January 1, 2025 • 41 mins
As we leave 2024 and embark on the new year, I want to share the reflective template I used for myself, playing with the LP (long play) record concept. I introduce the table structure of the personal, people, play, and projects (Ps) categories, paired with reflective components like land, love, labor, and learn (Ls) for the past year review, and look forward, let go, let grow, and let be (Ls) for the next year. I share some illustrative examples from my own reflections of 2024, including milestones, achievements, and lessons learned. And I share some of the feedback from you that helps make the work of this podcast worthwhile – thank you! I hope this encourage you too to reflect on your LP last year, celebrate your accomplishments, and be more intentional on how you approach the coming year.
You can download the LP template here.
00:29 Episode Introduction
02:29 Introducing the LP Table Template
06:27 Reflecting on my 2024 Landings
16:10 What I Loved and What Feels Like Labour
19:13 What I Learned
23:21 Taking Time to Savour and Celebrate
25:06 Celebrating Feedback on the Podcast
31:42 Looking forward to the 2025 LP
36:44 Wrapping Up and Summary
39:48 Final Pointers
41:01 Outro
41:50 End
Related Links
Past Episodes:
Remembering Volkmar Pipek - on being curious, being you
Liam Bannon (Part 1) on a career outside the box – April 2024
Liam Bannon (Part 2) on values & what matters – Sept 2024
On research identity, meaningful work and funding (solo) - Jan 2024
RW9 Progress and praise – July 2021
Other links:
Linked In Post by Rachel Ratz-Lubashevsky on the research identity episode
HCI Group, TU Wien
Online Academic Leadership Development course – Spring 2025, early bird deadline 2 March 2025
To explore more of my offerings: geraldinefitzpatrick.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Geri (00:05):
Welcome to Changing Academic Life.
I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick and this isa podcast series where academics and
others share their stories, provideideas and provoke discussions about what
we can do individually and collectivelyto change academic life for the better.
(00:34):
A pop quiz question for you.
Do you remember the LP?
Or do you even know what an LP is forthose of you who maybe aren't old enough?
Well, an LP is a long play vinyl record.
And it used to be our sourceof music when I was a teenager.
(00:55):
This was clearly a long time beforeonline music streaming services.
Though, I believe LPs aremaking a bit of a comeback.
I can still hear a song from,I don't know, John Denver's
back home again, album.
Or Susie Quattros Quatro album.
And I'm immediately taken back to 1974.
(01:19):
And I can even remember particularoccasions when we played these or who
I was with and what we were doing.
In this episode, I want to play withLP as a template for reflecting on
and celebrating what will be ourlong play mix or compilation of 2024.
(01:47):
And also as we look forward to what mightbe our next long play album for 2025.
I'll explain how I'm playingwith L and P as I go along.
And you'll also be able tofind a template that you can
download and use for yourself.
And you can find this on theepisode, webpage that you can access
(02:09):
via www.changingacademiclife.com.
I'm going to first walk through thetemplate and explain the L's and the P's.
And then I'm going to go on anduse that as a template for myself
to reflect on my past year.
And to look forward to next year.
(02:31):
I've set it up for myself as a table.
And the labels on thecolumns reflect the PS.
And the Ps are personal,people, play and projects.
And for myself, I've added inpodcasts, and the L's reflect the rows.
(02:53):
And I've got different Ls forreflecting upon the past year.
And for thinking about the next year.
So the L's for reflecting uponthis last year on those P areas
are land, love, labor and learn.
(03:13):
And for thinking aboutwhat we want for 2025.
The Ls are look forward to,let go, let grow, and let be.
Now I've been playingwith these just for fun.
So you could create columnlabels to reflect whatever
(03:35):
areas are important for you.
And if those Ls provide questionsthat don't connect for you create
your own questions or your own labels.
So let's start reflectingon this past year.
And to give you a little bit moreof an explanation of the P's and
the L's are the L's and the P's.
(03:55):
For the Ps.
Personal is about where you'recurrently at in your life and career
and, and how you look after yourself.
Thinking about what makes you, you.
People is pretty obvious.
And that's both people whosupport you, who make life fun and
worthwhile, and people that you'vebeen able to support and serve.
(04:16):
Both directly and indirectly.
And we're thinking about friends,family, colleagues, peers, here.
Play is about doing things thataren't work, that are fun, that are
hobbies or passion projects, or justhanging out or things that just don't
have any direct, functional purpose.
(04:38):
And projects is my catch-allfor all things work.
What you're paid to do or projects thatyou've chosen to take on for yourself
that contribute in some work-like way.
And the L's just by expanding a bit more.
Land is about what haveyou landed this year?
And we could think about thatin terms of what have you done?
(04:59):
What went well?
What are you proud of?
Love is standing back and reflectingon what you've landed and looking
at (05:07):
what are the high points?
When were you at your real best?
What did you particularly love doing?
When did you feel particularlyenergized in the flow and what patterns
do you see across those moments?
And similarly labor is reflecting onwhen did feel a little bit like hard
work or, you know, going through treacle.
(05:29):
What didn't you enjoy doing so much?
And what patterns do you see here?
And learn is pretty self-explanatory.
It's what did you learn?
And that could be, what did youlearn from what didn't work so well?
Or what did you learn fromyour mistakes or failures?
And what are those lessons for nexttime or what would you do differently?
(05:52):
And in particular, what didyou learn about yourself?
I found it really usefulbefore embarking on this.
Just to spend some time.
Going back and looking at my photosand looking across my calendar entries.
And skimming across the journal thatI've been keeping, surprisingly.
(06:13):
Because I haven't usually been a journalkeeper, but I found it really useful that.
Just to have a commitmentto myself though.
At least write a phraseor a sentence every day.
So, how do I reflect on my own 2024?
I won't go into all the details.
(06:34):
Just pull out a coupleof illustrative points.
On a personal level.
I finally finished my employmentcontract end of September, this year.
And it really is then the finishof that transition period between
my formal academic position.
And now.
(06:55):
Being more freelance andbeing able to explore.
Being in so-calledretirement and also working.
So that has been a big deal becauseit really represents stepping
into a new phase of my life.
Another big deal for me was runningmy first half marathon in April.
(07:18):
And really being surprised too.
That I could do that, that Icould take on that challenge
and do it and, and enjoyed it.
And that's been part of acommitment to try to keep up regular
exercise and take better care ofsleeping well and eating well.
(07:39):
Because, especially as I get older,I'm aware that my health is really
critically important and can make allthe difference to quality of life.
And I've also been able to enjoylots of learning experiences.
I love learning.
And apart from informal learning, interms of reading books or listening to
(08:00):
various podcasts, I've also undertakenparticular trainings and certifications
that will go towards supporting thework that I want to continue doing.
