about exposure.

The kind she’s avoided for years.

Dany openly shares her “abject fear of judgment,” the reason projects from New York still sit on a hard drive, and why this year must be different. Her measure of success? Not just making a film — but submitting it to the festival circuit.

Transcripts

Speaker:

Hi, I'm Leila Ainge, psychologist and researcher.

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Welcome back to Psychologically Speaking, a podcast all about human behavior, bringing

together fascinating research, insights and real life experiences.

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This season, we're exploring goals with guests and we'll be following them into the new

year to see how their beliefs, behaviors and actions shape those intentions.

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I'm very excited to introduce our next guest, Dani Johnston.

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Dani is a data and an AI consultant, but she also owns a documentary production company.

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I can't wait to hear all about Dani's goal for 2026.

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Dani, welcome to Psychologically Speaking.

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It's so good to have you here.

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Dany tell me a little bit about the work that you do and in terms of where your goals are

going to be set, what's most important for our listeners to understand about your work

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life and where your goals are sitting.

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m Okay, so m I do have a uh Masters in Documentary and I am doing a PhD in m Human Rights

and Data Privacy and they sound like they're completely polar opposite things m but

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basically in life documentaries aren't really going to pay the bills for you so I have

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two and a half decades of working in business transformation, delivering multi-million

pound international programmes of work.

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And I moved into the data and AI space.

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the PhD joins those two things together.

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I started my production company eight years ago and it's just been slowly building.

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But the consultancy allows

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me to feed money into into the film production.

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The PhD is the intention is to produce a film as well as the right up for the PhD um to

try and educate lay people on how the advent of you data harvesting and AI development is

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impacting their human rights.

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So yeah it sounds like I do

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completely different things which I kind of do but I'm trying to bring them together so my

goals for:

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end state which is to be hopefully one day a full-time documentary filmmaker

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I just think the work that you do is amazingly interesting.

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I mean, to look at human rights, I think this is such a hot topic for lots of our

listeners at the moment, especially for people who freelance like we do or contract.

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You know, there's a lot of concern that...

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AI is eroding, jobs and capabilities in the marketplace and that's a scary place to be for

some people.

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And then the fact that you're doing a PhD, which is delving into the human rights of it.

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What was it that drew you to researching that as a PhD?

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I think that my exposure as a consultant, you know, I've worked with teams in the IT

space, teams in the business space, cyber security, and you you hear these stories, you

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hear the developments, and em it was just becoming more evident that...

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We weren't thinking about it in terms of how we're developing society.

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It's human nature, we're constantly striving, aren't we, to build the next shiny thing and

to do the next interesting thing.

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Developers, academics, policymakers, they're constantly trying to em challenge and strive

for bigger and bolder and better.

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But actually, you know,

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if you think about the concept of constructionism and sociology, and I will absolutely

destroy this by the way, I'm not a sociologist, but it's the idea that, you know...

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the environment that you're in helps construct society as we develop.

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And we're creating technology without considering, well, okay, that's great, for 12 months

you'll get this benefit in kind of financial benefit, this return on investment, this

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return for shareholders, but actually how does that turn into a contract?

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for how we live as human beings and what impact is that having on the next generation it

can be frightening the way AI data is being manipulated.

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m for ends that don't serve society to manipulate us to gain money basically.

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So it just fascinated me and the idea that I could then also have a conversation about

well how do we engage

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the general population in this conversation because I mean I do it myself you get to the

cookies section and you go for the love of seriously and you just click pass or whatever

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and even if you say no to a lot of these things no don't share my data there's no real

trust there is there you know you're like well will this tech giant actually honor that em

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or will it be

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honoured to a point where they think they can't get caught.

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Like, I mean, and that's not being unfair, that's just, again, human nature, there is

always going to be the negative side to the positive.

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em So, through documentary, I wanted to explore, can we take quite a complex...

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What is quite dry and boring to most people.

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I get excited about data.

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I do not expect other people to.

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But how can we put that in an engaging and interesting way to get other people into the

conversation?

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Because, you know, as I said, the developer community, the investors, the tech builders

are very small.

