Little Blue Heron walking through the brush at the birding and nature center, South Padre Island TX
Out of these four–I’ve only seen the Great Egret in two locations (South Padre Island & Boomer Lake in Stillwater OK). The other three have been spotted solely down in Texas during a summer vacation years ago.
Reddish Egret in the bay at the birding and nature center in South Padre Island TX
So there are still several members of the Ardeidae family that I haven’t spotted and would like to get a picture of and they include: the American bittern, the Least bittern, the snowy egret, the cattle egret, and the yellow-crowned night heron.
Tricolored Heron in the bay at the birding and nature center in South Padre Island TX
In terms of the Pelecaniformes order, there are in total ~110 species around the world and I’ve seen 12 of them–which means I’ve seen/spotted roughly ten percent of the order in the wild. Goal will be to get that percentage up to twenty-five to thirty percent (which means spotting another sixteen to twenty-one species in the wild).
Moving forward, my goal is to publish two to three bird pages a week, in addition to at least one blog post announcing which pages are up as well.
The next set of birding pages to be added will cover the woodpeckers (and there will be two new pages in addition to the pages on the order & family), then on to the hawks, eagles, and kite group (with quite a few additional pages added), and finishing up with the hummingbirds (currently will pages for the order and family).
Once I’ve gotten caught up those pages, I will start working though a master list I’ve created of all birds (seen within the US and currently the UK) I’ve gotten pictures of in the wild.
So, two more bird pages are now live in the birding section of the blog (birds, birds, and birds).
I’m slowly making my way through the other family members of the heron, egret, and bittern family (Ardeidae) that I have taken pictures of in the wild.
I managed to get several pictures of the green heron last summer at Boomer Lake, and I was happy with how I managed to progress from just getting a partial picture of a green heron to actually getting a picture of one in flight during a very foggy morning.
Green heron in flight on a very foggy morning at Boomer Lake.
I haven’t seen a night heron since my trip to Hawaii back in 2009; but in all honesty, I had no idea that they migrated through Oklahoma. I think it would be super cool to spot one within the lower forty-eight states–though that may mean being in a slightly more tropical part (such as California, Florida, or along the Texas coast) where they are around all year.
Young black-crowned night heron peaking through the coconut fronds
The other ‘stocky’ members that I would like to get a picture of are the yellow-crowned night heron (which is mainly found in the eastern part of the US, though it does summer in OK), and the bitterns (both American and Least), but these two birds are even more secretive than the green heron.
Have you gotten a picture of a bittern? If you have–how long did it take to get a good picture?
As I mentioned yesterday that I’m slowly adding pages under the birds, birds, and birds section.
One of the reasons was I wanted a little more order to how the pages looked in the drop-down and not just have a list of basically 90 different birds. Since I had already posted several different bird pages, I decided to finish up those groups before adding more.
Brown Pelican flying over the bay
I originally started with pages for the bald eagle, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, ruby-throated hummingbird, and the great blue heron. This gave me four different bird orders to research, several different bird families to research, and possibly numerous other bird pages to add (if I had pictures of said birds).
I decided to start with the order Pelecaniformes that includes the great blue heron (family Ardeidae). This order has in total five different families, but currently I am only describing/talking about three of them (ones that have family members that can be spotted within the United States–in the wild and not the zoo).
So with that being my starting point–the two pelican pages have been live for probably about two weeks now.
Brown Pelicans flying over the beach
Pelicans belong to the family Pelecanidae. The pages that I currently have are for the white pelican and the brown pelican (the two species that are found in the United States).
As mentioned on the pages–one photography goal is to get a better picture of a brown pelican, and possibly a picture of a brown pelican diving into the water after its meal.
White pelican resting at Boomer Lake
Long-term photography goals include getting the picture of at least two other pelican species in the wild (but that will require at least one trip outside the US–which is on hold until the pandemic is under control & I have managed to get the vaccine shot for SARS-CoV2)
So with publishing the pages on the white ibis and the white-faced ibis, I have showcased pictures of the two species I have managed to see in the wild.
White-faced Ibis foraging in New Mexico
One photography goal will be to spot both a glossy ibis and the roseate spoonbill in the wild (which will probably require at least one more trip to somewhere along the Gulf coast).
If I can manage to get pictures of those two, I will have managed to spot all four family members that can be seen within the United States.
So I’m 100 days into this challenge, and there are sixty-six days left in 2020. We’re also just about a week away from the presidential election as well (fingers crossed it goes the way I’m hoping).
I decided a couple of weeks ago, that I should probably look at the list again, and see if there were any goals that I wanted to remove (for whatever reason), and possibly any goals I wanted to add—but also to see where I was in terms of the different goals.
There is still the pandemic going on—which means that the travel plans are still on hold, and I’m still sheltering in place. I will probably continue to shelter in place at least until March of 2021 (when hopefully a possible vaccine is available). I’m still working on trying to figure out what my ‘new normal’ is going to be looking like.
As I stated in a previous post, I’m also thinking of replacing the list on the odds and end bucket list with this list—so that change may be occurring soon as well.
So how are things progressing?