And so I'm now a certified strengthscope coach practitioner for
individuals and teams and leaders.
And that's about working with peopleto help them understand what their
(08:22):
particular strengths are and howthey can work with them and use
them to craft their good life.
And their impactful life.
And also undertaking coursesaround creating better cultures.
And also facilitating peer learningexperiences and action learning sets.
(08:45):
We could also talk about thatas peer coaching group coaching.
Moving on to people where.
Where do I start?
When I look across the photos,they're just packed full of wonderful
people, wonderful relationships,lots of people visiting.
Um, people in various courses,amazing people I've had the privilege
(09:07):
to work with my own work group.
And there are also some sad memoriesthere of having lost people.
You will have heard some of thosediscussions in the podcast.
And also recognizing that for manyof the people that I care about,
they've also been dealing with varioushardships and losses this year.
But people have been reallyimportant in just getting through
(09:30):
collaborators, friends, my partner.
So I'm really appreciativeof people's friendships.
I won't go through the play, butthere's been lots of opportunities
for playful explorations, which wasone of my themes for 2024 in being
(09:53):
able to do some interesting travels.
And again, many of thosetravels were with friends that
really enhanced the experience.
I'm also really proud of thework that I've been able to do
under the projects umbrella.
Some of that has beenongoing peer service roles.
(10:15):
But I'm also deliberately cutting backon a lot of other peer service roles
so that I can focus on where I thinkI can make more unique contributions.
And that's been focusing more of mywork time on the consulting, training,
speaking, and coaching work that I offer.
For example with my co-facilitator AustinRainer we've run some long form academic
(10:40):
leadership development courses, both as anonline course, over a number of months and
as a residential course, over a few days.
I've also run variouscourses for PhD students.
Many of which are also longer formthat go towards course credits.
And then there's a whole myriadof other different workshops and
(11:01):
courses and facilitated sessions.
That can run for anythingfrom half a day to two days.
When I look back and count these up,there were 22 of those last year.
And these have been acrossa range of countries.
In alphabetical order, like Austria,Denmark, England, Germany, Iceland,
(11:24):
Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy,Sweden, Switzerland, and Wales.
And have been delivered to various groupsfrom senior leadership teams to people
in general leadership positions to earlycareer researchers to PhD students.
(11:45):
We've covered topics from how tocreate an inclusive meeting culture.
And more general issues aroundinclusion and diversity.
To leadership development issuesspecifically around how to
ask for feedback as a leader.
Or how to bring a coaching mindsetto your leadership toolkit.
(12:09):
There also been courses abouthow to better know and understand
yourself and then use thatunderstanding to lead yourself.
And how to craft your own goodacademic life and make good decisions.
And that has been aroundsaying yes and no.
As well as around managing all areasof your life and promoting wellbeing.
(12:34):
And they've also been courses that haveconnected to issues around emotional
intelligence and understanding emotionsas data and working with the voices in
your head, like the procrastinator andthe perfectionist and the imposter.
And there've been topicsaround women at work as well.
(12:55):
And I've run sessions on mentoringmentors and helping to establish a
mentoring culture in a department.
I've also facilitated a number of events.
These include the launchof a women's network.
And also a strategic planning workshopfor leadership team in a faculty.
(13:15):
And I did six different keynoteor invited talks this year.
Covering issues ranging from leadershipto creating collegial research cultures.
To diversity and inclusion.
To mentoring.
And these have all beensuch a pleasure to do.
I love facilitating groups.
(13:36):
I love engaging with people in thesesorts of discussions and shared
learning experiences where I learnedjust as much as they may learn.
And I guess one of the bigprojects I've taken on together
with Austin is writing a book.
(13:56):
And this is in response to many peoplesaying to us over the last couple of
years, about when are we going to writea book, reflecting what we teach in
our leadership development courses.
So we're starting to work on that.
This isn't particularly my happy place.
I'm much happier standing upspeaking and facilitating.
(14:19):
And I also recognize thatwe want to write the book.
Because there is lots that we'velearnt from doing the courses that
we do and that we want to share.
Because we know it can be impactfulfrom the feedback that we get
from our courses and workshops.
And now onto my podcast column.
And there's lots to becelebrated here as well.
(14:43):
This, that I'm recording now isthe 16th episode for the year.
And that includes taking abreak between June and August.
It also includes the hundredthepisode that I've recorded
since I started the podcast in2016, which was a big milestone.
(15:03):
These have been a mix ofinterviews and also exploring
more with some solo episodes.
A lot of themes have come out of theinterviews and the solo episodes.
Reflecting topics around how to createbetter, more collegial and supportive
research cultures, the value of valuesand recognizing what's important.
(15:25):
And how to connect towhat's meaningful work.
Because that's when we're at our bestand can make the biggest difference.
The episodes were really poignant with me.
were connected to people, good peersand colleagues that we lost this year.
It was reading VolkmarPipek's final reflections and
(15:45):
advice to other researchers.
It was also my interviewswith Liam Bannon.
And I know it was particularly importantfor him to share his experiences and
insights, despite the difficultiesof the final interview context.
And that he really did want tourge us to pay attention to what's
(16:06):
important and who's important.
So when I look across all these areasand think about what did I really love?
Like when did I really feel alive in that?
I can see how I really lovetaking on challenges and I
love learning and developing.
(16:27):
Also, I love just being with people andI love listening to people's stories.
I love being outdoors and being active.
When I think about my play areas.
And when I think about myproject areas, I love speaking.
And standing up in front and workingwith groups and facilitating shared
(16:47):
learning experiences and shared exchanges.
In contrast to what I've loved, I canalso recognize some of the areas that feel
more like labor, feel more like hard work.
And this was clearly some ofthe bureaucratic work that we
(17:09):
had to go through to navigatethe pension systems in different
countries and in different schemes.
Really complex.
And I also recognize I'm not sostrong on structure and processes.
And so the administrative workaround the courses and workshops
like scheduling calls and writingup proposals and following up on
(17:30):
people and getting contracts drawn upand doing the invoicing and working
out pricing schedules and so on.
Not particularly what I love doing,but I know I need to do them in order
to do the work that I care about.
And then there's the promotionand business development work.
And here, I can't even say it'sbeen hard work because I'd sort
(17:52):
of been dragging my feet andputting my head in the sand really.
Um, Don't feel socomfortable on social media.
And I also recognize that part ofit is I'm not quite sure how much
work I want to do relative to otheropportunities at this new phase of life.
(18:15):
And I can also reflect on similarlabor experiences around the podcast.
Scheduling has ended up beinga real challenge this year.
I've had many people that I've beentrying to line up and we've had trouble
finding dates or had dates agreed.
