Localism

It's not news that technology, and especially the internet, allows us to do many jobs from anywhere in the world. Not only have many technical tasks and other jobs moved entirely overseas, many companies allow people to work from home.

I have noticed that some jobs go anywhere with you, and some require you to be in a certain place at a certain time. It seems that jobs that travel with you are more cerebral, while jobs that require you to be somewhere are either tactile, such as making a product, or relational, such as teaching or medical. I seem to have melded both types together. I have cerebral jobs as a life coach and writer that I take with me on the road. I also have a career in live theater that requires me to be where the show is. I love the mix. I leverage the jobs that I can take anywhere so that I have the freedom to do the jobs that require me to be somewhere. This mix is what allows me to be an Urban Nomad.

As it turns out, other people have used that flexibility to NOT move around. I read an article in Newsweek at the beginning of October that talked about localism. (http://www.newsweek.com/id/217029) Executives who once moved around to follow promotions through large companies are now keeping their families in one place and doing more work remotely online. Amazing how one technology allows some of us to be less tied to a geographic location while the exact same technology allows other people to be more tied to a geographic location.