Professional development and career: On-going
1. Transition into an industry position (probably remote/online or freelancing at this point to start); there will be several posts on this goal
2. Learn a programming language (python or R—ties in with #6)—going to go with python to begin with.
3. Finish various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:
4. Dream Job Hack Removed, currently going through the modules but trying to tailor to my needs (program is best for those wanting to get into high level manager type roles—not the greatest for someone switching from research to industry and who also hasn’t been in a manager type role).
5. Medical Writers Organization
6. Data Scientist Syndicate—Finished September 3rd 2020
7. Project Management Consortium
8. Management Consulting Firm
9. All other courses—see additional lists in the journal.
10. More interacting on Linkedin—Hard to score these, I’m doing the best with #11; though I have started doing my own posts—mainly photographs and quotes; need to start working more on the other 2 (especially the giving/asking for recommendations).
11. Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages
12. Commenting on posts
13. Giving/Asking for recommendations
14. Start writing my own posts
15. Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals—trying to get better at the editorial or to-do-list calendars.
16. Renew professional memberships—Need to pick just one or two currently to renew; can’t do all at once.
Both Personal and Professional Development—still working on all of these
17. Become fluent in Spanish
18. Become fluent in German
19. Become proficient in French, Norwegian, or Swedish
20. Read at least 300 personal/professional development books; this will include books from my previous attempts at 1001-day challenges as well. I have over 300 books on the list, and I would like to get through at least 100 of them before I keep adding to the list.
21. Finish the books on scientific writing
22. Start building up a portfolio of work (writing/data analysis/plus other ideas)
23. Develop a daily writing habit (tied with several goals below)
24. Write a letter to my future self
Personal development and hobbies—started a few, but need to also start in on others as well
25. Paint and frame at least one original painting
26. More photography—Have been doing this; started a new challenge (though I haven’t been totally consistent with daily postings) and updating/adding pages
27. 365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)
28. Update photography pages on blog
29. Make my own jewelry
30. Learn to cross-stitch
31. Get a new sewing machine—On hold; seems getting a sewing machine there is a 50/50 risk that the machine will have problems winding the bobbin
32. Make a new quilt (or this may wait until I move)
33. Make a set of drapes for the bedroom (for backdrop for any zoom calls)
34. Start a new afghan (write a post on finishing the other)—need to figure out how to patch the other afghans
35. Show case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)
36. Start writing a book
37. Learn Photoshop
38. Write in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free thought)
39. Create my own coffee-table photography book
40. Learn basic sign language
41. Start a virtual book club
Finances—still working on these, since I’m taking time off there isn’t a steady paycheck coming in yet.
42. Create monthly budgets—currently this is just paying off the bills.
43. Credit card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly—some are high, but that is due to buying a couple of personal/professional development courses that were rather expensive.
44. Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)
45. Savings account up another 20K (hopefully)—this will be tied in with #44, #46, and any other ways of trying to earn a little extra cash.
46. Talk with financial person about short-term investment possibilities
47. Continue doing the small surveys as a way of earning a little extra cash
48. Finish the various financial e-courses, and decide when/how to start investing
Fitness & Health—On going
49. Get into the best shape of my life
50. Multivitamin and supplements daily
51. Manage to make it through the following Beachbody workouts
52. Morning Meltdown 100 (will probably do this 2-3 times, as I’m currently doing this program right now—07/19/2020)—Finished my first round on 9/15/2020
53. Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt (should be done mid-Nov)
54. 10 Rounds—Will be starting this mid-Nov & done by Christmas.
55. Barre Blend
56. Insanity Max 30
57. LIIFT4 (have already done this program once); 2nd round will be done mid-Nov (combined this with Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt)
58. 22-Minute Hard Corps
59. T20
60. Insanity
61. Insanity: Asylum 1
62. Insanity: Asylum 2
63. 4 weeks of Prep
64. 6 weeks of the work
65. T25 (have already done this program once)
66. Brazil Butt Lift
67. 21-Day Fix (Already done this program once)
68. 21-Day Fix Extreme (Already done this program once)
69. Country Heat (already done this program once)
70. CIZE
71. Muscle Burns Fat
72. Muscle Burns Fat Advanced
73. 30-Day Breakaway (this is a maybe—it’s running based)
74. 9-week control freak
75. Shawn Week
76. 80-Day Obsession
77. Brazil Butt Lift: Carnivale
78. Shift Shop: Proving Grounds
79. P90
Plus any other possible Beachbody program that is coming out that I may want to add.
80. Manage 5 push-ups on my toes
81. Manage 10 push-ups on my toes
82. Hold a two-minute forearm plank
83. Hold a 90 second plank
84. Meditate nightly
85. Start jogging (as another way to try to keep my mental health up)—may tie this in with #73
86. 60-80 oz of water a day
87. Stretch daily
88. Go one weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages; may still post on the sites)
89. Get at least 10,010,000 steps (breaks down to 5K/day)—on my way; I’ve managed to hit all month goals (and surpass slightly).