And then one of us gets sick and so on.
And then the enormous amount of timeand effort it takes to process the
(18:40):
recording and to get it out as a podcastepisode So I love the conversations
and the talking with people, but thework to actually get the podcast out is.
Yeah, it's work for me.
Again, though I know that it'swork that needs to be done in
order to get the podcast out.
(19:02):
I'm also dragging my feet on the workto get the new podcast website opened.
Another story for another day.
Because I want to move on andreflect on the many things
that I learned this last year.
Just as an example isfrom a mistake I made.
(19:24):
And we'd been at a friend'sbirthday party and we ended
up having a really late night.
And the next day I was feelingreally tired and out of sorts, I
felt low energy and I struggledto string two thoughts together.
And ironically, the course I wasfacilitating that day was on issues
of wellbeing and the importanceof things like eating well and
(19:47):
sleeping well and moving andlooking after your relationships.
So I was walking the talk in so far asI was illustrating directly, what are the
consequences of not having good sleep.
That was a big learning to really takemore deliberate care, intentional care.
Of looking after the basics, especiallyin advance of being able to stand up and
(20:14):
do my best for the people I want to serve.
Another learning was abouthow important my everyday
interactions with people are to me.
And it was because I noticed thatI really missed the people that I'd
had the pleasure and the privilegeof interacting with every day
(20:34):
when I was going into the office.
And I'm not doing that anymore.
So one of my learnings here isthat I'm going to need to be much
more deliberate now in makingan effort to connect to people.
And I think in terms of the workas well, one of my big learnings.
(20:55):
Is to trust myself a little bit more.
Because one of my love of learningis I genuinely do love learning.
And part of it though is also feelinglike I'm a bit of an imposter and I need
to have all these formal certificationsand degrees to underpin or justify
my right to stand up and speak.
(21:18):
And.
This last year has helped me gain muchmore confidence in what I already know,
the foundation that I already have on whatI've experienced myself and what I know
from all my formal and informal studies.
And to trust myself.
(21:38):
I've been reflecting lately on the factthat a lot of this work feels like when
I was a midwife in a previous career.
Being a midwife is all about being with.
Where it's women and birthing it'sabout you being there to support and
encourage and to scaffold the process.
(21:59):
And to also have provided themwith information and resources so
that they could work with theirbodies to birth their own babies.
And I feel like I'm doing that a lotwith the development and consulting and
training and coaching work that I do.
And that is also helping equippeople with the knowledge, concepts,
(22:24):
tools, and resources that they need.
So that they can find their own waysto develop their own potential and
to take control of their choices, todevelop a life that they care about.
And that is about findingwho they are at their best.
And it's such a privilege to witness.
(22:48):
And be with someone as theygo through this process.
I'm also learning more practical,pragmatic things like, Appropriate
pricing, which I'm never comfortable with.
And I know that I will need to learnmore about engaging with social media.
That's one of my actions for next year.
(23:12):
So there's much more I couldtalk about here because there's
much more that I've written intomy own review of the last year.
But that was just to give a flavor.
What I want to do now is encourage us all.
Once you've done this.
Just to stop.
And take a moment to stand back andreflect on how much you've done.
(23:34):
And how much you've achieved.
How much you've learned.
And to celebrate that.
Because it's pretty impressive.
It's pretty impressive.
And we're so quick to focuson what we haven't done.
Or what still to do or what we got wrong.
(23:56):
That we forget to take thatprecious moment to actually stop
and celebrate what we have done.
And it can also be useful totake a moment to think about.
What are we particularly grateful for?
And who might we beparticularly grateful for?
(24:21):
It could also be useful tostep back and think about.
What if you were your own best friend?
And you were looking at thereview that you've just captured.
What would that friend say to you?
And they're likely tobe pretty blown away.
Aren't they.
So I think we should just takea moment to pat ourselves on the
(24:43):
back and say, well done, you.
And also recognize the fact that we'rehuman and that we're on a learning
journey for the whole of our life.
And that we're never perfect.
So we can celebrate still what we havedone and what we have learned and the
impact that we have been able to have.
(25:06):
And towards this, I want to take thismoment to express my gratitude to you.
The many listeners who've taken thetime to give feedback on the podcast.
. Because that has really encouraged me.
I said before that it takesa lot of work to do this.
Every time, I would start to thinkabout maybe stopping the podcast.
(25:31):
I would get an email or a contactfrom someone, or I'd run into someone
and they'd share some of the ways inwhich the podcast has helped them.
So I'd like to share someof the particular feedback.
To also encourage you.
I haven't got explicit permissionfrom people to use their name.
(25:51):
So I will just do these as anonymousfor the moment, but just to give
some examples of the feedback.
Someone who discovered the podcast late.
So they've gone back and beenlistening to some of the last seasons.
And just say, "I must say that thisis such a valuable contribution
to the academic community.
(26:12):
I've got so many insights and Eurekamoments from other people's stories.
It is really a needed discourse in ourfield and probably in many other fields
that we all have our vulnerabilitiesin addition to our successes and
that we have to be more mercifulto ourselves as well to others."
Isn't that wonderful.
(26:34):
And I'm so grateful to all thepeople who've shared their stories.
Who've shared their vulnerabilitiesin addition to their successes.
That have enabled this sort ofconnection with someone who's listened.
And that starts to normalizethose conversations.
One of the episodes that was particularly.
(26:59):
Impactful for people where theepisodes talking with Liam Bannon.
And someone who's been going through someof their own career struggles and personal
life struggles at the moment wrote andsaid, "I'm at an age where you start to
reflect more on bigger issues in life.
So your interview and Liam's words.
(27:22):
I really struck a chord with me.
I just wanted to say a big thankyou for delivering this podcast.
Because it's so important to hearfrom experienced academics when
you struggle with your own career.
But now it feels even more important.
After listening to yourinterview with Liam.
Because this goes waybeyond working life issues.
(27:43):
I was really touched by it.
Thank you."
And someone else reflectingon Liam's episodes.
And I did a solo afterwardsabout how what he said made me
think about the importance ofhow we connect to other people.
And so they write.
"This is a note of appreciation.
(28:03):
I'm so enjoying your podcast.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
Liam Bannon passed what a wonderfulinterview to memorialize him.
Your reflection on networking through thelens of that interview was very touching.
I find your podcast really helpfulfor learning about different
academic careers and trajectories.
(28:23):
It energizes my imaginationfor other ways of being."
And the other episode that particularlyseemed to resonate and get lots of
feedback was a solo episode I didback in January called research
identity, meaningful work and funding.
(28:47):
And some of the comments were thingslike "thank you for another insightful
episode that really touched me.
If you're also a recovering academicand interested in reclaiming your
research identity, follow thesenine simple steps to get a clear
insight into what lights you up."
