Month in Review: From Chaos to Focus on the Trapline
My first year outdoors was a bit of a disaster because I didn't plan it properly. So for the first month of this year, I took my own advice: I made a schedule, an aggressive one, and stuck to it.
I'm still new to podcasting and filming, and everything with electronics takes me longer than it should. Something my ambition said would take two hours took almost two days. I probably won't finish everything on the list this month, but I'm close, and the schedule has put me in a groove.
The biggest change was narrowing my focus. When you've got 30 things on your list, including cleaning up the old life and being there for your family, you get spread thin. Now some days my to-do list has one thing on it. When that's done, I move to the next.
I finally got out to the trapline, and I'm about to head out again. It's more strategic now. Recreationally, you'd throw out as many traps as you could, have a few drinks and a good dinner, and head home. Now I go out with a plan for what I want to get done.
Lessons from month one
Make a schedule and stick to it. It builds momentum.
One thing at a time. Finish it, then move on.
Expect things to take longer than your ambition says.
Plan every trip to the line. Treat it like the job it is.
Remember to film. It takes two or three times as long as just doing the work.
Next month: ice fishing, catching up on firewood, maybe looking for chaga, and writing even when it feels stupid. We're taught to shut up, do our job, get a pension and retire. I've sprung free of that, and I'm not disappointed in my decision one bit.
New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Wild Ways Podcast. Want the story from the trapline every week? The Trapline Report is one email a week from the bush.
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