Johannesburg — FEELING a little unfulfilled by your job? Then why not get another one or two? But without giving up the first one, please note. We are not talking about moonlighting or multitasking here. And the fact that I have a chocolate cake in the oven as I write this does not count either.

This is about creating what was first coined about two decades ago, by British management guru and social philosopher Prof Charles Handy, a "portfolio life".

It is about investing your time and energy in not just one occupation or business, but making use of all your talents and resources to have several concurrent "careers".

The idea is take on different roles with different employers or clients, with an anchor job that makes use of your best skill, the one for which there is also the most demand. Ideally, your anchor job is also the activity that gives you the most pleasure.

The goal is to have greater control over how you manage your time and efforts to achieve better balance between work, home and leisure.

Johann Redelinghuys, who is - among other things - founder and chairman of a new business called Portfolio Life, says it is a growing trend among both senior executives and other motivated individuals.

"There is a major change in the way many people now work and plan their lives," Redelinghuys says.

"A single, full-time job is no longer sufficient or satisfying for increasing numbers of people. And, aside from the fact that most independent none-executive directors and chairmen already live rewarding portfolio lives, there is a growing sector of self-employed consultants, academics, freelance writers, artists as well as independent practising doctors, lawyers and engineers doing the same."

In case you are wondering how on earth you could juggle more than one job at a time without dropping at least one ball, make no mistake that a portfolio life takes careful planning and even more meticulous management.

It is not something that happens by accident.

When Handy, for example, decided to create a portfolio life for himself, he resigned from his full-time professorship and set "aside 100 days a year for making money, 100 days for writing, 50 days for good works and 100 days for spending time with my wife".

He marks the days in his diary and if people contact him to ask him, for instance, to present a paper on a day that he has set aside for something else, he turns the opportunity down.

"It is a freeing way of life," says the professor. "A 100 days a year for me is enough for making money. There is no point in making more, and I find I do as much work in 100 days as I used to in a year."

Redelinghuys, who is also chairman of the South African office of international executive search and leadership company Heidrick & Struggles, has embraced his own portfolio life.

In addition to the aforementioned chairmanship and having recently established Portfolio Life, he is a co-owner of De Hoek Country House in the Magaliesburg, is involved with a number of business schools both locally and abroad, fulfils the role of interim chairman of the Starfish Greatheart Foundation and is a registered psychologist.

He is, he says happily, among a growing band of senior executives in full-time jobs who have several other "irons in the fire". Outgoing Nedbank Group and Nedbank Limited CE Tom Boardman, for example, is also a non-executive director of Mutual & Federal Insurance and the Banking Association, a director of Vodacom and one of the World Wide Fund for Nature's "climate champions".

"In some cases, people adopt portfolio lives to prepare for retirement," says Redelinghuys, "but often it is simply to optimise their income and manage the risk of losing their primary source of employment, or even to add greater meaning to their lives."

He stresses, though, that the model is not only for senior executives, high fliers and those with mature careers.

"A portfolio life is for people at any level who do not want to be pinned down to just one thing and who want to experience variety and independence. My experience is that this trend has accelerated over the past five years as individuals look for balance and meaning in a very fast-paced corporate world," he says.

"Today, the internet, social and business networking and the ubiquitous 24/7 communication channels between groups and individuals offer unlimited opportunities for a life of work that is flexible and constantly evolving."

In fact, the portfolio life could well have been tailor-made for members of Generation Y - they being those techno-savvy, street-smart youngsters, born between 1977 and 2002, who want to work but who do not want work to rule their lives.

According to researchers and authors like Bruce Tulgan of RainmakerThinking, which studies the lives of young people, Generation Y people are most drawn to flexibility and balance in their day-to-day lives. They want short-term goals with tight deadlines and they do not expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long.

This, combined with the conscious decision to create a portfolio life and the outcome of last year's recession that forced more people worldwide to take on additional jobs to make ends meet, accounts for what US writer Tina Brown calls the "gig economy" where, instead of having a job, people have a number of "gigs".

"No one I know has a job any more," writes Brown in an article about the gig economy on news website The Daily Beast. "They've got gigs ... a bunch of free-floating projects, consultancies, and part-time bits and pieces."

Redelinghuys argues that, the demands of Generation Y and the downturn in the economy notwithstanding, the symptoms of this trend have been coming for some time.

"Flexitime was the new big thing 30 years ago, then came telecommuting and outsourcing. Corporate lifestyles are now perceived as stifling and limiting. People yearn for new experiences and challenges. There is also an increasing desire to find meaning in some or other contribution to society and making a difference through the social investment of time, rather than money."

And while, for individuals, the portfolio lifestyle reduces the risk of job loss, results in financial and personal rewards, and means you can explore all your skills, talents and passions, there are advantages for employers, too.

"Aside from reducing costs, it is a good way of bringing in or retaining specialist skills part- time and/or for special projects," says Redelinghuys. "Recognising the portfolio life as an option in business and managing it carefully can not only help achieve individual fulfilment, independence and flexibility but also improve productivity and flexibility for companies."

Redelinghuys's new venture, Portfolio Life, operates a web community forum at www.portfoliolife.co.za. The idea is to enable entrepreneurial and versatile individuals to join others around the world who are looking for alternative working hours, occupations and remuneration.

The portal enables like-minded individuals to network and provides mentoring programmes to individuals wanting to live the portfolio life.

The subject of the portfolio life and how it can be adopted into the workplace is also, Redelinghuys says, increasingly discussed at business schools around the country.

Fulfilment these days, it seems, is all about finding the gigs that push the right buttons for you and juggling them to suit your lifestyle.

Anyone want to place an order for a chocolate cake?