Hey, Rich Florida here. We are now in week five of the course. So you've learned about why cities matter and what they do, and how we live in a world with cities, and why these cities are these engines of creativity, and innovation. This set of new crises, a crisis of success that so many of our great cities are going through. And really in this week of the course, we try to tackle which is I think the most important element of the course. But also the reason I wanted to build the course and not only provide you background and why cities and urbanization are important, but help you understand why picking the place you live is the most important decision you'll make. For one, I say, we make three big decisions in our life. What we do for a living, our vocation and who we take as our life partner. But the place we choose to live structures and shapes both of those decisions and as I also want to say, and want to reinforce. Deciding to stay in your place or deciding to stay put, or just staying put is also making a location decision. So if you love the place you live and you really want to stay there, you are also in effect selecting to stay at the location you're at. So what I really to make you do is just to appreciate how important the place we live. Choosing the right place. Finding the right place. Finding the right fit for you and your family is to yourself, to your family and to your life. We have several comments from learners today and thank you all again, for providing such great comments. The place affects us, because we are the sum of our experiences. How much of a new place affect us is unknown. To my mind, the alignment or lack thereof of personal values in the city we live determines the quality of our journey. Two things. One, we know from research in urbanism and in behavioral psychology and social psychology that the proverbial statement, the grass is greener is usually true. Til most of us overestimate the positive effect of moving to a new location and the negative effect of leaving a location we currently live in. And one statistic, I think it's kind of funny, but I like to use it. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it's the result of a study that was published in a pretty good peer-reviewed academic journal. It says that for every friend, close friend or family member we leave behind when we move that sacrifices about the equivalent of about $100,000 dollars as they can measure or value this in psychic income. So leaving people behind is a pretty big cost that sometimes we don't value enough. We start to figure that out when we get lonely, but we don't think about it enough in advance and the second part of the question is the fit between our personal values and our city is key and I want to say one more thing on this. It's really important that we find that fit. That's what this class is about. For some people that fit, maybe I'm that person means. A big city with lots of excitement and lots of energy, and lots of things to do. As far as I can tell, about 20 to 25% of people like that. A larger share of people actually like a quieter life, a smaller city, a suburb where they can have a single family home and a yard. And have more peace and quiet, and then probably about 10 or 15% of us or so like rural living. Like living outside of a city, outside of a suburb, back on the farm. So I think it's really the case that our personal values in our community need to fit. And when they fit, we end up being much happier and better suited in our lives and that's a big part of what this course is about. Finding that fit between you and your community, and the kind of community that fits you best. On the second comment is, this is great. I don't there are a large number of people who have the luxury to select location over career. How many people select the city that affects their lives and careers, and how many people's lives are affected by the city that they go to in part for their career? Bingo, that's why I built this course. To force you to think about something that we all just accept. Okay, I got a job offer there. My company said, I should go there. I gotta go to this city. I gotta go to that city. My friend moved there, my girlfriend. I gotta follow her there. Is that the way you would pick a college? Is that the way you would pick a life partner? It's just okay, it's done. The point of this course is yeah, that's true. When I graduated Columbia, I got a job in Columbus, Ohio and I went and I followed my job. And then I got a job in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I went and I followed my job. And it wasn't until I was in my forties that I got pick my head up and say, maybe I could pick where I live and that's especially the case. Maybe if you're a lawyer or a doctor or you work in the service industry, you have more choice. But man, if you're a professor like me or you work in, you're a symphony musician or you're a ballerina or you work in theater, you don't have a lot of locational choices. First, there's not a lot of jobs. And if you're lucky enough to get one, you go where the job is. But still, that's telling you something. Maybe if the place you live is important, pick another career. Maybe weigh the options. Maybe you say, okay, I can't be a professor. I can't be a ballerina, I'm going to go for a career in academia that's not a research professor. I'm going to go in a career that I'm not