Blog and Social Media–Ongoing
90. Finish YouTube for bosses course
91. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses course
92. Finish blog to biz course
93. Launch a YouTube channel
94. Launch an online course
95. Get blog traffic to 500+ views a day
96. Rebrand myself (?)
97. Get Instagram followers to constant 800+
98. Get pintrest followers to constant 400+
99. Get twitter followers to constant 1000+
100. Publish at least two blog series
101. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)
102. Blog
103. Instagram
104. Facebook pages
105. Twitter
106. Pintrest
107. Get Fit with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows
108. Get becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows
109. Various top 10 author lists
110. Various top 10 book series lists
111. Launch a podcast
Spirituality–Ongoing
112. Full/New Moon Goals
113. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)
114. Weekly (or daily) tarot/oracle card readings
115. 15 minutes outdoors in the morning (coffee only) weather permitting; probably on hold now until spring—fall/winter mornings are usually somewhere between the 30s and 50s (if it’s closer to the higher end—maybe).
Others–ongoing
116. Keep at least 3 plants alive
117. Design a science based board game
118. Create and update digital vision board
119. Reorganize my storage unit
120. Put in at least one flower garden around the house (backyard, and/or front yard)
121. Help put up partial privacy fence in backyard
122. Start downsizing clothes and creating different “minimum” wardrobes (work/professional/casual; home/casual/working out)
123. Develop at least 10 different 100-day challenges
One challenge will be 100 days of iPhone Photography.
124. Start downsizing rest of my things./ as well—would like to probably be able to live comfortably in a smallish size apartment (or house) wherever I move for the next job.
TV shows to binge watch—Haven’t felt like sitting and watching anything lately
125. Hawaii 5-0 (latest remake)
126. Grimm
127. The Librarians
128. Once Upon A Time
129. Blacklist
130. Numbers
131. Agents of SHIELD
Goals on hold due to the global coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak (either because they require traveling, going into a large store, and/or being around large groups of people):
132. Re-pierce my ears
133. Go to at least 1 scientific conference
134. Present at a scientific conference
135. Go to at least 2 professional networking events
136. Move to a new (or maybe not new) city for job
137. Visit at least 3 new countries
138. Visit at least one new national and/or state park
139. Visit at least one new national and/or state monument
140. Visit at least one new zoo
141. Visit at least one new aquarium
142. Fly out and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports
143. Visit at least one new city
144. Visit at least one new state
145. See the northern lights
146. Attend at least one blogging conference
147. Attend at least one author-reader conference
148. Swim with whale sharks
149. Parasailing
150. Run a 5K (connects back to goals #73 & #85)
Once I move:
151. Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs
152. New couch & chair for living room
153. New dresser for bedroom
154. New mattress & box spring for bed and/or a new bed set
155. New TV & stand
156. New desk/craft workstation
So in terms of the goals:
So I’ve removed one goal (finish the Dream Job Hack program), though I’m still going to work through a little that I think is relevant to what I need to be doing. I did find the program helpful, but it is geared more towards people who have been (or are in) management type positions—while I would like to get there, I know that I probably need to start a step or two below.
I’m making some headway with others—I’ve finished the data science syndicate program from the Cheeky Scientist Association (will be writing a post on late shortly), and am looking forward to trying to learn python and then start building a data science portfolio.
I’m working my way through the medical writers organization (another advanced Cheeky Scientist program), and am hoping to have that finished by mid-November, and again start working on building up a writing portfolio.
Currently I’m thinking of going in the freelance/online/remote direction for work (namely because of the pandemic and not really wanting to figure out the whole headache of trying to move two animals, all of my stuff, and myself to a different state currently). So in that case, I’m also thinking of possibly rebranding the blog (I have a couple of different names bouncing around, a decision will be made probably early next year sometime).
I’m still working on developing an editorial calendar/to-be accomplished list hybrid that works for me. I’ve realized that I swing between two extremes: I get over-ambitious and try to cram way to stuff in everyday, or I don’t get anything really accomplished.
I’m trying to work on that by possibly going to larger bullet journals that I can paperclip in my to-be-accomplished lists (which would then be discarded once everything as accomplished) instead of having to write out the lists constantly.
I’m also working on a schedule that will let me bounce back and forth between different things. I just finished reading “ How to be everything: A guide for those who (still) don’t know what they want to be when they grow up” by Emilie Wapnick.
I will be posting a review on the book soon (hopefully this week)—but it was nice to see that I’m not the only one who has felt drawn in different directions and not having a clue how to handle things. I was pleased to find that I’m a mixed-style multipotentialite—someone who goes between having quite a few different projects going on at once to only having one or two projects going on at once.
So that has definitely been a major breakthrough during the last few weeks—now it is a matter of me fully embracing that aspect of myself and figuring how the best ways of working that way—without triggering massive anxiety attacks (stay tuned).
I also removed the “number” of workouts from my fitness goals—the main reason I was starting to get tired. Everyone needs a rest day, and I’ve shown myself that I can still push play on Monday morning even if I take the weekend off (as told by the workout schedule).
So I am slowly making progress on the first ~124 (or I guess 123) goals; the last twenty-odd goals still require the pandemic to be brought under control and for me then to be willing to slowly start leaving the house and going to places that will actually have other people present as well.
