Welcome And Purpose

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You're listening to Significant Impact, the podcast for early career researchers ready to take the next step toward independence. I'm Sarah Dobson, Grant Consultant and Academic Career Coach, and on this show I help you navigate the transition from mentored K Awards to your first R0 without losing your mind, your focus, or your sense of purpose.

Program Invite: K2R Essentials

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If you're ready to move from I hope I'm ready to I know I'm ready, join the wait list for the next cohort of K2R Essentials at Sarah Dobson.co slash K2R. That's S-A-R-A-H D-O-B-S-O-N.co slash K number two R. Now let's get to the episode.

Why Reflection Matters In A Hard Year

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Last year around this time, we published a guided reflection year-end episode that ended up being among our most downloaded episodes of 2024. And so I wanted to publish it for you again so that you could go through these questions and spend some time reflecting on the year. In quieter years, looking back can feel grounding, even comforting. But in a year like this one, when so many of you have been navigating institutional uncertainty, funding instability, personal exhaustion, and a research landscape that feels like it's shifting under your feet, reflection can feel almost impossible, or worse, self-indulgent. But that is exactly why it matters. Reflection isn't a luxury you earn once things calm down. It's a tool for making sense of where you've been, honoring what you've carried, and most importantly, reclaiming a sense of sovereignty in a moment when so many external forces are trying to take it from you. The point isn't to produce a glossy highlight reel, the point is to find yourself again. So in last year's episode, I walked you through the set of questions I've been using for years to close out one chapter and step intentionally into the next one. And those questions still hold up. Questions about what went well, what didn't, what you learned, what you want to remember, and what you're proud of. And we will replay those questions later in this episode. But of course, 2025 has been an exceptionally tough year for many of you, myself included, and it has its own emotional weight. So this year I want to layer in some extra questions that speak directly to this moment. Questions that help you integrate the year you've just lived through and shape a path forward that feels honest and true to you. Because here you are. You made it. Probably not in the way you hoped, probably a little worse for wear, but you're here. You did it. You made it. And that in itself is worth honoring and celebrating. So let's take a deep breath together and begin.

Ten 2025-Specific Reflection Questions

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Question one. Question two, what values guided me when the external rules kept changing? Question three. When things felt unstable, what choices did I make that I am proud of? Question four, what did I learn about my capacity under pressure? Question five. What did I stop tolerating this year? Question six, what did this year reveal about what I no longer want for my career? Question seven, where did I find connection, steadiness, or meaning, even in small ways? Question eight. What did I learn about the kind of researcher, colleague, or leader I want to be going forward? Question nine. What systems, expectations, or norms did I let go of this year, and what space did that open up for me? And question ten. What persisted in me in spite of everything? So those are your 2025 specific reflection questions. And before we get to the standard reflection and intention setting questions from the last episode, last year's episode that I shared, I will note that all of these questions are in the show notes for you. So if you want to cut and paste them and spend more

Solo Host Returns And Practice Overview

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time writing and reflecting, please, please do so. Well, hello, friends. It has been a while since we've done a solo episode because we have been focused on sharing all of the incredible interviews that we've had with graduates of K2R Essentials. But I did want to make sure that we wrapped up the year with something that I've been doing for a really long time and I wanted to share with you. And that is an end-of-year reflection and intention setting practice. This is something that I've been doing for at least the last five years. And it is so tremendously helpful in first of all remembering what actually happened over the last 12 months and taking the parts that need to be celebrated and acknowledged and appreciated and carrying those into the coming year while also taking time to reflect on the things that maybe didn't go so well and why that was, and

Reflecting On Wins And Lessons

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making sure that I've really integrated the lessons from those moments. So I want to share with you some of the questions that I ask myself as part of this end of year practice. And feel free to take notes. Feel free to pause this episode as often as you need to make sure that you get all of the different components of it. But truly, this is something that you can make your own. This set of questions that I'm going to share with you is really just a starting point. And you can definitely take the questions in any kind of direction that you want to, as long as you are clear on what you are hoping to get out of this practice for yourself. So let's start out with the questions that will help you reflect on the past year. And then we'll get into the questions that you can ask yourself to set your intentions for the coming year. So the first question is what went well this year? So think about, you might have to pull it your calendar, but think about what went well. And then as the students inside Kata R centrals will know, one of the things that we do at the beginning of every coaching call is wins and lessons. And so these are wins and lessons kind of at the annual scale, right? So what went well this year, but then the lesson is what did I do that made that thing or those things go well? So you are taking the lesson from what went well, and you're recognizing that these things don't just happen by accident. These wins that you have aren't just purely based on good luck. There are elements that you contributed to your success. And you want to make sure that you notice what those are, right? So what went well and what did I do that made that thing go well? And

What Didn’t Go Well And Learning

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the next question is another one that's really near and dear to my heart because it's something that I notice women in particular really struggle with. And the question is, what is an accomplishment or milestone that I didn't celebrate enough? And I mean, you might not have celebrated at all. So that certainly is not enough. But even if you, you know, might have taken a small moment for yourself, is there anything that happened this year, whether it was an accomplishment or a milestone, that you ought to have celebrated more than you did? So think about what that might be and why you didn't celebrate it enough. Next question: What didn't go well this year? And what did I learn from that? What did I learn from what didn't go well? Then ask yourself, what else do I need to reflect on so that I can do better? So this is all part of that lesson extraction piece, right? You're you're making sure that you are reflecting on the mistakes that you've made, the challenges that you had, and why that was the case and trying to understand what you could have done differently or better so that you can avoid a similar situation in the future. And now we're getting into some of my absolute favorites.