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community and then policymakers tend to be reactive to what's already been done and we've

got the other 99 percent like what do they want to say about how the world is developing

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and and how that's going to impact their family and their future and and their their

legacy basically.

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it's such an interesting point that you make there technology was always seen as an

enabler for the context we're already in.

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But the cyber-psychology world, and certainly your world, and that sociological lens, is

saying no.

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technology creates or is constructing the next context and I don't think I've ever really

sat and thought about it that way what excites me about people like you is that you're

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very clearly passionate about data and so am I.

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I wouldn't be a scientist otherwise but

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you bring this creative lens and space to the work that you're doing and I'm really

fascinated then around why did you get into documentary making where does that come from?

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I first went to university to do animation.

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I went on to actually do a degree in...

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archaeology and classics because I felt like the animation wasn't scratching enough of an

academic itch for me and I just grew up, my mum always had um so many books around history

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and ancient history and she was always an avid reader of mythology and things like that.

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So I thought, well, that might be interesting.

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And I also came from a very Catholic family and that wasn't where my...

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um

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where I was leaning in terms of how I was m viewing the world.

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And I kind of wanted to understand.

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where they were coming from a little bit so I actually did biblical archaeology because

you know that's not random and and so I got to 40 and I thought you know I've been doing

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IT for the last 20 years and whilst I love doing it well not necessarily IT it was program

management and business transformation but usually in an IT space and I thought you know I

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love it but is this

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I want to do for another 25 years if I'm lucky to be able to retire then.

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So I did the documentary masters because when I...

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um so I'm neurodivergent.

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I have ADHD, I didn't discover that till 45 but it explains my absolute love for lists

apparently.

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So I wrote myself a list of all the things that I really enjoyed and all the things that

kind of bored me and didn't shine a light for me.

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And...

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What I realised was the reason why the animation and the archaeology and classics, it was

the storytelling.

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I'd always written poetry, I'd always written short stories.

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So the documentary kind of fitted, because it gave me the academic lens to be able to

hyper-focus and research a topic, but also then tell a story and do something creative

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with it.

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So I absolutely loved that.

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And I think that...

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That is kind of where I want to get to where I'm doing that full time.

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But again, you have to pay the bills and I'm very, very fortunate that I'm able to find

work so I don't take that lightly.

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I think what I'm intrigued in then is where your big goal for 2026 is sitting what's the

utput of this goal for you in:

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So I have two.

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em So one of them is very much uh leaning on the uh PhD and the academic side and the

other one is about the documentary making.

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My um limitation is that em I have an abject fear of judgment.

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And that's why I like to be behind the camera, not in front of it.

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And so if I give you an example, just before COVID, I was in New York for three weeks

filming for a series of short films.

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They still sit on my hard drive.

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I never released them.

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and so I have to learn how to get out of my own head.

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um the kind of big goal for me is about not just producing the work but actually releasing

the work.

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So by the end of the year I have to put myself out there for the exposure because

everything I've done that has had exposure up until now has been for someone else, it's

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been for charitable groups and things like that, whereas this one has to

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be for me and it has to be about me creating something and that I am prepared to let the

world see as well.

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it's interesting that you use that that kind of phrase, something I'm prepared to let the

world see.

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A sense there that it's you that is holding yourself back for that fear of external

judgment.

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And that's something that we've spoken to offline

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So how are you thinking that you want to build the goal up and what will the goal result

in?

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How will you know you've achieved this?

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So I'll now have achieved it when I have submitted it to the festival circuit.

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there are a multitude of festivals that m take documentary content and I need to have

those submissions in by the end of the year.

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The creation of the piece is less...

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difficult for me, so not to say it isn't a massive amount of work, what is my measure of

success, my measure of success is that it's released for assessment and potentially

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acceptance to the festival circuit.

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When we talk about the what, is that stuff, the New York stuff?

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stuff you've created already?

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Or brand new?

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I'm gonna go brand new.

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I am going to the Arctic Circle in the end of June.

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So I am going to film the entire thing.

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So there will be 12 people on a boat.

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Not people I know, I know two of them.

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But yes, so it's a...

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I want to give it a fancy name, it's an expedition.

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eh It's an adventure.