So I’m a little over a week into my fourth decade and still working on answering the question: which hobbies, passions, and interests will fall under the jack-of-all-trades umbrella, and which will fall under the specialist umbrella.
While for some this is probably a quick question to answer—I’m still slightly struggling with for two reasons: 1) imposter syndrome—since I’m wanting to transition out of academia and into industry, there are times when I feel like a ‘fraud’, even though I know everyone’s journey is their own and that no two paths are the same—also no one has the same history, likes/dislikes, strengths/weaknesses, and personality traits that I do. The second reason is that at times I’m still in an somewhat academic mindset, which has a somewhat “clear ladder” on how your job grows—you graduate with your PhD, you do a couple of postdocs, you then get an assistant professor position, and then work your way up the ladder to associate, full, regents, emeritus professor along with possibly going for department head, or positions as a dean.
Since I’m still not sure which direction I want to go in—therefore there is no “clear ladder”, and even once I decide on a direction or directions to go in—there is no guarantee of a “clear ladder” or straight job trajectory in today’s society. Therefore I’m on a mission to create a mix of things that not only fall under both categories (jack-of-all-trades and specialist), but also encompass all aspects of life.
Through self-reflection, I realize that the times I’m happiest and in the ‘flow’ are when I’m both learning and relaxing—in other words when there is a balance between things. This is something that I had lost over the past decade or so—actually, this was something I closed off when I thought I wanted to go down the academic route—I pushed aside enjoyment, relaxation, and balance while focusing on just one small area for ‘learning’.
I’m thinking that the best route will be something that allows me to both—work for a company, but also be an independent freelancer as well. This way I can juggle different hats (under the umbrellas of jack-of-all-trades and specialist), and hopefully never get bored.
Boredom for me is like the kiss of death for the job—and one thing I need to work on is asking for change in the job when I start feeling boredom sneak in—because if I don’t ask for a change, I know I will start to get a little laid back in things and let things start to slide—which is something that I want to avoid moving forward.
So that brings me back to the question: how am I going to divide up my hobbies, passions, and interests into the categories jack-of-all-trades and specialist?
One area can be quickly filed under jack-of-all-trades currently, and that is crafts. These include knitting, sewing/quilting, learning cross-stitching, making my own jewelry, doodling, and hopefully at some point painting. The time I spend on any of these varies—knitting is usually done only in the cooler months, I currently don’t have a sewing machine, and the others have had very little time spent on them.
Therefore until I start spending a good amount of time on any of them during the week, they will be a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ topic. These will be things that I write about maybe once a month or every couple of months on the blog. I have ideas on how to try monetizing some of them (knitting, jewelry, and cross-stitching), but haven’t spent any time trying to work up the plan or even a few showcase pieces.
There are other hobbies that I spend more time on: bird watching, photography, reading, and at times journaling/writing. These are areas of my personal life that I could slowly start working on more and move to what I would consider ‘expert’ level.
In terms of bird watching—seeing how many species in North America I can have identified by a certain age. This would then also allow me to include traveling, being outdoors, hiking, and photography as well.
In terms of photography—I can work on becoming a better nature photographer, and also start learning another form (say architecture or portrait photography). I would consider myself an expert if I then start selling my prints (either through my own site or another site, and/or have a small photography business on the side).
In terms of reading—start writing book reviews and posting them on both the blog and where I purchased the book, in addition to promoting books as well on my blog and social media sites. This way I could also then start possibly reviewing advance-reader-copies (ARCs), in addition to maybe working through affiliate programs—earning a little money, by referring people to buy different books.
In terms of writing—there is quite a bit I need to work on (and actually can be applied to all areas that I would like to become an ‘expert’ in) to get better at writing. The first thing is scheduling time every day to write/brainstorm/outline. Saying I want to become better at writing does nothing unless I also put in the work to become better at writing. So what are the things I need to work on?
Time management
Brainstorming, researching, writing, and editing—on a schedule
Publishing my writing (in more places than just the blog)
Asking others to read what I’ve written and give constructive criticism
Different types of writing
Creative/Fiction
Scientific
Non-fiction
Creating a portfolio to highlight my work
So in terms of my passions and interests—which should be jack-of-all-trades and which should be specialist?
If I look to my scientific background that has spanned a little over two decades I’ve noticed that I can focus on any of the following: recombinant cloning, recombinant protein expression and purification, sequencing, HPLC, MALDI-TOF, NMR, transcriptional and translational assays, small RNA biology, plant biology, cell culture, yeast, bacteria, fruit flies, the cell cycle, and bioinformatics.
If I had to chose areas for jack-of-all-trades those would include: bioinformatics (data science, programming, and data analysis), cell culture (basic mammalian and insect), sequencing, HPLC, MALDI-TOF, and NMR. These are the more technical things—though cell culture isn’t very technical, I just didn’t do that much of it through the years.
The areas I would chose for specialist would then include basically everything else: recombinant cloning, recombinant protein expression and purification, transcriptional and translational assays, small RNA biology, plant biology, yeast work, fruit flies, bacteria, cell cycle and almost anything that falls within these categories.
