Professional Mobility: Blessing or Curse???
Well, I survived my wife’s 1st week of proscribed bed rest thanks, in large part, to my “professional mobility” and frequently found myself counting my blessings…which leads me to this post. Is professional mobility a blessing or a curse? I suppose it helps to define “professional mobility” first. For me, it is the ability to work anytime from anywhere and is achieved thanks to the nature of venture capital and some combination of technology/communication devices (e.g. cell phone, Blackberry, and/or laptop with wireless data connection and service). I first became truly “mobile” in 2000 and have been so ever since (except where culture or logistics dictated that I be somewhere in person). While I first considered my mobility a blessing thanks to a new ability to get work done from somewhere other than my then bland cubicle at Intel, it quickly evolved into somewhat of a curse as I found myself working 18-20 hour days on most days… just because I could… and it seemed others were too so why shouldn’t I.
I eventually learned to go “off the grid” for at least small periods of time and set boundaries otherwise such that my professional mobility curse reverted back into a blessing. So, my question to those of you who read this post: is professional mobility a blessing or a curse…and why? For me, it is now clearly a blessing and has allowed me balance work & life efficiently and I can never see going back to the way it was.
Date posted: Monday, October 1st, 2007 9:38 pm | Under category: Sidebars
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Marc — it’s definitely a blessing! Being able to work anytime is simply a requirement for anyone who’s self employed. (And I have been, for a long time.) My “office” is wherever my laptop happens to be — and thankfully, ‘Net connectivity is just about everywhere these days. Though I must say I’m longing for it on planes! And greatly looking forward to more apps that let me work offline and immediately sync up when I get back online….
However, being able to stop and do other things is important. Over time, you just learn how — for sanity and other reasons — or you won’t be very successful or able to stay self-employed for long. Most independent professionals soon figure out what the proper balance is. You work, you take a break, you work, you take a break — whether it’s to surf, go for a walk, mow the lawn, drive to the post office, read the paper, just enjoy things around you out in the world, even little things — anything away from the computer. You come to appreciate those moments. And you have to learn to turn off work *thinking* during those times, too — well, as much as you can.
There’s no question that “work” is a very different phenomenon in our always-connected age. It’s not an activity that’s defined easily by place or time anymore. It’s just up to us to manage our time efficiently and balance our life, so work doesn’t consume us.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…