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em And yes, so we're going to go to the Arctic Circle and we're going to sail around.

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I guess the other big challenge for me is I'm going to be in front of the camera instead

of behind it for a change.

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Why the Arctic Circle?

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Why couldn't you just go up the road?

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Oh god why not the Arctic Circle?

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It's been on my bucket list for years.

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I love to travel, I love to travel and I love boats, I love the idea of doing something

that is not...

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I'm not great at sitting on a beach and having a holiday that is about relaxing.

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It's never worked for me.

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So whenever I travel, I tend to go to slightly more off the main street kind of places

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and the Arctic Circle just feels like just the next level on that.

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It's yeah how many people are saying that they've been to the Arctic Circle so yeah why

not?

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Not many.

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And you have my vote in terms of doing big and bold things.

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So you're going to the Arctic Circle, you're going to put yourself in front of the camera,

you're going to produce a documentary.

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Is that documentary then linked to human rights and use of AI?

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Okay.

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I have taken your advice, Leila em So I am trying to rethink about how I frame things and

the internal voice that keeps holding me back.

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So.

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I'm thinking whilst we are talking about the end goal, what is the measure of success, I'm

going to try and reframe this as just absolutely the love of the journey, right?

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And every step is just about experiencing that particular moment and the film will make

itself and then I need to worry about submitting it.

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So, know, yeah, I mean...

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I mean I've forgotten the question because I just got lost then in the whole idea of the

trip.

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oh

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was asking what ultimately is this going to be about human rights?

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And you're saying, no, I'm making this easier.

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It's already going to be a project, isn't it?

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Going on this expedition, this adventure, putting yourself in that exposure place of being

in front of the camera and then committing to submitting this to the festival circuit.

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That's the goal.

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So it doesn't really matter about the content and actually taking that pressure off

yourself.

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is a really compassionate thing to do, When you're already pushing yourself out of that

comfort zone and sailing across the sea to do it.

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it sounds amazing.

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It's such an exciting and different thing Tell me, what do you envisage is going to be the

easiest thing about this goal?

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The easiest thing, gosh.

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I guess the run up to the trip is probably the easiest thing because I do well in terms of

I just focus on, you know, I've got to this thing done, you know.

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the planning of it and the execution.

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I think the filming of it will be more difficult for me because I'll be uncomfortable.

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I appreciate that.

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The editing, mean, editing isn't easy, but I enjoy it, so that's fine.

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So yeah, mean...

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Yeah, I guess that I guess it's the run-up to it is the is the easier part for me

personally

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So that helps then doesn't it to think in terms of where you may want to scaffold some

support around your project.

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So if we're saying that the run up to it and getting there is you're going to be running

on positive energy, then it's thinking about what scaffolding you've got in place for when

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you are there.

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And you mentioned that there's two people on the boat that you already know.

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So who have you managed to put around you as that support system?

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So I have roped two friends in.

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um One of them, she travels with me all the time.

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Mm-hmm.

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So we're very comfortable in each other's company.

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You know, we are used to each other's idiosyncrasies.

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The other friend has never traveled with either of us, uh but he is coming purely from the

perspective of holding the camera.

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and the beauty of his company is that he is an extremely enthusiastic, open person who

would be like, you need to suck it up and

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get out of your own head.

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like get on with it so so he's gonna be I think he's gonna be great company on the trip em

and yeah there's six months running up to it and we're doing training so to get him really

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comfortable with the camera equipment and everything else and and I guess that there'll

still also be some kind of fitness

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training because there's a level of fitness that we have to be able to to meet.

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um So yeah I mean...

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So this expedition then, so in my head, you're going on a boat to the Arctic Circle, but

what you're really describing is it's gonna be quite a physical, intense time.

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So potentially change in lighting, sleep habits, eating habits, physical exertion.

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Yeah.

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But you see, you see, I think that's the joy of it, right?

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Because, the idea that I'd had was, I was going to go on this trip anyway.

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m And I thought, you know what?

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I'm 50 in February.

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That's why we're going on the trip.

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m

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We, as women, know, I'm sure men experience this too, but as a general rule, I see this,

right?

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As women, as we age, we get somewhat discredited.

