Are You a "Digital Slomad?"
I've been fascinated with the digital nomad phenomenon since my early days at Airbnb nine years ago. I noticed that there were a growing number of Millennials (mostly) who weren't looking for a "home away from home" when traveling experience. They were looking for a "home instead of home" experience.
I wrote about this in a previous Wisdom Well post near the start of the pandemic when I suggested this digital nomad trend had gone mainstream.
A new idea has been bubbling up for me, catalyzed by a recent conversation with my mentee (and former boss), Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. He says that in the past, three places dominated our lives and consciousness: home, work, and vacation spots. Today, more and more of us are looking for a singular place that can offer all three of these combined: a place to live, work, and discover.
Before the pandemic, very few companies provided the flexibility for their workers to work remotely. Now, 55% of businesses offer some form of remote working capacity, while 18% offer full-time remote roles. This trend isn't going away as flexible work arrangements may now be vying with compensation as most important to a prospective employee.
While being a digital nomad may have sounded adventurous and exotic in the past, I think a growing number of remote workers are attracted to the simpler, slower lifestyle that comes with having your home, work, and vacation location combined. Let's call it "digital slomadism." an extension of the "slow movement" way of being.
One of our upcoming Mastery faculty members, Carl Honoré (a two-time TED speaker), wrote "In Praise of Slow" nearly twenty years ago and suggested,
"It is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail's pace. It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It's about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting."
More recently, Carl wrote "Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives," one of my favorite books for modern elders. I'm so excited to co-lead a workshop with him in late January/early February. Carl is a European who is often light years ahead of the rest of us when spotting trends, yet he's also so slow and soulful in how he leads his life. Hope you'll join me with this "Digital Slomad" as it promises to be one of our best workshops of the year.
Slow living may be one of the fastest growing lifestyle trends on the planet.
