Posted on March 13, 2009 in Just for Fun

Are you one of the many who are becoming un- or under-employed due to the financial crisis?

Seth Godin recently talked about how 'slack time' will increase given the current economic situation, and speculates that people could use this time to learn something new or market themselves and network, thus enabling them to leap forward when conditions improve.

He asks: "What can you build over the next year that will take time now and pay off later? How can you invest the slack to build a marketing asset that you'll own forever?"

It's an interesting idea. If time is what you currently have, investing it is a worthwhile goal - but does the investment have to aim for a potential future payment? Surely spare time can be used creatively with no expectation of financial reward.

I know that when I was at uni I had spare time that I used in creative but financially meaningless ways. Now that I'm in business I feel I have to justify time spent on personal projects with a financial outcome. If you're an employee it's even more so - you only get paid to do what the boss tells you.

Now imagine if that financial incentive disappears. Imagine if creative and industrious people use their sudden spare time to complete speculative or personal projects that they would not otherwise get to do. Create. Without constraint. Enjoy. Make the internet more beautiful, interactive, social and fun.

After all, we all complain that the world is so busy, we have no spare time. The current crisis will force some people to work less.

Will this lead to a sudden influx of innovative new ideas? Of unbridled fun and creativity? As the internet flowers with amazing new websites and web applications produced from a sense of fun rather than duty, we all enjoy the results.

And it doesn't all have to be done for kicks. There are projects like INNOVIC's Next Big Thing Award that find, showcase and award monetary prizes to new inventions and innovations that have the potential to become 'the next big thing'. There are also ways to monetise just about any website if it has users, even in a downturn.

Sure, we all need money - no argument there - but treat spare time like the freedom it is and do something above and beyond the dollar. Make the world a better place!