After 46 years of life I have discovered that I enjoy my job most when I am learning while doing it. Once I feel like I have mastered it to a point where it becomes somewhat automatic I inevitably begin to look to something else. I’m not sure if it’s a character flaw or a positive quality, but it’s there. I like new adventures and fresh experiences.
It happened with teaching, youth pastoring, leading Forge and now I can feel it happening with reticulation. I’m not ‘over it’ but I am looking to either expand it, reinvent it or do something completely different. I didn’t know much about Retic when I started but I’m feeling like I’m fairly on top of it now. It isn’t rocket surgery.
Lately I’ve been reading up on mini-bobcats and trucks and considering investing in some gear to add another dimension to my business. Ironically, part of the reason I actually resist buying some machinery is because I don’t know how to use it…
But of course therein lies the opportunity to learn something new and to be in that place I enjoy again. I guess the extent of damage you can wreak with a bobcat is quite a deal larger than that of a trenching shovel so you don’t just hop in and start digging!
It’s also a fair bit of cash to invest – maybe $70K – and then there’s the question of storage… More than that even there’s the question of finding time to actually do the work when I already have as much work as I can manage. Then there’s the desire to keep life simple. I could employ staff to do Retic & turf while I get earthmoving up and running but it’s starting to feel a bit more all consuming than I like.
Its also partly prompted by the question mark that hangs over my right arm and how long it can remain usable. It may be necessary to have a plan b if it gets too sore. Add to that the dire situation Perth finds itself in this year with water and the possibility of a complete watering ban and it pays to at least have done some homework on a plan B that could get us thru a drought period.
So we will see what develops… For now it will be business as usual but I don’t think it will be forever.