If I looked to other topics that I enjoyed during college—these were classes in social sciences and humanities (history, anthropology, sociology) that I got good grades in and never really stressed out over the exams (unlike all the other science classes).
So I would probably include some of those topics—medieval history, art history, anthropology, ancient North/South American history (prior to the arrival of the Europeans), archeology, and paleontology within both categories depending on the amount of time I could give to each area.
Other interests that could probably bounce between being jack-of-all-trades and specialist include spirituality, personal finances, and health/fitness.
These are areas that I’m interested in gaining more knowledge (finances—getting out of debt, saving more, retirement, multiple streams of income), becoming the best version of myself (health/fitness—completing programs, getting outdoors, and setting fitness goals to achieve and celebrate instead of spending money), and embracing (spirituality—I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m more spiritual than I am religious, therefore I want to become better at reading tarot/oracle cards and be able to meditate longer than say two to four minutes).
Therefore within the next five to ten years I would like to become a more well rounded person and scientist—this means over all balance, some days may be more science than crafts, more time at the computer than behind a camera—but also more days crafting, reading, and meditating. It is time for me to forge my own path forward that allows me to embrace all aspects of who I am, my strengths (learner, intellection, input, achiever, deliberative/ideation/arranger), while also working on my weaknesses.
The next step will be creating a plan that will allow me to slowly start moving in that direction.
Well I realized that since we’re over half way through July—that means there are less than six months left in 2020. I’ve come to the conclusion that trying to complete the 101 goals in 1001 days wasn’t going to work. For me it is due to the fact that I will only open the word document every so often—which makes it difficult to figure out which goal(s) I’m doing well on and which ones I’m not doing so well on meeting. Therefore, I am thinking of stretching out the time frame for this project and increasing the total number of goals to 150-200. There are numerous goals that are on hold (traveling), and will be at the bottom of the list. There are two reasons why the traveling goals are going to be at the bottom of the list: 1) we’re still in the middle of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Cases aren’t going down really in the US (though there are some states, where they are decreasing—OK isn’t one of them) and 2) several countries (namely the EU) have banned travelers from the US—in other words if you try to fly into any EU country, you may be put right back on a plane for the US, since they’re flattening their curves—they don’t want potential virus carriers showing up and spiking cases.
So the world has been in the grasp of the SARS-CoV2 virus for seven months (probably a little longer than that for the countries that are neighboring China), and we’re still learning about the virus each day. While there are several vaccines that are being pushed into various clinical trial phases—a real contender may still not be ready for another 6 to 18 months. Vaccine development is a slow and tedious process that the world is currently rushing because everyone wants to get back to ‘normal’. Hate to break it to everyone but the ‘old normal’ needs to be left in the past and we all need to work together to develop a ‘new normal’.
Truthfully, even if there is a vaccine out by the end of the year—I will probably still continue to shelter in place and wait at least an additional 8 to 12 months before I’m willing to get the vaccine (just to see how efficient the vaccine(s) are). Though based on the current news, we could end up with needing seasonal shots, as it has been shown that with people who “recover” from SARS-CoV2 the antibodies against the virus slowly disappear over time.
So I’ve been self-reflecting over the past six months (though maybe not that much during April—I was too pissed at the world for how bad the pandemic was getting, and now that we’re into July, I can say I’m still pissed but trying to get back into a routine of doing other things that I can control the outcomes of)) and have decided a few things:
Try to organize the challenge list into categories
If needing to restart (and I am)—any day of the week can become day 1 again
Balance is needed
I want to balance using my strengths (learner, intellection, input, achiever, deliberative/ideation/arranger) with working on my weaknesses (communication, self-regulation, bravery, zest, love)
The only person I should be competing with is who I was yesterday
Always strive for progress over perfection
So below are my goals—but broken up into different categories (such as professional development/career, personal development, both personal/professional development, travel, health & fitness to name a few categories). I’m going to extend the time frame to 2002 days (which is not quite 5 ½ years—but considering 2020 has started the decade off with a global pandemic—this a good time frame).
I’ve also decided that since I’m basically restarting the challenge (instead of just extending it), that some of the things I’ve accomplished so far this year probably shouldn’t count towards it (such as reading 12 personal/professional development books, and the fact that I would be on day 42 of Morning Meltdown 100, tomorrow—the last 59 days of the workout would count towards my 2000 days of Beachbody workouts-just not the first 41 days).
More goals may be added over the years as I re-evaluate this list and see what may need to be removed, what has been finished, and where I think I could possibly push myself more.
