Tasks Completed: 34/42 (81% Completion) Total Observations: 1 Total Thoughts Posted: 12 Total Photos Posted: 1

I’m quite happy with this weeks task accomplishments. I managed to complete 34 out of my weekly 42 tasks I had set out. That’s an 81% completion rate!

What are these tasks though? Well, they are daily routines that I wish to accomplish before the end of the day. These include things like meditation, exercise and reading, along with a few other things. A usual routine, that I should be able to accomplish daily without excuse!

The Turning Point

Sunday for me was a turning point. I spent most of it working on #Obsidian and my #Journal in general. I needed to focus on my daily tasks more and bring my task completion rates up.

My tasks are there for a reason. They are goals I wish to tick off on a daily basis, with the most important ones being to meditate and to exercise to stay healthy in mind and body.

I felt that I was procrastinating too much and could not find a reason or an excuse as to why I am this way. Is it simply that I may have attention deficit disorder, and outside of work, I find it hard to focus on one thing? That I cannot do the same thing over and over for long periods of time? Is that a thing?

Either way, I felt frustrated about this and have done some work to make my journaling and my task tracking more enjoyable and accountable to me.

So on Monday, I started the new journal system, which included looking at the previous days planning and self reflection.

Self reflection includes taking note of my mood that given day when waking up (using an emoji), and my energy level on a scale of 1 to 10.

I would then spend a quick minute just taking note of that days weather forecast and any fire danger ratings. In case out of the blue, I intend to just go out bush for time to myself.

At the end of the day, I would also reflect, by taking note of any Highlight or Gratitude by just writing it and putting it out into the nether.

Photo of the Week

I’ve also got sections to showcase to myself my favourite photo of the day that I took or edited, and to note my favourite observation that I added to my catalogue.

Of course, I understand I wont be taking or editing photos on a daily basis, nor would I be hiking and observing species of fungi on a daily basis. But when I do, I can reflect on those in the weekly, monthly, yearly recaps and pick my favourites and talk about them, and why I chose them.

So here’s my favourite edit from this week! This was actually a part of my latest shots taken on one of my #LerderdergGorge hikes and the image wasn’t one of my original favourites. It’s one of the images I actually left until last to edit.

I cropped it into a 1:1 image as I felt the composition worked best for this shot, and I wanted to give monochrome a go. I actually love how it turned out! I brought the colours back out on the mushroom itself, leaving the background black and white. I am in love with this photo so much that I just might print myself a small copy to place on my desk.

I believe the mushroom type is that of bonnet. I should have really taken more photos of this one and uploaded to iNaturalist!

Observation of the Week

This week’s observation was also at #LerderdergGorge during a last minute hike.

I believe this is a Common Gilled Mushroom (Gymnopilus allantopus). If you believe I am wrong, let me know below.

I know, I really should include more photos to assist with the identifications, and I will be doing so with future photos.

I will take various angles so that you can see the gills, cap, stem, more of the habitat. I have a ruler I will add for scale and I intend to take spore prints where possible, depending on legality in the area I am making observations from.

Career

I put some serious plans into action this week, including talking to various members from different municipalities in my work, to discuss what their workplaces are like, their workload, team moral and so forth as I look to set new career progression goals in place going forward.

On Tuesday, I spent a good hour on the phone with one new contact chatting about just that.

On Thursday, I went to meet a contact at a local municipality to discuss potential working opportunities. Spent a good hour in person with a coffee for a chat and finding out all I can about the location in question.

It has really given me a new perspective of things and now the hardest part will be to actually come up with a decision as to what I wish to do with my career next! It’s actually quite exciting!

I’ve really been thinking about my next moves in my career, given I plan on giving this career another 20+ years of my life to. I really love what I do, but where I am at right now will not be able to give me the opportunities I am seeking without causing issues for the team, which is unfair to them.

If I stay where I am, and I wish to go into investigative roles, my travel time would increase by more than 50%, pushing me well over 1 hour. Which I am not sure I could commit to.

The other option I have, if I stay where I am, is to upgrade in rank, making me more of a supervisor. This is also a good option, and would increase my income exponentially, but knowing myself, give that role 5 years, and although the money is great, I will be bored in that role and look back at this time and wish I had taken the other, longer path. And to take a step back from that role and go back to the long path, would include a significant pay cut, which is harder to do once you are already use to that money and lifestyle differences that brings.

Working my way up to that rank, using the longer path, also opens my doors up to a multitude of departments as a supervisor, including not only the general roles, but the investigative supervisor roles.

I still have a lot of thinking and self-reflection to do on this before making my final decision and sticking to it - but journaling about this process and actually doing the planning and thinking… this is something new for me. I use to just be the run and gun guy that goes with the flow. Don’t get me wrong, I would still be going with the flow of things in life, but, seems I have matured and am more cautious and putting actual thought into a process over running and gunning for it.

Mount Buller

On the final day of the week, we went to the #snow with the kids at #MtBuller. It was a blast. We went with a bunch of friends and hired a private 25 seat bus to get up there. 4 hours of driving and we were there, giving us about 3 hours to enjoy the snow before heading back home the other 4 hours.

My wife and I actually don’t enjoy going to the snow. But the kids are older now and they get to remember fun trips. So we did it for them. They absolutely loved their time.

The food is expensive up there, because they know they can charge it. You are better off bringing your own, unless you are happy paying $19 for a bowl of hot chips!

Another recommendation I have is not paying the ridiculous $50 per person to use any of the “express” lifts. You can get a free shuttle up into the village and actually walk up most of the mountain in reasonable time. All the other lifts that bring you up ski slopes are free too.

Conclusion

As always, I love to hear feedback or questions that I can respond to. So if you enjoyed this article, please feel free to comment!