What To Remember And Values

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So the next question is what do I want to remember about this year? And I just want to point out that that doesn't necessarily need to be one of those accomplishments or successes or milestones, right? One of the things that you might want to remember is how you handled adversity or how you interacted with a colleague in a difficult moment. Or, I mean, it really could be anything, but I just want to highlight here that it doesn't always have to be a success or an achievement that you want to remember. It can be related to who you are as a person and your values and the character that you showed in challenging moments. That is something worth remembering, right? So just maybe think a little bit more broadly about what you want to remember. And it doesn't just have to be one thing, of course. It can be a lot of things that you want to remember about this year, but don't keep your focus so narrow that you're only looking at successes and achievements, but you're expanding that view to include, again, values, character, intention. And on that note, one of the next questions I want you to reflect on is how did I stay true to my values this year? If you're not totally clear on what your values are, that would be a good place to start before you can answer that question. But this question might actually help you think about what those values are and the ones that are most important to you. And finally, this is the big one. What am I most proud of? And this might be tied to what you want to remember. Again, it doesn't

Pride Beyond Achievements

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necessarily just have to be related to achievements or successes. You can be proud of the way that you handled something. You can be proud of the character that you showed in a given situation. You can be proud of the relationships that you've built, right? There are lots of different things that you can be proud of that aren't just about accolades or successes, right? So keep that in mind as you are considering what you want to remember, which was one of the previous questions. And then the final question, what you're most proud of. So now we can talk about preparing for the upcoming

Intention Setting For The New Year

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year. And the first question to ask yourself that may be the most difficult, but really, really sit with this one. The question is, what do I want? And you can take that in as many different directions as you want. It could be about this year specifically, the next 12 months, what do you want? It could be, you know, further out than that. And and then what ends up happening this year gets you closer to ultimately what you want. So there are lots of different ways to approach this question, but just don't stop if you can't get there immediately, right? If you ask yourself, what do I want? And the immediate answer is I don't know. Just give yourself a bit more time to let the answer come to you. Okay, because it's definitely there. It's either related to you know what you want, but you are not letting it in, or it's so covered up by the things that you think you need to do that you're not, you can't hear it. Right. So just give yourself a bit of time to let that answer come to you if it doesn't come to you immediately. Next reflection question or intention setting question is who do I need to become this year to make that happen, to make what I want real? What kind of transformation needs to happen to bring what I want into reality? And that's really a question about not the steps that you need to take, but who you need to become, right? And and I just want to remind you that so often we don't let ourselves dream about what we want because we can't figure out how to get there. And so we get stuck on the how of it. And that prevents us from imagining or or dreaming about what we actually want. But if we just eliminate

Who You Need To Become

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the how for a moment and just don't worry about that and let ourselves really dream about what we want, the better question to ask at this stage is who do I need to become? What kind of person has what I want? And what is the gap between where I am right now and who that person is? And that is a less concrete way of getting yourself there, but it just opens up so many more possibilities than trying to imagine all of the steps that you need to take to get where you want to go. That part comes so much later. So just let yourself sit in the possibility of what your dreams are and the transformation that needs to happen within yourself to get you there. The next question for you is what are the lessons and insights from last year that I want to carry forward into the coming year? And another way to think about this is how are the lessons that I learned last year going to help me in achieving my goals in getting what I want? The next question for you is what am I most looking forward to and why? And the flip side of that is what am I worried about? What am I dreading and why? And the final intention-setting question to bring you into the new year is how do I want to show up this coming year for myself, for my loved ones, for my colleagues, for my community? And what makes it easier or harder for me to show up in the way that I want to? So let me do a quick recap of all of those questions without the commentary so that you can write them all down. And we will post these in the show notes as well so that hopefully you can cut and paste and do what you need to do. But here we go first with the end-of-year reflection questions. What went well this year? What did I do to make that thing go well? What is an accomplishment or milestone

Carrying Lessons Forward

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that I didn't celebrate enough? What didn't go well this year? What did I learn from what didn't go well? What else do I need to reflect on so that I can do better? What do I want to remember about this year? How did I stay true to my values this year? And what am I most proud of? And here are the questions to think about as you prepare for the upcoming year. These are your intention-setting questions. What do I want? Who do I need to become this year to make that happen? What kind of transformation needs to happen? What lessons and insights from last year do I want to carry forward into the coming year that will help me get what I want? What am I most looking forward to and why? What am I worried about or dreading and why? And finally, how

Hopes, Worries, And Showing Up

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do I want to show up this coming year for myself, for my loved ones, for my colleagues, for my community? And what makes it easier or harder for me to show up in the way that I want to? All right, my friends. I know that it has been a long year, and especially the last few months have been challenging for a lot of us. So I want to send you off this year with a lot of love and a lot of hope for the new year. And I hope that these reflection questions will help you prepare for what is to come in the new year. Take care. Thanks for listening to this episode of Significant Impact from K Award to your first big R01. If you want to dig deeper into what we learned today and move a significant step closer to a smooth K to R transition, visit Sarahdobson.co slash pod and check out all the free stuff we have to help you do just that. Don't forget to subscribe to the show to make sure you hear new episodes

Full Question Recap

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as soon as they're released. And if today's episode made you think of a colleague or a friend, please tell them about it. Tune in next time and thanks again for listening.