To do this you need to take some time out to think through what your life would be like if you successfully developed an ongoing Portfolio Career. What would it feel like? What would be the benefits – to you and others? Would there be any drawbacks – if so, how might you overcome them?
What skills, talents and experience do you have? When answering this don’t just think about the job you’ve had for the last twenty years. Think about the core skills that were involved and those you may have acquired from outside the work environment, perhaps through your hobbies and interests.
You may have marketing skills, communication skills, engineering skills, knowledge of how local government or banks operate. All of these could be of immense value in totally new environments such as education, charity work or consultancy.
What opportunities are there to develop and utilise those skills? If you don’t know, now is the time to make it your mission to find out.
Do you like to work first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or at the weekends? When do you want to take your holidays? Do you want to use the daylight to garden or play tennis? Do you have to be at home because of an ageing relative, or to look after grandchildren? With portfolio working all of these can be accommodated.
To create the ideal ‘Portfolio’ start by dividing up your week (all seven days) into the time you want to spend on each of the following areas:
The biggest pitfall to avoid is rushing from task to task stretching yourself to the limit and having to grasp new ideas in totally disparate activities. But if you’ve thought things through, ease yourself in gradually, and don’t expect perfection the sum total can be a hugely rewarding and fulfilling lifestyle that you can adapt and fine-tune as your financial requirements, interests and energy levels dictate.