Professional development and career:
1. Transition into an industry position (probably remote/online or freelancing at this point to start); there will be several posts on this goal
2. Learn a programming language (python or R—ties in with #6)
3. Finish various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:
4. Dream Job Hack
5. Medical Writers Organization
6. Data Scientist Syndicate
7. Project Management Consortium
8. Management Consulting Firm
9. All other courses—see additional lists in the journal.
10. More interacting on Linkedin
11. Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages
12. Commenting on posts
13. Giving/Asking for recommendations
14. Start writing my own posts
15. Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals
16. Renew professional memberships
Both Personal and Professional Development
17. Become fluent in Spanish
18. Become fluent in German
19. Become proficient in French, Norwegian, or Swedish
20. Read at least 300 personal/professional development books
21. Finish the books on scientific writing
22. Start building up a portfolio of work (writing/data analysis/plus other ideas)
23. Develop a daily writing habit (tied with several goals below)
24. Write a letter to my future self
Personal development and hobbies
25. Paint and frame at least one original painting
26. More photography
27. 365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)
28. Update photography pages on blog
29. Make my own jewelry
30. Learn to cross-stitch
31. Get a new sewing machine
32. Make a new quilt (or this may wait until I move)
33. Make a set of drapes for the bedroom (for backdrop for any zoom calls)
34. Start a new afghan (write a post on finishing the other)
35. Show case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)
36. Start writing a book
37. Learn Photoshop
38. Write in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free thought)
39. Create my own coffee-table photography book
40. Learn basic sign language
41. Start a virtual book club
Finances
42. Create monthly budgets
43. Credit card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly
44. Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)
45. Savings account up another 20K (hopefully)
46. Talk with financial person about short-term investment possibilities
47. Continue doing the small surveys as a way of earning a little extra cash
48. Finish the various financial e-courses, and decide when/how to start investing
Fitness & Health
49. Get into the best shape of my life
50. Multivitamin and supplements daily
51. Manage at least 2000 days of Beachbody workouts
Finish the following programs (some will probably be more than 1 or 2 times)
52. Morning Meltdown 100 (will probably do this 2-3 times, as I’m currently doing this program right now—07/19/2020)
53. Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt
54. 10 Rounds
55. Barre Blend
56. Insanity Max 30
57. LIIFT4–all three phases (have already done this program once)
58. 22 Minute Hard Corps
59. T20
60. Insanity
61. Insanity: Asylum 1
62. Insanity: Asylum 2
63. 4 weeks of Prep
64. 6 weeks of the work
65. T25 (have already done this program once)
66. Brazil Butt Lift
67. 21-Day Fix (Already done this program once)
68. 21-Day Fix Extreme (Already done this program once)
69. Country Heat (already done this program once)
70. CIZE
71. Muscle Burns Fat
72. Muscle Burns Fat Advanced
73. 30-Day Breakaway (this is a maybe—it’s running based)
74. 9-week control freak
75. Shawn Week
Plus any other possible Beachbody program that is coming out that I may want to add.
76. Manage 5 push-ups on my toes
77. Manage 10 push-ups on my toes
78. Hold a two-minute forearm plank
79. Hold a 90 second plank
80. Meditate nightly
81. Start jogging (as another way to try to keep my mental health up)—may tie this in with #73
82. 60-80 oz of water a day
83. Stretch daily
84. Go one weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages; may still post on the sites)
85. Get at least 10,010,000 steps (breaks down to 5K/day)
Blog and Social Media
86. Finish YouTube for bosses course
87. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses course
88. Finish blog to biz course
89. Launch a YouTube channel
90. Launch an online course
91. Get blog traffic to 500+ views a day
92. Rebrand myself (?)
93. Get Instagram followers to constant 800+
94. Get pintrest followers to constant 400+
95. Get twitter followers to constant 1000+
96. Publish at least two blog series
97. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)
98. Blog
99. Instagram
100. Facebook pages
101. Twitter
102. Get Fit with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows
103. Get becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows
104. Various top 10 author lists
105. Various top 10 book series lists
106. Launch a podcast
Spirituality
107. Full/New Moon Goals
108. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)
109. Weekly (or daily) tarot/oracle card readings
110. 15 minutes outdoors in the morning (coffee only) weather permitting
Others
111. Keep at least 3 plants alive
112. Design a science based board game
113. Create and update digital vision board
114. Reorganize my storage unit
115. Put in at least one flower garden around the house (backyard, and/or front yard)
116. Help put up partial privacy fence in backyard
117. Start downsizing clothes and creating different “minimum” wardrobes (work/professional/casual; home/casual/working out)
118. Develop at least 10 different 100-day challenges
119. Start downsizing rest of my belongs as well—would like to probably be able to live comfortably in a smallish size apartment (or house) where ever I move for the next job.
TV shows to binge watch
120. Hawaii 5-0 (latest remake)
121. Grimm
122. The Librarians
123. Once Upon A Time
124. Blacklist
125. Numbers
Goals on hold due to the global coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak (either because they require traveling, going into a large store, and/or being around large groups of people):
126. Re-pierce my ears
127. Go to at least 1 scientific conference
128. Present at a scientific conference
129. Go to at least 2 professional networking events
130. Move to a new (or maybe not new) city for job
131. Visit at least 3 new countries
132. Visit at least one new national and/or state park
133. Visit at least one new national and/or state monument
134. Visit at least one new zoo
135. Visit at least one new aquarium
136. Fly out and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports
137. Visit at least one new city
138. Visit at least one new state
139. See the northern lights
140. Attend at least one blogging conference
141. Attend at least one author-reader conference
142. Swim with whale sharks
143. Parasailing
144. Run a 5K (connects back to goals #73 & #81)
Once I move:
145. Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs
146. New couch & chair for living room
147. New dresser for bedroom
148. New mattress & box spring for bed and/or a new bed set
149. New TV & stand
150. New desk/craft workstation
So I now have roughly 150 goals to accomplish in 2002 days. Some of the goals may be accomplished well before the 2002 days are up—others may be up to the end (namely the fitness workouts and steps). So how will I accomplish these 150 goals??? Well, there are 25 goals that are “on-hold” until the virus is under control (goals #126-150)—so these may not be looked at for the first 500+ days (though I will probably be checking the stats on the pandemic more often).