And this post, I actually will putthis in the notes, on the podcast
(29:10):
episode, because it's a LinkedIn post.
And rachel here did a greatjob in summarizing the nine key
points that I made in that episode.
And someone else similarly reflected onthat episode and sent a message to say.
"I had to pause their morning runbecause they just finished the episode
(29:31):
on research identity, meaningful workand funding, and it hits so close to home.
Thank you so much.
Every example, everytension I was like, yes.
Been there felt that.
Thank you also for normalizing, notonly this but often the favorite
projects we have are the ones thatare not even funded that are side
projects with passionate colleagues.
(29:52):
'cause I always feel kind of badputting non-funded time into that.
Now I don't, because these arethe ones that give meaning to
my work and make me happy."
Thank you so much for that comment.
Another comment fromsomeone around that episode.
(30:13):
"I've been listening to yourpodcast for a while now.
And as a woman in academia anda social science researcher,
find it really valuable.
I particularly enjoyed today'sepisode on research, identity,
meaningful work and funding.
What you said on this aligns withwhere I tend to land on these things,
following your passion and values.
Making decisions and playing the game.
(30:36):
And figuring out why and how."
As I reflect on the yearand savor and celebrate.
And do it via this podcast episode.
I want to thank in particularall my guests who have shared
so vulnerably and openly andhonestly about their own journeys.
(30:58):
And there've been some wonderfulconversations and themes.
And I want to thank all of you who'vetaken the time to write and reflect
on where and how these connect.
It helps me also think aboutwho might be good guests.
And if you have other ideas,please let me know or what might
be good themes to talk about.
(31:24):
And as a final, thank you.
I want to thank Pawel Wazniak andthe human computer interaction
group at TU Wien who provided somefinancial support for the tools and
platforms that I use for this podcast.
That support really makes a difference.
Thank you.
So now we come to 2025.
(31:49):
I've continued playing with the LP.
So you might like todraw up another table.
And you can put the usual Ps on thecolumns, whatever your column labels are.
For me, they're personal peopleplay and projects and also podcast.
(32:09):
And the ELLs we're going to putfor our rows are going to cover.
Looking forward.
What are you looking forward to?
What are you going to let go of?
What are you going tolet grow and develop?
And what are you going to let be?
(32:35):
So again, I'm not going to gothrough all these in detail.
But I can just talk through thoseLs a little bit more to help
give some questions that mightframe your own reflections.
Looking forward to 2025.
And for each of those Ls, you can considerthem again across each of your P areas
(32:56):
or whatever your columns are labeled.
The first L is looking forward.
So, what do you alreadyknow is on the horizon?
And what would you like to make happen andwhat are the opportunities and potentials?
(33:19):
The second L is let go.
And I think letting go is areally important one to consider.
And that's about what do you wantto leave behind or stop doing.
That isn't serving you well,
what do you want to do less of.
(33:40):
So that you can do more of something else.
What isn't the best use of yourtime and attention and energy.
For the difference you canmake when you are at your best.
For me, some of that is uh, needto let go of feeling inadequate.
(34:02):
Measuring myself against others andrecognizing that they're in different
situations and stop doing that.
Also need to let go oftrying to do it all.
There are so many things on my list thatI would love to do or try out, especially
in the project consulting space.
And I can't do it all.
(34:25):
Moving on the third, L is let grow.
What do you want to let grow?
What do you want to take forward?
What do you want to develop more?
What do you want to do more of.
How do you want to show up for yourself?
(34:47):
And what will help youdo that in the best way?
So for me, I want to start being moreintentional about the structure of my day
and the rhythm of work and play and rest.
And building in time forintentional connections.
And do of reflecting on decisions.
(35:07):
Cause I get asked to do a lot still.
I want to do more of asking myself.
What am I saying no toif I say yes to this.
And our final L is let be.
What are the things that youjust need to be comfortable with?
(35:30):
And that can be about not knowingor not having all the answers.
And that also may be not ever havingall the answers or it could even
just be not just yet having theanswers or not just yet knowing.
So can you just let it be okay thatthings are open and uncertain for while.
(35:53):
What do you need to give spaceand time for them to work out.
And what do you need just toaccept that there are some things
that you can't change and haveabsolutely no control over.
So for me in particular, at this time,it's letting it be okay with not knowing
(36:15):
exactly what the future will hold.
And that comes down to what mixof work and play I want to do.
And it even comes down towhere we might end up living.
So there's lots that you could thinkabout for each of your P areas.
And along those Ls, like what.
(36:36):
What are you looking forward to?
What are you letting go of?
What are you going tolet grow and develop?
What are you going to let be?
So wrapping up now.
What I've tried to share here is alittle bit of a template for reflecting
(36:57):
on your long play record that was 2024.
And give some questions to think aboutmoving forward into this new year.
To summarize, we talked aboutthe P's in terms of personal
people play and projects.
(37:17):
And for reflecting on the past year.
I offered the L's of land,love, labor, and learn.
And looking forward to the nextyear across those same areas, it's,
as I said, what to look forwardto let, go of let grow, let be.
(37:42):
You could also play with the wholeLP record metaphor, if you wanted
to and think about if you're doing amixed music pop compilation for your
last year or for this coming year.
What would that be comprised of?
So, as I said at the beginning, There'sa template that you can download by
(38:05):
going to www.changingacademiclife.com.
And I'll also link to some ofthe other past podcast episodes
that I've mentioned there.
And whether you use this template ornot, I just offer it in case it's useful.
I think it is really good just to takesome time at these transition points,
(38:29):
artificial as they are in lots of ways,just to put our head above all the details
and the messiness of work and life, andjust think about where have we come.
And to take the time,as I said to celebrate.
And then to think about where arewe going and how can we be a little
bit more intentional about that?
(38:49):
So that we can better connectto who we are at our best and
to what's important to us.
Because that's when we're goingto make our biggest and best
contributions by doing that.
And this may be a reflection that youdo just on your own, or it could be
something that you do with colleagues.
(39:11):
Or if you're in some sort of supervisoryor leadership relationship, it
could also frame a discussion thatyou have setting up the new year.
So I'm curious to hear from youif this works for you at all, and
thank you at this end for being withme on the journey this past year.
(39:33):
And I'm really looking forward towhat the next year brings us all.
As we work together to changeacademic life for the better,
both our own academic life.
And the collective academic lifethat we all co-create together.
And if you will allow me to end with alittle bit of blatant self promotion.
(39:55):
We have our next academic leadershipdevelopment course, our online
course scheduled for May, 2025.
The early bird registrationfor that closes on 2nd of
March and places are limited.
The information about thecourses under the events tab on
the informatics, your website.
