How the ‘Recession’ helped me narrow my goals

When I hear people talk of the ‘pursuit of the American Dream’, one words comes to mind: Binge. Binge technology, binge entertainment, binge information, binge education. Anyone anywhere can do anything they want anytime. So, like most people, instead of trying to do anything, I tried to do everything all at once. Doing everything was my goal....Unfortunately, that is precisely where my self-inflicted confusion / delusion began.

I’ve always been fascinated with technology, mainly because of the creation and inspiration it provides. Once second a thought is in your head and given enough time, a person could put their thoughts onto a screen in the form of a picture, a program, or a blog. A person can study college level interaction design courses online and be as brilliant as a college graduate...for free. Thanks to open source, anyone can design / program websites and online apps without paying for a single byte of software. How cool was that!

It wasn’t until the recession landed right on top of me,us, everybody that I started to take note of the things I really enjoyed doing. I discovered that I have a strong desire to write and use more artistic outlets. Now that I have lots of free time, thanks to client cutbacks as well as a lower cash flow for dabbling in new technologies (i.e. Adobe CS4 is still too expensive..even after I save $200 by upgrading before Feb. 28th.), I am taking the time to narrow my career goals because I realized something very important: “Technology enables, but it also disables.”


Technology has enabled me to overextend myself with freelance projects and clouded my judgement by tricking me into thinking I want things that I really don’t want or need. Now that things have slowed a bit, I’ve managed to take control over what I want to do professionally and I am much happier for it...


Thank you recession for putting things into perspective and teaching me that milk and honey are not the most important pursuits. Thank you Leo Babuta for writing The Power of Less and making sure that I set limits and manage my expectations. Thanks Gretchen Rubin for making The Happiness Project. Thank you Shannon for putting up with my folly and my flaws while I figure out what it is that I am doing :)

Real: The power of less

Imagined: Delusions of grandeur