In terms of the other 125 goals—I already have some ‘habits’ in place—I have set up monthly calendar/check-ins for my steps, daily workouts, and spending, plus I do a monthly money check-in when I set up payments for various bills. So what I’m going to be doing is adding in additional trackers (e-courses, photography, tarot/oracle card readings) and seeing tracking that ways helps me move through things better. Also in terms of the e-courses, I’m going to be trying to take better notes so that I can post little recaps on the blog as well (all of this will also help me possibly finally design and keep up with editorial calendars as well).
But above else, I need to remember the following phrases: Aim for progress and not perfection, work hard in silence, let your success by your noise, and make it happen, shock everyone.
So in one of my many self reflection periods this past
month, I realized that I hadn’t been looking at my 101 goal list and seeing how
close I was to any of the goals (with the exception of my step goal). I also
realized looking at the list, it was all jumbled together and that made it hard
to see which goals could “feed” off of each other in terms of the
daily/weekly/monthly goals that I should be setting to reach them.
Therefore, I took the time and rewrote my list—this time
grouping things into different categories. I’m going to be hitting restart on
the time, to where if I start on November 2, 2019—I should then be finishing up
around July 29, 2022.
So below are my goals—but broken up into different
categories (such as professional development/career, personal development, both
personal/professional development, travel, health & fitness to name a few
categories).
Professional development and career:
1.
Transition into an industry position (tied to latest self reflections post);
there will be several posts on this goal
2. Learn a
programming language
3. Finish
various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:
4.
Dream Job Hack
5.
Medical Writers Organization
6. More
interacting on Linkedin
7.
Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages
8.
Commenting on posts
9.
Giving/Asking for recommendations
10.
Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals
11. Go to
at least 1 scientific conference
12.
Present at a scientific conference
13. Go to
at least 2 professional networking events
14. Renew
professional memberships
15. Move to
a new (or maybe not new) city for job
Both Personal and Professional Development
16. Become
fluent in Spanish
17. Become
fluent in German (or maybe French)
18. Read at
least 100 personal/professional development books
19. Finish
the books on scientific writing
Personal development and hobbies
20. Paint
and frame at least one original painting
21. More
photography
22.
365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)
23.
Update photography pages on blog
24. Make my
own jewelry
25. Learn
to cross-stitch
26. Finish
my latest afghan
27. Show
case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)
28. Start
writing a book
29. Learn
Photoshop
30. Write
in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free
thought)
31. Create
my own coffee-table photography book
32. Learn
basic sign language
Finances
33. Create
monthly budgets
34. Credit
card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly
35.
Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)
36. Savings
account up another 20K (hopefully)
37. Talk
with financial person about short-term investment possibilities
Travel
38. Visit
at least 3 new countries
39. Visit
at least one new national and/or state park
40. Visit
at least one new national and/or state monument
41. Visit
at least one new zoo
42. Visit
at least one new aquarium
43. Fly out
and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports
44. Visit
at least one new city
45. Visit
at least one new state
46. See the
northern lights
47. Attend
at least one blogging conference
48. Attend
at least one author-reader conference
49. Attend Beachbody
Coach Summit 2020
Fitness & Health
50. Get
into the best shape of my life
51.
Multivitamin and supplements daily
52. Manage
at least 250 days of Beachbody workouts
53. Manage
5 push-ups on my toes
54. Manage
10 push-ups on my toes
55. Hold a two-minute forearm plank
56. Hold a 90 second plank
57. Meditate nightly
58. 30-day Zumba challenge
59. 60-80 oz of water a day
60. Stretch daily
61. Go one
weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages;
may still post on the sites)
62. Get at
least 14,014,000 steps (breaks down to 14K/day)
Blog and Social Media
63. Finish YouTube for bosses course
64. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses
course
65. Finish blog to biz course
66. Launch a YouTube channel
67. Launch
an online course
68. Get
blog traffic to 500+ views a day
69. Rebrand
myself (?)
70. Get
Instagram followers to constant 800+
71. Get
pintrest followers to constant 400+
72. Get
twitter followers to constant 1000+
73. Publish
at least two blog series
74. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)
75.
Blog
76.
Instagram
77.
Facebook pages
78. Get Fit
with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows
79. Get
becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows
80. Various
top 10 author lists
81. Various
top 10 book series lists
Spirituality
82.
Full/New Moon Goals
83. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)
84. Weekly
tarot/oracle card readings
Others
85. Keep at
least 3 plants alive
86. Design
a science based board game
87. Create and update a digital vision board
88. Re-pierce
my ears
89. Reorganize
my storage unit
Once I move:
90. Get a
new sewing machine
91.