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So it's a, well, you've kind of lost your societal value in that you are now not going to

produce children or you're not as pretty or, and I'm sure, like, please, like, hashtag not

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all men.

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I completely get that.

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But there is an element of that goes on.

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So what I wanted to do, I kind of was thinking about it and I thought, wouldn't it be nice

to actually film all of this and create something quite beautiful because of the backdrop,

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you know, the scenery and everything else.

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But to capture that, number one, the chaos because I can be chaotic at the best of times,

but this kind of...

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this embracing the...

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life isn't over, know, so what 50 and I've got my friends and I've got my beautiful kids

as well but I've got my friendship group, I've got these adventures that I can still go on

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and if that inspires even one other person to go on an adventure, like how fab would that

be?

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So I thought, right, okay, I'm gonna film it and yeah.

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and I'm going to look at it as rather than a film to preach uh an idea, know, a lot of the

films because they're human rights based, you're not preaching but you're trying to teach

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constantly.

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Whereas this isn't, I'm not trying to teach anyone anything, I'm not trying to convince

anyone of anything, I'm just trying to show people how...

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joyous life can be and what adventures we can still go on and do something that's a piece

of art, hopefully.

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Hopefully.

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It sounds amazing.

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love the idea and the thinking that's gone into this.

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I'm interested because I know that we've spoken a little bit this year about exposure.

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Do you think this is something that you would have attempted at the beginning of this year

in:

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So what has shifted for you?

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Because if anyone was to say to me, think about the most exposing thing that you could do,

this would be it.

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I think you really have gone for that extreme goal which is going to push you right out of

your comfort zone and potentially, you know, out of other people's comfort zones as well,

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your lucky friends.

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But what shifted?

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em I think that, you know, I've actively tried to source therapy, coaching, know, those

kind of things.

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Obviously, we've worked together and you've helped massively and I do appreciate that.

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I think that there's also an element of I'm 50 next year and...

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uh

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I have friends who didn't get out of their twenties.

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So, you know, how fortunate I am to have a beautiful life, you know, a lovely home that,

you know...

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beautiful children, a crazy dog, know a career and these opportunities to do creative

things and then for me to hold myself back like that it's just insane so at the start of

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this year my intention was I I know the only person holding me back right now is me so I

have to get out of my own head so there is that

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conscious work and it's something that you have to do every single day you don't just go

oh that's the fix and now I you know all done and off I go and live my best life every day

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you've got to go right okay well yesterday I wasn't great at that okay well we'll just

it's a fresh day start again try again and just keep doing that and keep doing that and

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So yeah, I mean, it's a journey that I know that I'm constantly gonna be battling against

myself to an extent, but I have to and how selfish would it be?

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uh

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to waste what I've been so fortunate to have been given if nothing else in my life the

fact that I'm still here after 50 years like so many people don't get that like so so why

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waste it why waste it

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interesting way of framing it.

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I think you're going to really get on with another guest of mine, Emma Thomas.

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She hosts a podcast all about this messy middle of life.

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she set her goal with me this morning on the podcast.

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So we know what's gonna be easy.

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let's talk about then what is going to be challenging.

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And I know nothing about documentary making, but say when I'm looking to do a podcast, for

example.

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I have to have a bit of a rough idea about what I'm going to do, like a storyboard is that

something that you then have to do before you get to the Arctic Circle?

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how does that work if you don't know what you're going to expect when you get there?

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Yeah, definitely also my comfort zone on this in the sense of I don't think there's very

much I can prepare for other than, you know, we can prepare for the kinds of equipment

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we're going to use and the kind of environment that we think we're going to be exposed to

and therefore, you know, how do we adapt, how, say we record sound.

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em

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So there's a lot of prep in that.

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I think that there's an element of we're going to Svalbard two days before the boat leaves

and we're staying for two days after so that we can do a lot of panoramic shooting, a lot

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of kind of B-roll stuff.

