Are More People Abandoning the Rat Race?

I have, for now at least, abandoned the rat race. It is not an easy thing to do, nor easy to explain to people, especially when most others of my age are hitting their peak earning years. I had often wondered whether I was a pioneer or just a social misfit. While I was definitely not ahead of my time, I am probably just the tip of the iceberg of millions of people who are willing, but maybe just not ready yet, to drop out of the rat race.

With the recent financial crisis, many ordinary workers are probably wondering what good all of their hard work over the past few years has gotten them. Hundreds of thousands of pink slips from the financial industry, the auto sector, the construction industry and airlines? And while they may be (involuntarily) re-evaluating their career options, this is just a repeat of another time not that long ago when similar decisions were made. Remember the dot-com era of the late nineties and into the new millennium? Many technology workers regularly spent mind numbing 15-18 hour workdays, while others either slept under their desks or pulled all-nighters in order for their companies to be the next Yahoo! or eBay. Sure, the lure of stock options and huge capital gains from impending IPOs were the driving force for many, while others were just youngsters excited about building a company that could or would change the world. However, the luster soon wiped away, and while some were fortunate enough to cash in and retire at a young age. Interestingly, many such as Jeff Skoll, Pierre Omidyar of eBay and John Wood of Microsoft started charitable foundations. Others were not so fortunate but decided that what these digital dropouts valued more than money was a balanced lifestyle, a personal life and a need to do something meaningful.

We're starting to see more of this thinking again as the economy sours. More people are opting to work in less stressful occupations or work for themselves. My cousin who worked in the finance industry just lost her job, and her employment search now revolves around opportunities within the charitable sector. A recent article highlighted how many Wall Street casualties are looking to buy small retail businesses or franchises. Others are opting for work that that is more flexible when it comes to work hours, ability to work from home or take longer vacations.

Some are being even more radical, moving to smaller communities where their dollar goes further or where they can get away from the craziness associated with large cities like New York. Some like Geoff Goodfellow, who started and sold his tech company called Radiomail, wound up moving to Prague in the Czech Republic. Even in my hometown of Toronto, there was an article about a rising trend in residents originally from Atlantic Canada, returning to their hometowns after becoming tired of long working hours, high housing prices and exhausting commutes in Canada's largest city. As one rat race escapee said about society's view that your worth is measured by how much you make, "I have a fresh appreciation that there are a lot of Americans making $22,000 a year and they are worth something".

Gen-X and Gen-Y employees are also more likely to rebel against the workloads thrust upon the backs of their Baby Boomer parents. In other words, they are finding greater value in working to live, rather than living to work.