Taking care of that all important resource

There is a little irony as I write my first post about the challenges of a Portfolio Life rather than the benefits. But, I sit writing whilst ill, soldiering on for eleven days, refusing to be bed ridden.

True to form, for the first few days I trooped through, as I always do, overdoing it on some occasions, when I knew I should have just said no. For some of the period, I said no, mindful that I may be missing out on things or letting people down. The truth is your body is pretty good at telling you when to slow down, speed up or relax and I have been ignoring mine. Note this has absolutely nothing to do with motivation.

One advantage of the traditional nine to five career is the implied definition of work time. During those hours, perhaps five days a week, one is expected to function and downtime is prescribed by Working Time Regulations, a weekend and the hours outside of the norm... I could write a whole piece on my views on sickness in the workplace but that's not why we are here.

Motivation - the one thing that Portfolio People have buckets loads of is motivation. I'm generalising a tad here, but those of us who are conscious of the fact we are Portfolio People and chose to be so, have lots of drive to accomplish what we set out to do. With this work ethic however, comes potential issues with boundaries and the merging of responsibilities. Again, those who know me will testify that I have become pretty good at not letting that happen. Splitting up the time and even scheduling in 'doing nothing' time is part of my own portfolio.

While my mind soldiers on, I'm not so subtly reminded of the other player in this relationship. Whether it's with clients or loved ones, my body is forcing me to take some down time for myself so that I may continue to be the best I can be for the numerous roles that I play.

If you are a highly motivated portfolio person like me, don't let your body get to the point of forcing down time. Take care of that all important resource, schedule adequate rest into your portfolio.