(40:16):
Which is www.informatics-europe.org.
And I'll put a link tothat on the web page.
And if you're interested in exploringmore about any of the offerings
that I have through my consulting,training, speaking, coaching work.
You can go towww.geraldinefitzpatrick.com,
(40:41):
Geraldine Fitzpatrick, all one word.
And I would also ask a final favor of you.
That you share this podcastwith at least one other person.
Thank you.
Have a great 2025!
(41:05):
You can find the summary notes,a transcript, and related
links for this podcast on www.
changingacademiclife.
com.
You can also subscribe toChanging Academic Life on iTunes,
Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
And I'm really hoping that we canwiden the conversation about how
we can do academia differently.
(41:26):
And you can contribute to this by ratingthe podcast and also giving feedback.
And if something connected withyou, please consider sharing this
podcast with your colleagues.
Together.
We can make change happen.
Welcome to Changing Academic Life.
I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick and this isa podcast series where academics and
others share their stories, provideideas and provoke discussions about what
we can do individually and collectivelyto change academic life for the better.
(00:34):
A pop quiz question for you.
Do you remember the LP?
Or do you even know what an LP is forthose of you who maybe aren't old enough?
Well, an LP is a long play vinyl record.
And it used to be our sourceof music when I was a teenager.
(00:55):
This was clearly a long time beforeonline music streaming services.
Though, I believe LPs aremaking a bit of a comeback.
I can still hear a song from,I don't know, John Denver's
back home again, album.
Or Susie Quattros Quatro album.
And I'm immediately taken back to 1974.
(01:19):
And I can even remember particularoccasions when we played these or who
I was with and what we were doing.
In this episode, I want to play withLP as a template for reflecting on
and celebrating what will be ourlong play mix or compilation of 2024.
(01:47):
And also as we look forward to what mightbe our next long play album for 2025.
I'll explain how I'm playingwith L and P as I go along.
And you'll also be able tofind a template that you can
download and use for yourself.
And you can find this on theepisode, webpage that you can access
(02:09):
via www.changingacademiclife.com.
I'm going to first walk through thetemplate and explain the L's and the P's.
And then I'm going to go on anduse that as a template for myself
to reflect on my past year.
And to look forward to next year.
(02:31):
I've set it up for myself as a table.
And the labels on thecolumns reflect the PS.
And the Ps are personal,people, play and projects.
And for myself, I've added inpodcasts, and the L's reflect the rows.
(02:53):
And I've got different Ls forreflecting upon the past year.
And for thinking about the next year.
So the L's for reflecting uponthis last year on those P areas
are land, love, labor and learn.
(03:13):
And for thinking aboutwhat we want for 2025.
The Ls are look forward to,let go, let grow, and let be.
Now I've been playingwith these just for fun.
So you could create columnlabels to reflect whatever
(03:35):
areas are important for you.
And if those Ls provide questionsthat don't connect for you create
your own questions or your own labels.
So let's start reflectingon this past year.
And to give you a little bit moreof an explanation of the P's and
the L's are the L's and the P's.
(03:55):
For the Ps.
Personal is about where you'recurrently at in your life and career
and, and how you look after yourself.
Thinking about what makes you, you.
People is pretty obvious.
And that's both people whosupport you, who make life fun and
worthwhile, and people that you'vebeen able to support and serve.
(04:16):
Both directly and indirectly.
And we're thinking about friends,family, colleagues, peers, here.
Play is about doing things thataren't work, that are fun, that are
hobbies or passion projects, or justhanging out or things that just don't
have any direct, functional purpose.
(04:38):
And projects is my catch-allfor all things work.
What you're paid to do or projects thatyou've chosen to take on for yourself
that contribute in some work-like way.
And the L's just by expanding a bit more.
Land is about what haveyou landed this year?
And we could think about thatin terms of what have you done?
(04:59):
What went well?
What are you proud of?
Love is standing back and reflectingon what you've landed and looking
at (05:07):
what are the high points?
When were you at your real best?
What did you particularly love doing?
When did you feel particularlyenergized in the flow and what patterns
do you see across those moments?
And similarly labor is reflecting onwhen did feel a little bit like hard
work or, you know, going through treacle.
(05:29):
What didn't you enjoy doing so much?
And what patterns do you see here?
And learn is pretty self-explanatory.
It's what did you learn?
And that could be, what did youlearn from what didn't work so well?
Or what did you learn fromyour mistakes or failures?
And what are those lessons for nexttime or what would you do differently?
(05:52):
And in particular, what didyou learn about yourself?
I found it really usefulbefore embarking on this.
Just to spend some time.
Going back and looking at my photosand looking across my calendar entries.
And skimming across the journal thatI've been keeping, surprisingly.
(06:13):
Because I haven't usually been a journalkeeper, but I found it really useful that.
Just to have a commitmentto myself though.
At least write a phraseor a sentence every day.
So, how do I reflect on my own 2024?
I won't go into all the details.
(06:34):
Just pull out a coupleof illustrative points.
On a personal level.
I finally finished my employmentcontract end of September, this year.
And it really is then the finishof that transition period between
my formal academic position.
And now.
(06:55):
Being more freelance andbeing able to explore.
Being in so-calledretirement and also working.
So that has been a big deal becauseit really represents stepping
into a new phase of my life.
Another big deal for me was runningmy first half marathon in April.
(07:18):
And really being surprised too.
That I could do that, that Icould take on that challenge
and do it and, and enjoyed it.
And that's been part of acommitment to try to keep up regular
exercise and take better care ofsleeping well and eating well.
(07:39):
Because, especially as I get older,I'm aware that my health is really
critically important and can make allthe difference to quality of life.
And I've also been able to enjoylots of learning experiences.
I love learning.
And apart from informal learning, interms of reading books or listening to
(08:00):
various podcasts, I've also undertakenparticular trainings and certifications
that will go towards supporting thework that I want to continue doing.
And so I'm now a certified strengthscope coach practitioner for
individuals and teams and leaders.
And that's about working with peopleto help them understand what their
(08:22):
particular strengths are and howthey can work with them and use
them to craft their good life.
And their impactful life.
And also undertaking coursesaround creating better cultures.
And also facilitating peer learningexperiences and action learning sets.
(08:45):
We could also talk about thatas peer coaching group coaching.
Moving on to people where.
Where do I start?
When I look across the photos,they're just packed full of wonderful
people, wonderful relationships,lots of people visiting.
Um, people in various courses,amazing people I've had the privilege
(09:07):
to work with my own work group.
And there are also some sad memoriesthere of having lost people.
You will have heard some of thosediscussions in the podcast.
And also recognizing that for manyof the people that I care about,
they've also been dealing with varioushardships and losses this year.
