Some of you would know that earlier this year one of my paid roles came to an end. I was coaching Baptist Youth pastors, a job I loved, but a change in circumstances meant that job came to an end.

I had a couple of months where I didn’t fill the gap just in case I could generate more work with Forge and Upstream. However I found myself actually getting bored on occasions with not enough to do. So bored that I even filled in the WACOT forms and re-enlisted as a teacher. And in a moment of even greater boredom I filled in the Ed Dept forms to return as a teacher also…

After 4 months of waiting the Ed Dept have just given me a green light to teach… Woohoo…

However in the meantime I have been working on the completion of an investment house we built. I did the soakwells, reticulation and hung the venetian blinds. As much I didn’t want to do this work initially I would return home at the completion of each job with a strange sense of satisfaction – of pleasure at seeing a job completed. As most of us who work with people know, that is not a common occurence. Our jobs tend to be ongoing and endless and in that there comes an element of tiredness and frustration.

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I liked the feeling of ‘finishing something’ so much that I have actually kick-started a small business in the local area installing and repairing reticulation. I should be doing my first job in a couple of weeks time.

So now I have a bunch of different hats to wear!

However I find that when I place these in order of ‘priority’ its not too daunting. For me my Upstream and Forge WA roles are core and I won’t compromise on giving time to these whether they ‘pay’ or not. Next in line would be my Forge National Director role. Its an important role, but less of a priority than the other two, partly because I have more of a facilitatory role than a visionary leadership role.

Then comes the other stuff. The retic will get whatever free time I have and I would like to generate around a day a week of work. If we get real stuck, or if Forge funds dry up then I will do a bit of private school teaching and if that still doesn’t cut it then I will call my mate Ashley at Clarkson High and offer to mix it up with the wild crowd down there. It seems its not a popular place for relief teachers…

There are also one or two roles in the wings for next year, both of which look genuinely interesting, appeal to my passions and skill set and blend well with what I am doing already. I will likely apply for one of these part time roles.

I realise for some people this would sound like a nightmare, but I actually find it more stimulating and interesting as the different roles feed into each other in different ways. Working locally feeds into the desire to develop relationships, The two ‘un-named’ jobs both feed into the Forge WA and Forge National role. Its just a matter of trying to keep a reasonable balance and stay focused on the main things.

People have asked me ‘what if the retic business takes off and I create a monster or if I get offered loads of teaching?’ I have to simply respond that it won’t – because I won’t let it. I can just drop it if need be and I can say ‘no’ to teaching as easy as say ‘yes’.

There are plenty of jobs around where people wear ‘multiple hats’ and juggle several balls at once. Its not unlike that I guess. To be honest I hope the little retic business takes off because I’d like to do a few more things where I can see a tangible result at the end of the day!

(And sorry Roo – an online printing company (who I won’t name to protect your future business) beat you big time on price for business cards. Its a cruel world…)