a performing artist, but the point is of this quest is those are the things to think about before the fact. Before you get trapped, before you start going anywhere. And the point of fact is now for most carriers and in most people, this isn't the old days where you really had to go where the company told you. Now we have a little bit more choice, a lot more choice, most of us in picking where we want to go. And in fact, many more people today, especially young people are saying, I don't want to go to a smaller town or a medium sized community. I want to go to a bigger city, because there is many, many more job opportunities. I call it a thick labor market. I have a friend who is going through this right now. He's a professor in the United States in a small college town. And he loves his job, but his wife can't get a job and they're not happy. So he's looking at jobs in bigger cities, so that both of them can do stuff that they really like and they really care about. So that's the point of this course not just take things for granted, not just go where the company tells you to go. But to think about even if you're in a tough spot to think about the options you might have and to try to balance work, life, family and place. The final comment, this is a great one. I've always moved for my career, a person just like me and I've always had the opportunity to travel extensively just like me and get different perspectives on customs and lifestyles. Maybe that's better than me, because I'm just working when I travel. As I reach retirement age and I'm an empty nester, do I stay in one place? Move to a warm climate. Follow my kids and grandkids where is home. That's up to you and that's why you do the place finder. And like I said, there are three big times we have to confront this decision of picking our place. The first one is when we finish our formal studies, whatever that is and we go off into the workplace. Do we find that labor market, that work environment? Do we just follow a job or do we find ourselves a place that optimizes our chance for a career? Second time is when we have kids. We need more space. We're worried about schools. We may want a yard and the third big one is when the kids leave the nest, and we're empty nesters, and this comment is so right on. So what do empty nesters say? Do I go to a warm place? Well, different strokes for different folks. But I can tell you. I know a lot of empty nesters who left big cities for warm, sunny climes that they thought they were going to play golf all day and go out on a boat all day and they got bored silly. So maybe what you want to do if you like warmth to think about a place, if you're a city person. Think about a place that's warm and it's a big city, and there are such places. There are places that are relatively warm and that are big cities or maybe if you can keep a small place in the city you live whether that's Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal or Ottawa and rent a place in Miami or wherever you want to go for six months. Make a six month rental, furnished rental and try it out. The third point is really important and it's the trend I see more, and more. We often say, we want our kids to come home. We want our kids to be where, but our kids are going off and they're young and they're finding opportunity. More and more we're finding, especially baby boomers following their kids or their grandkids into new locations. So Increasingly, it's a way to help your kids get set up. It's a way to help your kids find a place. It's a way to provide to give your kids some support and some financial assistance. So and then again, I'd tries that out. I wouldn't jump whole hog into it. I'd rent a place or rent an Airbnb, or some kind of shared thing and I'd go try it out. Maybe you'll find you that it's too much being around your kids or your grandkids 24/7, but the point is and I think that these comments are heartening me and why the course is being effective is to really think about the places you may want to live. To go through that structured exercise of taking my little place finder, adapting it to your own needs. Changing it. Tweaking it, but then I want to emphasize this. Try places out. Making a move is the most expensive decision we'll make in life. It costs a lot of money to sell your house or to give up your rental and find a new one and pay a down payment or pay a broker's fee, to get your stuff moved, to change your furniture if your furniture doesn't fit. And then to find out, my God, I've made the wrong decision. The easy to do it s rent your place for a year or even six months. Take a six months, because you can do a lease for six months or one year rental. Try it out. Because as I said, the grass always seems greener. It always seems like the next new place is better. I found so many people in my life and so many people in my studies who made a decision, and then regretted it. The best thing to do is maybe try out a few places. Maybe try out a few places you think you might you like to live and you'll know it. When it clicks, it's just like finding a person that you click with. Someone who's your life partner. When it clicks, you'll know it. It'll click and you'll have found that place that makes that special bond, that you find that special fit. So again, thank you for being part of the course. Thank you for these great questions and comments. I appreciate it very much.