But people have been reallyimportant in just getting through
(09:30):
collaborators, friends, my partner.
So I'm really appreciativeof people's friendships.
I won't go through the play, butthere's been lots of opportunities
for playful explorations, which wasone of my themes for 2024 in being
(09:53):
able to do some interesting travels.
And again, many of thosetravels were with friends that
really enhanced the experience.
I'm also really proud of thework that I've been able to do
under the projects umbrella.
Some of that has beenongoing peer service roles.
(10:15):
But I'm also deliberately cutting backon a lot of other peer service roles
so that I can focus on where I thinkI can make more unique contributions.
And that's been focusing more of mywork time on the consulting, training,
speaking, and coaching work that I offer.
For example with my co-facilitator AustinRainer we've run some long form academic
(10:40):
leadership development courses, both as anonline course, over a number of months and
as a residential course, over a few days.
I've also run variouscourses for PhD students.
Many of which are also longer formthat go towards course credits.
And then there's a whole myriadof other different workshops and
(11:01):
courses and facilitated sessions.
That can run for anythingfrom half a day to two days.
When I look back and count these up,there were 22 of those last year.
And these have been acrossa range of countries.
In alphabetical order, like Austria,Denmark, England, Germany, Iceland,
(11:24):
Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy,Sweden, Switzerland, and Wales.
And have been delivered to various groupsfrom senior leadership teams to people
in general leadership positions to earlycareer researchers to PhD students.
(11:45):
We've covered topics from how tocreate an inclusive meeting culture.
And more general issues aroundinclusion and diversity.
To leadership development issuesspecifically around how to
ask for feedback as a leader.
Or how to bring a coaching mindsetto your leadership toolkit.
(12:09):
There also been courses abouthow to better know and understand
yourself and then use thatunderstanding to lead yourself.
And how to craft your own goodacademic life and make good decisions.
And that has been aroundsaying yes and no.
As well as around managing all areasof your life and promoting wellbeing.
(12:34):
And they've also been courses that haveconnected to issues around emotional
intelligence and understanding emotionsas data and working with the voices in
your head, like the procrastinator andthe perfectionist and the imposter.
And there've been topicsaround women at work as well.
(12:55):
And I've run sessions on mentoringmentors and helping to establish a
mentoring culture in a department.
I've also facilitated a number of events.
These include the launchof a women's network.
And also a strategic planning workshopfor leadership team in a faculty.
(13:15):
And I did six different keynoteor invited talks this year.
Covering issues ranging from leadershipto creating collegial research cultures.
To diversity and inclusion.
To mentoring.
And these have all beensuch a pleasure to do.
I love facilitating groups.
(13:36):
I love engaging with people in thesesorts of discussions and shared
learning experiences where I learnedjust as much as they may learn.
And I guess one of the bigprojects I've taken on together
with Austin is writing a book.
(13:56):
And this is in response to many peoplesaying to us over the last couple of
years, about when are we going to writea book, reflecting what we teach in
our leadership development courses.
So we're starting to work on that.
This isn't particularly my happy place.
I'm much happier standing upspeaking and facilitating.
(14:19):
And I also recognize thatwe want to write the book.
Because there is lots that we'velearnt from doing the courses that
we do and that we want to share.
Because we know it can be impactfulfrom the feedback that we get
from our courses and workshops.
And now onto my podcast column.
And there's lots to becelebrated here as well.
(14:43):
This, that I'm recording now isthe 16th episode for the year.
And that includes taking abreak between June and August.
It also includes the hundredthepisode that I've recorded
since I started the podcast in2016, which was a big milestone.
(15:03):
These have been a mix ofinterviews and also exploring
more with some solo episodes.
A lot of themes have come out of theinterviews and the solo episodes.
Reflecting topics around how to createbetter, more collegial and supportive
research cultures, the value of valuesand recognizing what's important.
(15:25):
And how to connect towhat's meaningful work.
Because that's when we're at our bestand can make the biggest difference.
The episodes were really poignant with me.
were connected to people, good peersand colleagues that we lost this year.
It was reading VolkmarPipek's final reflections and
(15:45):
advice to other researchers.
It was also my interviewswith Liam Bannon.
And I know it was particularly importantfor him to share his experiences and
insights, despite the difficultiesof the final interview context.
And that he really did want tourge us to pay attention to what's
(16:06):
important and who's important.
So when I look across all these areasand think about what did I really love?
Like when did I really feel alive in that?
I can see how I really lovetaking on challenges and I
love learning and developing.
(16:27):
Also, I love just being with people andI love listening to people's stories.
I love being outdoors and being active.
When I think about my play areas.
And when I think about myproject areas, I love speaking.
And standing up in front and workingwith groups and facilitating shared
(16:47):
learning experiences and shared exchanges.
In contrast to what I've loved, I canalso recognize some of the areas that feel
more like labor, feel more like hard work.
And this was clearly some ofthe bureaucratic work that we
(17:09):
had to go through to navigatethe pension systems in different
countries and in different schemes.
Really complex.
And I also recognize I'm not sostrong on structure and processes.
And so the administrative workaround the courses and workshops
like scheduling calls and writingup proposals and following up on
(17:30):
people and getting contracts drawn upand doing the invoicing and working
out pricing schedules and so on.
Not particularly what I love doing,but I know I need to do them in order
to do the work that I care about.
And then there's the promotionand business development work.
And here, I can't even say it'sbeen hard work because I'd sort
(17:52):
of been dragging my feet andputting my head in the sand really.
Um, Don't feel socomfortable on social media.
And I also recognize that part ofit is I'm not quite sure how much
work I want to do relative to otheropportunities at this new phase of life.
(18:15):
And I can also reflect on similarlabor experiences around the podcast.
Scheduling has ended up beinga real challenge this year.
I've had many people that I've beentrying to line up and we've had trouble
finding dates or had dates agreed.
And then one of us gets sick and so on.
And then the enormous amount of timeand effort it takes to process the
(18:40):
recording and to get it out as a podcastepisode So I love the conversations
and the talking with people, but thework to actually get the podcast out is.
Yeah, it's work for me.
Again, though I know that it'swork that needs to be done in
order to get the podcast out.
(19:02):
I'm also dragging my feet on the workto get the new podcast website opened.
Another story for another day.
Because I want to move on andreflect on the many things
that I learned this last year.
Just as an example isfrom a mistake I made.
(19:24):
And we'd been at a friend'sbirthday party and we ended
up having a really late night.
And the next day I was feelingreally tired and out of sorts, I
felt low energy and I struggledto string two thoughts together.
And ironically, the course I wasfacilitating that day was on issues
of wellbeing and the importanceof things like eating well and
(19:47):
sleeping well and moving andlooking after your relationships.