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we can prep that but once we're on the boat I pretty much know day one they're gonna teach

us to sail if we want to learn to sail, day two they're gonna teach us to see fish maybe

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we can catch dinner em and then they have a rough itinerary of where they want to get to

em but it is so dependent on weather em

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the environment around us and the world and nature is unpredictable so you have to kind of

respond on the fly a little bit so we'll be as prepared as we can be em and I'll probably

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have more equipment than I need than is necessary em but yeah it's definitely out of my

comfort zone it's not something I've filmed before so

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But listening to you speak there, sounds like you've thought about some of these things.

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when we talk about goal, achievement and setting and motivation, we talk about these three

ideas of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

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So you've got the autonomy to be able to go and do this and to follow that expedition,

that adventure.

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You know, that's something that you're tying into your 50th year.

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You've got the competence.

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so that you're training somebody else up in being able to support you so you're not just

doing all of this on your own.

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And the relatedness is you're taking some familiarity with you, so you've got a traveling

companion who you're very comfortable with, and that feels really sensible and very savvy

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given that you're going to be in an uncomfortable space yourself for moments of this trip.

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So I love the way that you've thought this goal through.

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is your goal starting right now?

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or are you waiting for the 1st of January?

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em So it is starting now and I got in touch with a friend of mine who she runs the

equipment stores at the University and so I've asked her if she could organize some just

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some refresher training for me because like I say you know that kind of run-and-gone m

sound is not something that I'm m

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particularly strong in so she's very kindly arranging training and just so I can sit down

and as well the equipment changes so my intention is to buy a new Blackmagic 6K camera for

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this and whilst I've used it, not, not.

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in anger, I've used other cameras.

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So just really trying to be very confident in myself in terms of the equipment so that

when em I'm working with my friends and making sure he's confident as well that I'm not

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giving him a bum steer on that one.

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Teaching him bad habits.

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oh

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like a lot of this is just you're trying to, I suppose, prep for everything that you can

control right now.

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It's such a useful strategy.

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So I'll check in with you in the first week in January.

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I'll ask you for an update offline and then what you share back I'll do an episode where I

do a roundup of a couple of guests.

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But we're also going to bring you on to a recording and we're going to talk about how far

you've got so far, what you're excited about.

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Yours will come just before you set off on your big expedition, so it'll be really

interesting to hear how you're getting on.

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And then we'll probably catch up with you further into 2026, hopefully after you've been

on the expedition and you can tell us what the documentary has unfolded as.

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I'm really intrigued about the storytelling and where that story goes for you.

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Yeah, yeah.

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So am I.

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Who knows?

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Like I say, I'm nothing if not a little bit chaotic.

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I'm like, squirrel.

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You've already identified one action which is you're off to the university to get a

refresher on some of the training equipment.

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there any, so I like to think in threes.

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Two more actions from you that I can ask you about in that first week in January.

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Okay so I've also roped another friend in and he has just he's left IT funnily enough um

and he is now he owns like a fishing

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equipment store and he teaches people to fish and he's worked with charities teaching

underprivileged kids how to fish you know so they have another outlet and something like a

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hobby and he's an absolutely wonderful human being and so I said to him he got his new

shop um about eight weeks ago I said I've had a genius idea

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I said, why don't you teach a group of 40 plus women, not 40 women, aged 40 plus women, to

fish?

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And we'll go fishing and we'll drink Prosecco.

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and you can use it as promo material because it's out in the cold and around water and

things like that uh and at first he was like god this is going to be chaotic isn't it?

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said yes it absolutely is and I said please ask your wife if she wants to come with us and

at first she said no it'll be cold and wet and then she went there's Prosecco okay yes

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I'll come too and so there's going to be a group of us but it's another opportunity

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to just again it's you know we're around water it's in the cold there'll be some night

shooting and they'll be it'll be a bit chaotic I'm quite sure with my friends and so it's

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just like you know keeping that movement and and just a bit of a practice for my other

friends to be able to use the equipment so that's that's gonna be around April so we're

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gonna do that one

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The only question I've got here is how do I sign up for this?

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It sounds amazing!

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I will!

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so good.

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Imagine.

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I feel sorry for my friend, right?

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Cause he's just the most kind laid back human being.

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And then I'm just going to descend on him with like a group of half drunk women that I

don't want to, I've already said to him, I don't want to touch base if it moves.

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I don't, that's not happening.

