 This post is about designing and managing your life and work as one integrated portfolio with the right parts for the best outcome. Financial investors use a portfolio strategy as a way to choose an array of investments, that help you reach your ultimate financial goal. In this post I broaden that concept and apply the idea to life and work in the Social Sectors. The actual portfolio are the things that the investor buys and holds/sells over a long period of time to build wealth for a child’s education or your own retirement. In this post, we are talking not only about financial wealth, but also the assets of time, relationships body, and mind. Our starting circumstances are complete chance. But our portfolio allocation of these resources is within our control.
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 Social sector professionals fear job loss, or contracts ending as much as people working in the wider private sector. Our modern work ethic comes from the factories of the industrial revolution where your place on the assembly line was everything. Being a part of this mythical, idyllic ‘factory’ guaranteed your own security and that of your family as well as your place within a community. The job created and sustained identity. You had to show up and do your job, and the company takes care of the rest. This simplified version was never fully true, but even the imperfect version is long over for most of us. We are living in the third industrial revolution of the Internet age. Many jobs in our environment are moving to a short term contract basis. Pensioned long term employees are rare in our social sector fields.
 Let’s start with a simple question: How much of what you are making and managing in your social sector work will last one, five or 10 years? What about beyond that time, centuries from now?
In his new book Perennial Seller, author and strategist Ryan Holiday discusses this phenomenon of enduring work that outlasts its creators. As social sector strivers, we always say we are working on something that is sustainable. In theory, as social sector professionals, we are working on a problem that if solved correctly will make us irrelevant. We are teaching a skill, creating a piece of physical infrastructure, or building an organization that will stand the test of time.  The difference between workplace wellbeing and social sector titan style performance
Workplace wellbeing is becoming a standard and respected element of human resource services in social sector organizations. Writers like Beth Kanter, companies like Greenleaf Integrative Strategies, and Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global offer clear paths to self care in both the social and private sector environments. We need these ideas and approaches. I have personally learned and implemented many of the strategies in my own life and work. Techniques such as meditation, and company policies like flexible working hours are proven to increase employee retention and reported happiness, while also increasing productivity.  The athletic X factor to make you social sector work and life excellent
I remember well one of my first jobs in the social sector working in refugee response. It was a recent switch from my previous NGO and I was thrilled to be on the new team, ready to learn from my colleagues and increase my skills. The first week on this new mission location I noticed everyone was taking periodic breaks. This is good, staying fresh by taking quick breaks, but then I realized that everyone was behind the building (or in their offices with the windows open) smoking. During the intense times, late work sessions quickly turned into beer fueled episodes ending sloppily in bars. Weekend workdays ended in clubbing sessions. Sounds fun, right? Yes, but to a point. These people were dedicated heros but also had physically unhealthy routines ingrained in their work and life approach.  Building a buffer in your work and life makes achievement and tranquility an achievable process. This buffer is a safety net of time, money, expectation or other currency to protect yourself as you take smart risks to learn, experiment and perfect your social sector mission and life.
I’ve lived for many years without an adequate buffer of time and money. This meant signing up for work related projects with timelines that require everything to go perfectly and according to plan. The no-buffer-life meant that I was living without an overall financial plan and without an adequate cash cushion if that work ended, or if I needed to move on. Bufferless life meant saying yes to too many things in work and life and reaching burnout overload. After learning and implementing the buffer approach with time, money and boundaries I have drastically increased my tranquility and achievement while also reducing my fear of change or massive disruption.  Overcoming networking fear and building an authentic network to maximize your social sector impact and ability.
I used to be terrified of networking. The original and untrained ‘me’ is awkward in a group of people. The old me prefers reading and working on anything if given a choice between that and a professional networking event. I looked with envy on people who could naturally work a room. These natural networkers were easily able to talk to new professional acquaintances and effortlessly maintained a wide swath of professional colleagues willing to work with them and help them on any issue. Here is the story the old me used to tell myself: “That’s not me, I’m an introvert and shy.” “Networking is dirty and gross. I’m not like that.” “I don’t need to do that networking thing, people will just come to me” These were my original incorrect and limiting scripts in this area. This type of negative self talk around networking put me into a cycle of fearing those interactions. This in turn limited my ability to connect with others in a genuine way around common interests in work and life. This reduced my impact volume and intensity for many years.  Tuning your email use for achievement and tranquility in the social sectors
I admit it. I am an email addict. I can still remember setting up and using my first email account. I created my brand new Hotmail account at a friend’s house who had dial up internet in the 1990s. The next one was my first college email, incessantly refreshed at the computer lab on a shining pixilated desktop monitor. Then later the thrill of getting a new work email address with a url that you admire such as .int or .un or .gov. It felt like validation that you can communicate to anyone across the world on behalf of a cause that you believe in. The feeling of potential, influence and ability that this now old technology brings is seductive and enduring. Refreshing the account over and over again, knowing that new messages are always coming creates perceived risk or reward.  A few years ago I attended a workshop at professional conference presenting work that a team and I completed on humanitarian risk mapping related to Africa’s Sahel region. Previous professional conferences were a cognitive and emotional drain for me. The combination of new information and constant professional interaction left me exhausted at the end of each day and week. Admittedly, this is a ‘champagne problem’ for those of us who are lucky and industrious enough to build a career that we care about in the social sectors. Nonetheless, this mix of exhaustion and stress that resulted from intense public work sessions and trainings was real for me, and many of my social sector friends.
This has all changed for me in the last year. Now, these conferences, intense projects and trainings leave me energized and focused on enjoying life and achieving better professional practice.  Get ten times your productivity and impact in the Social Sector with this planning strategy. A friend or spouse asks you on Friday with the weekend coming on “How was the week?” What do you say back? Were you overwhelmed with your email inbox while co workers and bosses threw down surprise meetings that lasted over two hours? Did you feel super busy while being interrupted by home issues that crept into your precious working time? Was time scarcity creeping in on your mind and forcing you to constantly switch tasks to stay afloat?
- Or - Could you smile with satisfaction and explain how your week was incredibly productive as you moved methodically through complex tasks delivering some major pieces of work on time. Could you relate how you set aside time for deep concentration, production and planning while also staying ahead of administrative issues? You even had time to work out and meet your Mom for lunch while she was in town. |
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