So I was walking the talk in so far asI was illustrating directly, what are the
consequences of not having good sleep.
That was a big learning to really takemore deliberate care, intentional care.
Of looking after the basics, especiallyin advance of being able to stand up and
(20:14):
do my best for the people I want to serve.
Another learning was abouthow important my everyday
interactions with people are to me.
And it was because I noticed thatI really missed the people that I'd
had the pleasure and the privilegeof interacting with every day
(20:34):
when I was going into the office.
And I'm not doing that anymore.
So one of my learnings here isthat I'm going to need to be much
more deliberate now in makingan effort to connect to people.
And I think in terms of the workas well, one of my big learnings.
(20:55):
Is to trust myself a little bit more.
Because one of my love of learningis I genuinely do love learning.
And part of it though is also feelinglike I'm a bit of an imposter and I need
to have all these formal certificationsand degrees to underpin or justify
my right to stand up and speak.
(21:18):
And.
This last year has helped me gain muchmore confidence in what I already know,
the foundation that I already have on whatI've experienced myself and what I know
from all my formal and informal studies.
And to trust myself.
(21:38):
I've been reflecting lately on the factthat a lot of this work feels like when
I was a midwife in a previous career.
Being a midwife is all about being with.
Where it's women and birthing it'sabout you being there to support and
encourage and to scaffold the process.
(21:59):
And to also have provided themwith information and resources so
that they could work with theirbodies to birth their own babies.
And I feel like I'm doing that a lotwith the development and consulting and
training and coaching work that I do.
And that is also helping equippeople with the knowledge, concepts,
(22:24):
tools, and resources that they need.
So that they can find their own waysto develop their own potential and
to take control of their choices, todevelop a life that they care about.
And that is about findingwho they are at their best.
And it's such a privilege to witness.
(22:48):
And be with someone as theygo through this process.
I'm also learning more practical,pragmatic things like, Appropriate
pricing, which I'm never comfortable with.
And I know that I will need to learnmore about engaging with social media.
That's one of my actions for next year.
(23:12):
So there's much more I couldtalk about here because there's
much more that I've written intomy own review of the last year.
But that was just to give a flavor.
What I want to do now is encourage us all.
Once you've done this.
Just to stop.
And take a moment to stand back andreflect on how much you've done.
(23:34):
And how much you've achieved.
How much you've learned.
And to celebrate that.
Because it's pretty impressive.
It's pretty impressive.
And we're so quick to focuson what we haven't done.
Or what still to do or what we got wrong.
(23:56):
That we forget to take thatprecious moment to actually stop
and celebrate what we have done.
And it can also be useful totake a moment to think about.
What are we particularly grateful for?
And who might we beparticularly grateful for?
(24:21):
It could also be useful tostep back and think about.
What if you were your own best friend?
And you were looking at thereview that you've just captured.
What would that friend say to you?
And they're likely tobe pretty blown away.
Aren't they.
So I think we should just takea moment to pat ourselves on the
(24:43):
back and say, well done, you.
And also recognize the fact that we'rehuman and that we're on a learning
journey for the whole of our life.
And that we're never perfect.
So we can celebrate still what we havedone and what we have learned and the
impact that we have been able to have.
(25:06):
And towards this, I want to take thismoment to express my gratitude to you.
The many listeners who've taken thetime to give feedback on the podcast.
. Because that has really encouraged me.
I said before that it takesa lot of work to do this.
Every time, I would start to thinkabout maybe stopping the podcast.
(25:31):
I would get an email or a contactfrom someone, or I'd run into someone
and they'd share some of the ways inwhich the podcast has helped them.
So I'd like to share someof the particular feedback.
To also encourage you.
I haven't got explicit permissionfrom people to use their name.
(25:51):
So I will just do these as anonymousfor the moment, but just to give
some examples of the feedback.
Someone who discovered the podcast late.
So they've gone back and beenlistening to some of the last seasons.
And just say, "I must say that thisis such a valuable contribution
to the academic community.
(26:12):
I've got so many insights and Eurekamoments from other people's stories.
It is really a needed discourse in ourfield and probably in many other fields
that we all have our vulnerabilitiesin addition to our successes and
that we have to be more mercifulto ourselves as well to others."
Isn't that wonderful.
(26:34):
And I'm so grateful to all thepeople who've shared their stories.
Who've shared their vulnerabilitiesin addition to their successes.
That have enabled this sort ofconnection with someone who's listened.
And that starts to normalizethose conversations.
One of the episodes that was particularly.
(26:59):
Impactful for people where theepisodes talking with Liam Bannon.
And someone who's been going through someof their own career struggles and personal
life struggles at the moment wrote andsaid, "I'm at an age where you start to
reflect more on bigger issues in life.
So your interview and Liam's words.
(27:22):
I really struck a chord with me.
I just wanted to say a big thankyou for delivering this podcast.
Because it's so important to hearfrom experienced academics when
you struggle with your own career.
But now it feels even more important.
After listening to yourinterview with Liam.
Because this goes waybeyond working life issues.
(27:43):
I was really touched by it.
Thank you."
And someone else reflectingon Liam's episodes.
And I did a solo afterwardsabout how what he said made me
think about the importance ofhow we connect to other people.
And so they write.
"This is a note of appreciation.
(28:03):
I'm so enjoying your podcast.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
Liam Bannon passed what a wonderfulinterview to memorialize him.
Your reflection on networking through thelens of that interview was very touching.
I find your podcast really helpfulfor learning about different
academic careers and trajectories.
(28:23):
It energizes my imaginationfor other ways of being."
And the other episode that particularlyseemed to resonate and get lots of
feedback was a solo episode I didback in January called research
identity, meaningful work and funding.
(28:47):
And some of the comments were thingslike "thank you for another insightful
episode that really touched me.
If you're also a recovering academicand interested in reclaiming your
research identity, follow thesenine simple steps to get a clear
insight into what lights you up."
And this post, I actually will putthis in the notes, on the podcast
(29:10):
episode, because it's a LinkedIn post.
And rachel here did a greatjob in summarizing the nine key
points that I made in that episode.
And someone else similarly reflected onthat episode and sent a message to say.
"I had to pause their morning runbecause they just finished the episode
(29:31):
on research identity, meaningful workand funding, and it hits so close to home.
Thank you so much.
Every example, everytension I was like, yes.
Been there felt that.
Thank you also for normalizing, notonly this but often the favorite
projects we have are the ones thatare not even funded that are side
projects with passionate colleagues.
(29:52):
'cause I always feel kind of badputting non-funded time into that.
Now I don't, because these arethe ones that give meaning to
my work and make me happy."
Thank you so much for that comment.
Another comment fromsomeone around that episode.