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uh

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of have to get into that kind of stuff.

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Really weirdly, when I was younger, where we grew up, there was a pond near us, and it's

called the fish ponds, obviously, very normal name.

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There was a bottom pond and a top pond.

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And when you got to about the age of, I don't know, 14 or 15, it was the place to go in

the summer holidays because there was no mobile phones.

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And it was the place where the guys hung out.

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So probably for about two or three years, summer, I spent most of my spare time in summer

holidays around fish ponds and around people who did fishing.

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No, absolutely not.

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I was definitely there for distraction and I probably was more of a hindrance than

anything else.

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But the idea of trying a new skill is always a good idea.

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I am under no illusion I will be a hindrance on these filming events.

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Okay so you're going to refresh on your equipment, you're going to get some real-life

practice around cold, wet stuff and when's your trip to the Arctic?

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End of June.

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So you've got that in and what about a third action then?

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What third action can you be working towards?

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gosh, third, action.

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Oh, well, the third action is going to be the training, I guess.

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just I do go to gym.

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do do train anyway, but I'm more of a uh weight kind of person.

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So I need to build up that cardio strength and just because, you know, they'll be trekking

and stuff like that.

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So whilst I do hike.

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um

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I wouldn't say that I...

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um

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uber healthy.

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So I am trying to put together a bit of a training plan.

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I do have a PT at the moment if she hasn't lost the will with me.

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So yeah, just putting together a bit of a training plan just to make sure that that cardio

level and strength is there.

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that, the last thing you want to do is get an injury or something.

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Can you off at sea and there's no, you know, there's a first aid box.

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Nothing else.

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:

So I'm going to reflect on the fact that you've got three very prep-like actions I'm going

to suggest an action for you which is really just tipping your appetite for exposure a

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little bit.

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So your goal is an approach goal, it's an approach in June with a release after that to a

certain community.

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But by recording this podcast, we're doing it in video today.

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I will be sharing this video and I'll be putting you in front of the camera.

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So just confirming that this is part of it and that will happen.

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And my action for you is to embrace it, is to engage with it and try not to run away from

it.

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I can do that as long as I don't have to watch it back.

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I think watching it back will be really helpful.

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So Darren, who was on the series earlier on, he said to me, he said it was a bit cringy

listening back to it.

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But after a few listens, you kind of get over that.

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It's a bit like exposure therapy.

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You've got to keep...

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watching yourself back and listening and it does help.

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Yeah, okay.

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I'll do whatever I'm told.

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uh

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I think you have to be uncomfortable.

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You can't plan for everything.

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You can't mitigate everything.

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It's going to get uncomfortable, this goal journey.

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You've set yourself a big challenge.

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I'm interested when we catch up again.

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is to explore what coping strategies you're going to put in place for when it feels too

uncomfortable.

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this has been fabulous.

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It's been an absolute delight to have you on the Psychologically Speaking podcast.

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I wish you all the best with your goal for next year.

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And we are here to support and challenge you as you go through that journey.

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:

And I look forward to catching up in January to find out.

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:

how things are going with that prep and also with the exposure.

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:

Yeah, no probes.

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:

Thank you Leila Really appreciate it.

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I hope you are beginning to see what I'm seeing.

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Everybody approaches goals differently.

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sometimes we pitch our goals a little lower than the dream we actually want.

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We keep momentum modest because we think we need strong foundations before we're allowed

to scale.

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And we worry about failing especially when what we're doing can be very visible publicly.

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So in January, I'm opening up something new to help you move beyond that.

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And it's called my 2026 Goal Sprint.

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:

It's going to be a live 60 minute session where we're going to use my prompts to craft the

best goal for your:

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:

You'll get weekly live check-ins to keep your momentum going, and especially past that

second week in February where most resolutions quietly melt away.

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You'll get access to a Slack group And I will be in there every week to give you the

strongest psychological start to your year.

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you can join us for just £79 and the link is in the show notes or you can go straight to

www.leilaainge.co.uk/goalsprint forward slash goal sprint.

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I'd love to see you there.

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That's all for today.

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Thank you for listening to Psychologically Speaking with me, Leila Ainge.

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