“You
buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever
need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied
that no matter
what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the
right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then
you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now
they own you.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
If
there’s been one constant in how I’ve lived my life, it has been a
focus on mobility and being flexible in life. Through the majority of
my adult life
I’ve been able to fit the possessions I care most about in a small car,
and I’ve made many moves and relocations doing just that. In fact
twice in my life I’ve lived between 3-8 months on simply what I was able
to bring in two suitcases and a carry-on bag,
and one of those being at an overseas location. Now that I’m married
and have a family the number of possessions has certainly grown, but
even so the possessions that our family considers most precious would
still fit in two suitcases a piece. Even if extending
that list of stuff to the ‘really-nice-to-haves’, it all would still
fit in a mid-sized SUV (which coincidentally is our family vehicle).
Part of the reason I do this is because of my interest in travel and
experiencing new places, but the other part is because
early on I noticed how I was able to take advantage of various
opportunities that more ‘rooted’ people have a difficult time of doing.
And while it has never come down to this for myself (at least yet),
mobility and flexibility is a handy tactic for survival.
How Does One Define a Life that is Flexible and Mobile?
1)
Keeping one’s material possessions to a modest level. As with the
Fight Club quote that started this post, the obsession with ‘stuff’ can
get to the point
where the stuff you own becomes more of a burden than a benefit.
Whenever making a significant purchase, try to avoid purchases that you
will either be unwilling to lug it wherever you go or unwilling to sell
and leave it behind.
2) Limiting one’s attachment
to material possessions. This is just as, if not more important, than
limiting the amount of one’s possessions. Seeing your stuff as ‘just
stuff’ is critical in staying mobile and flexible in life. And when you
truly grasp the truth that the majority of
your stuff is easily replaceable with a little cash and/or time, you
free your mind of being ‘owned’ by your stuff.
3) Having little or no
debt. Debt is the anchor that chains the majority of us to jobs we
don’t like or situations we can’t stand. The less debt
you have the more flexible you are, so think very hard before taking
any debt on.
4) Having a healthy savings with a slight emphasis on
liquidity. Money is extremely useful when it comes to relocating or
simply dealing with a changing situation. Money
helps you buy new furniture at a new residence after you move, or able
to stay in the black when between jobs, or able to pay the bills when
something unexpected comes up.
5) Keeping expenses reasonably low and
being frugal (but not cheap). This goes hand-in-hand
with the previous point (saving money), as keeping expenses to
reasonable levels helps accomplish the other goal of maintaining a
healthy savings. As for frugal vs. cheap, I think it is best defined as
follows: frugal is about knowing one’s priorities and
appreciating value, whereas being cheap is only about finding
the cheapest price period. A frugal person is able to splurge when it
comes to something important, but a cheap person is not. I may be
willing to accept mediocre quality for something
I don’t care much about, but you won’t find me pinching pennies when it
comes to buying a computer, a car, or a firearm.
6) Embracing the
information age. It is wonderful being alive at a time when your movie
and book collections can fit on one external
hard drive, and that you can do most, if not all, of your banking,
bill-paying, business, and communications from anyplace with an internet
connection. The ability to keep in touch with family and friends with
Skype, Google Hangouts, and other such things
is an immense help in staving off homesickness and preventing the
drifting apart that so often happens when situated far from the people
you care about.
7) Keeping one’s eyes, and mind, open to new
opportunities. Simply put, being flexible and mobile isn’t
of much use if you never see a reason to change your circumstances.
You have to spend a little of your time looking to see what’s out there.
The Disadvantages
Now
all that being said, there are disadvantages with this lifestyle. In
exchange for mobility and the ability to quickly chase opportunities,
one has to
give up or severely limit some things that are dependent on staying in
one place. If you like gardening or other hobbies of a long-term and
land-dependent nature, this won’t work well for you. Likewise if your
hobbies, work, or interests that take up a lot
of space, like working on cars, carpentry & woodworking, fine arts,
etc. Also, this lifestyle pretty much requires one to rent vs. own
when it comes to your residence. As much as I find home ownership to be
over-hyped, I do understand its benefits and the
appeal. So this lifestyle isn’t for anyone whose top priorities
include owning their own home. Lastly, it doesn’t really allow for
putting down roots and being part of a community, which honestly does
have advantages of its own that CAN outweigh the advantages
of mobility. This is best articulated by a recent podcast I happened
to catch from thesurvivalpodcast.com; if you are interested you can find
the podcast link here at The Case for Putting Down Roots.
The Growing Trend
So
why am I trying to sell this idea when I acknowledge its disadvantages
and the benefits of settling down? The reason is that I see a growing
trend towards
contract jobs vs permanent employment, and for many of us mobility and
flexibility will be our primary competitive advantage. I keep my job
profile up at various sites just to see what’s out there, and in the
past couple years I’ve seen a huge increase in
the number of temporary contract positions vs. full time positions
advertised for IT and other technical positions. Most of the various
emails and calls I get are from recruiters looking to fill temporary
contract positions or contract-to-hire positions,
with only a minority looking for permanent hires. The majority of
these contract positions seem to offer a higher (sometimes substantially
higher) pay rates, but no health coverage or any other benefits. We
can point fingers all we want as to the causes
of the growing temporary/contract work force (the Affordable Care Act,
the changing economy, shifts in supply and demand for certain skills,
etc.), but at the end of the day we have to deal with the situation as
it is and adapt accordingly. I see a future
where many of us will be changing jobs and residences at an even faster
pace than now just in order to make a living, and we are going to find
mobility may be an advantage, or possibly even a requirement, when it
comes to staying employed. This especially
applies to those of us in the younger half of the worker spectrum,
where we are often at a disadvantage with our relatively lower levels of
experience. The upshot of it is that it’s younger workers that usually
are less tied down to a place and more willing
and able to relocate, and that will help offset some of the experience
disadvantages. And while I feel this is a lifestyle better suited for
the young, I think many older workers may find this to be advantageous
as well. With industries being created and
dying out, many older workers are finding themselves starting in new
career fields and having to compete with workers 20 or 30 years younger
than they are. And that can present its own set of challenges for those
older workers. I’m not saying I think this
is a good thing, I’m just saying we have to face the situation AS IT IS
instead of what we think it SHOULD BE.
When To Say When
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