Aquafruit Media

Downtime

It’s been a while. A while since I took a day off and a while since I looked after my mental health as well as my work health. Life balance - like Yeah! .. what ever ..

Well, it all catches up with you after a while. Since November, I have been working 18 hour days 6 to 7 days per week consistently up until two weeks ago. Why? - To keep up with demand.

Is it worth it? Well, ask any new business owner and see what they say!

Back to the downtime. After literally falling over about a week ago, I decided that there must be a better way to do things. AND - I have actually found a few.

These actually divide up into several categories.

* Technology
* Mental State
* Health
* Food

Let’s actually start with the technology.

Technology Number 1
First off - bad web sites, proxy-ing and http viruses. This also includes porn, specific web sites and other stuff. The solution: www.opendns.org.

These guys absolutely rock. Not only do they provide high speed world class DNS servers to use, they also blog sites, phy-ishing, spam, porn, warez (illegal sites) and so much more.

Sign up is totally free, painless and allows you to set up your external DNS references and let them do the work for you. From a network admin perspective, it’s totally awesome and recommended.

Technology Number 2
One of the best open source firewall/spam & virus filters/proxy solutions/hardware/software firewalls on the market. Endian.

Running a linux back end and web based front end, the Endian solution caters for 90% + of what’s needed for the average SMB/SME from a firewall/spam filtering/edge security appliance.

In some situations, I use it as a dedicated firewall OR, a spam/virus filter, or a combination of that and much much more.

Technology Number 3
Mac OS X, the iPhone and Mobile ME.

Mac OS X - I have written about this before. (This article is worth a read)

iPhone - I bought myself one about two weeks ago. Very, very cool and worth a look.

A few comments from Black Berry (BB) users - looks like the BB is better! - But, I like the iPhone. It’s sexy, functional and proves it’s worth in any business situation. OR in a personal situation for that matter.

Mobile ME. Flaky to start with, but starting to get there. It’s IMAP mail, OPEN CALDAV calendaring and more with limitations. Having said that, it also takes a normal exchange environment into a different direction.

More of a creative one I believe ..

Mental State
Okay, this is a difficult one. Really. The mental state as a director of a company is challenging at best and often difficult to maintain from a consistency perspective. BUT, having said that, there are some basic fundamentals that will always be the same.

Putting yourself into the correct state of mind for work can be pretty straight forwards once the routine has been established in the morning and evenings. Making sure you are on time, dedicated and focused so that “non-work” things do not interfere are obviously important, as well as listening to the people around you at all times.

But, what about the “Non-Director” side of things?
Downtime as well as work time is important for everyone. Often, this is overlooked as there is always “things to be done”.

But, as a good friend of mine has said, if you don’t “un-plug” then you can’t give 300% when you are focused and at work! Pretty well straight on the mark.

So, what does downtime actually involve for me?
Well, at the moment, I am currently sitting on the floor of my lounge, with the series of Star Trek Enterprise edition on (in the back ground), a cat behind me on the couch and my girlfriend in the background asking if I am blogging about her! (Yes honey! - Of course I am!)

Downtime for me is actually not working. Definition of not working: “Thinking about work”. It’s often hard not too (although, I have gotten past the 2 am wake up point) but doing so is an absolute necessity.

Enter the hobby.
My hobbies actually include a past profession as a musician. Having spent the better part of 15 years as a musio, it’s a lot of fun to “hop on the old bike” so to speak and learn how to play again. Having a passion as a musician for a wide variety of music, playing everything from Jazz (My training) through to what ever takes my interest (currently Spanish music) is inviting, exhilarating and lends to looking through the culture, food, people and history of Spain as a country. Very cool.

Health.
This one is a big challenge. The association within my head is one of time. Being healthy requires a lot of time. I’m still working on how best to change this perception within my head by placing the health (ie walking, running etc) side of my life into a “downtime” perspective and then by moving it to a routine of either morning or evening (or both).

Food.
Now. This is a very yummy subject worthy of mention. Quite simply, I Love Food! (Like most people). But, it needs to be good quality, tasty food that stimulates the taste buds and is a lot of fun to cook at the same time. Mixed with a really good wine, food is more than a hobby, it’s a passion. On this topic, look for a new vernture that is due to start called “Anyone can Cook.”

That’s it for now.
Warm Regards,
Scott Malpass
Aquafruit Media.

Tags: anyone can cook, downtime, food, health, Technology, time out