(30:13):
"I've been listening to yourpodcast for a while now.
And as a woman in academia anda social science researcher,
find it really valuable.
I particularly enjoyed today'sepisode on research, identity,
meaningful work and funding.
What you said on this aligns withwhere I tend to land on these things,
following your passion and values.
Making decisions and playing the game.
(30:36):
And figuring out why and how."
As I reflect on the yearand savor and celebrate.
And do it via this podcast episode.
I want to thank in particularall my guests who have shared
so vulnerably and openly andhonestly about their own journeys.
(30:58):
And there've been some wonderfulconversations and themes.
And I want to thank all of you who'vetaken the time to write and reflect
on where and how these connect.
It helps me also think aboutwho might be good guests.
And if you have other ideas,please let me know or what might
be good themes to talk about.
(31:24):
And as a final, thank you.
I want to thank Pawel Wazniak andthe human computer interaction
group at TU Wien who provided somefinancial support for the tools and
platforms that I use for this podcast.
That support really makes a difference.
Thank you.
So now we come to 2025.
(31:49):
I've continued playing with the LP.
So you might like todraw up another table.
And you can put the usual Ps on thecolumns, whatever your column labels are.
For me, they're personal peopleplay and projects and also podcast.
(32:09):
And the ELLs we're going to putfor our rows are going to cover.
Looking forward.
What are you looking forward to?
What are you going to let go of?
What are you going tolet grow and develop?
And what are you going to let be?
(32:35):
So again, I'm not going to gothrough all these in detail.
But I can just talk through thoseLs a little bit more to help
give some questions that mightframe your own reflections.
Looking forward to 2025.
And for each of those Ls, you can considerthem again across each of your P areas
(32:56):
or whatever your columns are labeled.
The first L is looking forward.
So, what do you alreadyknow is on the horizon?
And what would you like to make happen andwhat are the opportunities and potentials?
(33:19):
The second L is let go.
And I think letting go is areally important one to consider.
And that's about what do you wantto leave behind or stop doing.
That isn't serving you well,
what do you want to do less of.
(33:40):
So that you can do more of something else.
What isn't the best use of yourtime and attention and energy.
For the difference you canmake when you are at your best.
For me, some of that is uh, needto let go of feeling inadequate.
(34:02):
Measuring myself against others andrecognizing that they're in different
situations and stop doing that.
Also need to let go oftrying to do it all.
There are so many things on my list thatI would love to do or try out, especially
in the project consulting space.
And I can't do it all.
(34:25):
Moving on the third, L is let grow.
What do you want to let grow?
What do you want to take forward?
What do you want to develop more?
What do you want to do more of.
How do you want to show up for yourself?
(34:47):
And what will help youdo that in the best way?
So for me, I want to start being moreintentional about the structure of my day
and the rhythm of work and play and rest.
And building in time forintentional connections.
And do of reflecting on decisions.
(35:07):
Cause I get asked to do a lot still.
I want to do more of asking myself.
What am I saying no toif I say yes to this.
And our final L is let be.
What are the things that youjust need to be comfortable with?
(35:30):
And that can be about not knowingor not having all the answers.
And that also may be not ever havingall the answers or it could even
just be not just yet having theanswers or not just yet knowing.
So can you just let it be okay thatthings are open and uncertain for while.
(35:53):
What do you need to give spaceand time for them to work out.
And what do you need just toaccept that there are some things
that you can't change and haveabsolutely no control over.
So for me in particular, at this time,it's letting it be okay with not knowing
(36:15):
exactly what the future will hold.
And that comes down to what mixof work and play I want to do.
And it even comes down towhere we might end up living.
So there's lots that you could thinkabout for each of your P areas.
And along those Ls, like what.
(36:36):
What are you looking forward to?
What are you letting go of?
What are you going tolet grow and develop?
What are you going to let be?
So wrapping up now.
What I've tried to share here is alittle bit of a template for reflecting
(36:57):
on your long play record that was 2024.
And give some questions to think aboutmoving forward into this new year.
To summarize, we talked aboutthe P's in terms of personal
people play and projects.
(37:17):
And for reflecting on the past year.
I offered the L's of land,love, labor, and learn.
And looking forward to the nextyear across those same areas, it's,
as I said, what to look forwardto let, go of let grow, let be.
(37:42):
You could also play with the wholeLP record metaphor, if you wanted
to and think about if you're doing amixed music pop compilation for your
last year or for this coming year.
What would that be comprised of?
So, as I said at the beginning, There'sa template that you can download by
(38:05):
going to www.changingacademiclife.com.
And I'll also link to some ofthe other past podcast episodes
that I've mentioned there.
And whether you use this template ornot, I just offer it in case it's useful.
I think it is really good just to takesome time at these transition points,
(38:29):
artificial as they are in lots of ways,just to put our head above all the details
and the messiness of work and life, andjust think about where have we come.
And to take the time,as I said to celebrate.
And then to think about where arewe going and how can we be a little
bit more intentional about that?
(38:49):
So that we can better connectto who we are at our best and
to what's important to us.
Because that's when we're goingto make our biggest and best
contributions by doing that.
And this may be a reflection that youdo just on your own, or it could be
something that you do with colleagues.
(39:11):
Or if you're in some sort of supervisoryor leadership relationship, it
could also frame a discussion thatyou have setting up the new year.
So I'm curious to hear from youif this works for you at all, and
thank you at this end for being withme on the journey this past year.
(39:33):
And I'm really looking forward towhat the next year brings us all.
As we work together to changeacademic life for the better,
both our own academic life.
And the collective academic lifethat we all co-create together.
And if you will allow me to end with alittle bit of blatant self promotion.
(39:55):
We have our next academic leadershipdevelopment course, our online
course scheduled for May, 2025.
The early bird registrationfor that closes on 2nd of
March and places are limited.
The information about thecourses under the events tab on
the informatics, your website.
(40:16):
Which is www.informatics-europe.org.
And I'll put a link tothat on the web page.
And if you're interested in exploringmore about any of the offerings
that I have through my consulting,training, speaking, coaching work.
You can go towww.geraldinefitzpatrick.com,
(40:41):
Geraldine Fitzpatrick, all one word.
And I would also ask a final favor of you.
That you share this podcastwith at least one other person.
Thank you.
Have a great 2025!
(41:05):
You can find the summary notes,a transcript, and related
links for this podcast on www.
changingacademiclife.
com.
You can also subscribe toChanging Academic Life on iTunes,
Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
And I'm really hoping that we canwiden the conversation about how
we can do academia differently.
(41:26):
And you can contribute to this by ratingthe podcast and also giving feedback.
And if something connected withyou, please consider sharing this
podcast with your colleagues.
Together.
We can make change happen.
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