Make a new quilt
92.
Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs
93. New
couch & chair for living room
94. New
dresser for bedroom
95. New
mattress & box spring for bed
96. New TV
& stand
TV shows to binge watch
97. Hawaii
5-0 (latest remake)
98. Grimm
99. The
Librarians
100. Once
Upon A Time
101.
Blacklist
So that is my update and “organized” 101 goals in 1001 days.
This time I’m trying to balance things out—personal and professional
development, career and then just odds and ends. Hopefully with it being
organized, I will be better at tracking how close I am to completing certain
items and which items when completed will flow into another one being started.
So today’s photographs are yet more throwback/flashback winners. I decided that since we’re in the middle of the ”dog days of summer” with triple digit heat with even higher heat indexes I wanted to share some photographs that reminded me of cooler temperatures.
So when thinking of cooler temperatures, what automatically comes to mind? Swimming, being out on the water, but also being underground in caves.
One of the formations in the main cavern at Carlsbad Caverns National Park
We went to Carlsbad Caverns last year as part of a quick whirlwind trip through New Mexico. While it was my first time there, I enjoyed it and would love to go back and explore more. There is a lot to see within the main cavern, and I would actually like to go on one of the guided tours within other caves that have entrances via the main cavern. The only reason why I didn’t do one to begin with–I didn’t know that it was going to be a five hour round trip tour.
Besides the caverns, there are numerous hiking trails that one can go on as well. I also enjoy hiking, but wasn’t dressed for it and again we hadn’t planned on doing any-though I’d like to hike a little bit of a trail just to see what type of wild flowers or animals are around. I know there are rattlesnakes, we’ve heard them–luckily we didn’t see them on the trip.
My other favorite place to escape the heat is going to a lake, and not just any lake. I prefer sandy bottom lakes, that you can actually see where you’re walking and if it’s a little rocky that’s fine–they’re at least smooth rocks that you’re walking on. So one destination that I have enjoyed going to over the years has been Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota. This is a large fresh body lake that has actually become one of Minnesota’s latest state parks.
Sunset over Frazer Bay, Lake Vermilion St. Louis County Minnesota
Swimming, kayaking, bird watching, star gazing, and watching the sunsets are things that I have always enjoyed doing when going to Lake Vermilion. I remember kayaking out to an island and watching the bald eagles feed their young. This was the first place where I actually saw a bald eagle in the wild, and we use to see them sit atop of the large pine trees gazing out over the water before launching out to hunt for a meal (either for themselves or their young).
Going to the ocean is another way of getting away from the heat–though you do need to stay in the water, or have a really nice large beach umbrella to stay out of the sun. While I’ve been to the ocean several times (both Atlantic and Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico as well)–I’ve only managed to capture a sunset picture from the Gulf of Mexico, when we went down to South Padre Island years ago.
Sunset over the bay, South Padre Island Texas
What I liked about this sunset picture was actually managing to capture the heron hunting as well. There weren’t any clouds in the sky that day, so there wasn’t any pinks and reds streaking across the sky that I would see when looking at a sunset over Lake Vermilion. It was different, but just as beautiful. Now that I’ve gone back through photographs of different locations–I would like to try to capture more sunsets over water (be it lakes, rivers, or oceans). It’s a nice way of saying it’s been a beautiful day, and tomorrow will be just as nice.
That will be a goal for my travels in 2020–capture at least one sunset picture from one new location. If I travel back to areas I’ve been before (say Boston), then try to go on a harbor cruise and get a picture of the sun setting over the harbor (I do have one of it setting over the river). Also I should try to get at least one new sunrise picture as well in my 2020 travels.
So hopefully I’m all caught up on the photography challenge after today and it will be back to a daily posting. Last night the internet was acting up and my Friday post didn’t save as a draft. So we’re trying it again this morning.
So yesterday’s winner of the photography challenge is one of the anaconda snakes that live at the New England Aquarium.
I would recommend that you go to their Facebook page or their main page to learn more about these cool snakes (beyond the little that I’m going to be sharing here). One of the females (and I’m not sure if it was this one or one of the other two)—actually birth to a couple of baby anacondas, even though there are no males in the holding.
Green Anaconda at the New England Aquarium
So there are two main types of reproduction: sexual and asexual. Sexual reproduction, is reproduction with fertilization; whereas asexual reproduction is reproduction without fertilization. There are actually six to seven different types of asexual reproduction. Though when talking about more complex animals, if they asexually reproduce, it is usually through parthenogenesis.
Pathogenesis, is the process in which an unfertilized egg develops into an new individual. So, the female anaconda had several unfertilized eggs that developed into a couple of new little green anacondas.
According to the aquarium, the two young anacondas haven’t been put out in the display unit yet–it will interesting to see when they do, if one can capture pictures of them on the same day every year and see how they grow.
I find these snakes to be fascinating in terms of both their size and the fact that they thrive in water. While I’m not fond of snakes (living in the southern part of the US, there are quite a few that have nasty bites that can seriously hurt or kill a person), I do enjoy watching them from a distance—or when there is a solid piece of glass between us.
