We got AI, robot vacuums, video calls, and watches we can talk to. I'm still waiting on my damn flying car.
When I was a kid watching The Jetsons, none of that shit looked remotely possible.
George would fly to work.
Jane had machines handling the house.
Rosie the Robot was running around doing chores.
People were talking to each other through screens.
You could press a button and something just...happened.
It was the future.
Except now I'm sitting here realizing:
Wait a minute.
We actually got a lot of this stuff.
I can talk to AI.
My phone recognizes my face.
I can have groceries appear at my front door without speaking to another human being.
I can run an entire business from a computer.
George Jetson would lose his fucking mind.
Rosie Walked So AI Could Run
Rosie might be my favorite part of this whole comparison.
Because Rosie wasn't there to replace the Jetsons.
She handled things.
And that's pretty much how I think about technology in my business.
I don't need to personally touch every tiny task just because I'm capable of doing it.
If something can schedule itself, let it.
If an automation can move information from one place to another, wonderful.
If AI can help me organize twenty pages of notes before I go through them, have at it.
I want the machines doing machine shit.
That gives me more time for Monica shit.
Seems fair.
George Had One Button. I Have 37 Apps.
This is where The Jetsons lied to us.
Their technology always looked so simple.
Push button.
Problem solved.
Meanwhile, I've got passwords, integrations, updates, subscriptions, two-factor authentication, and an app asking permission to connect to another app so it can talk to a third app.
Excuse me?
Sometimes using technology creates an entirely new job called Managing the Technology That's Supposed to Save Me Time.
Still, when everything actually works?
Beautiful.
I understand why George was pressing buttons all day.
The Future Has a Learning Curve
Technology doesn't wait for anybody to get comfortable.
That's especially true when you work for yourself.
Platforms change.
Software changes.
Client expectations change.
AI changes every five damn minutes.
And I don't think the answer is chasing every new thing that appears.
I'd never get any actual work done.
But I do think freelancers need to stay curious.
What's changing in the work you already do?
What are clients starting to ask for?
What could make you better at your job?
What could make something easier?
That's the stuff I pay attention to.
I don't need every shiny new gadget.
I need to recognize when one could actually be useful.
Being Early Can Be Awkward
Remember when video calls felt futuristic?
Now somebody sends you a Zoom link and your first thought is:
Could this have been an email?
Technology gets normal very quickly.
That's why I'm careful about dismissing things just because they feel strange at first.
I've been around long enough to watch entire ways of working change.
Hell, I started freelancing when finding work online looked very different from what it does now.
Things that once felt unusual became completely ordinary.
Then something else showed up.
That's how this works.
Sometimes the weird little tool you're playing with today becomes the thing everybody expects you to know tomorrow.
The Jetsons Also Understood Something About Time
For all their futuristic technology, everybody on that show still had a life.
That's the part freelancers sometimes forget.
Technology is supposed to give me some time back.
Not create another excuse to work every waking hour because technically I can.
Yes, my business lives on the internet.
No, that does not mean I live at work.
Calendars help.
Automations help.
Timers help.
Boundaries definitely help.
And sometimes the most advanced piece of technology in my office is the Do Not Disturb button.
She's undefeated.
Future-Proofing Doesn't Mean Predicting the Future
I have no clue what freelancing is going to look like ten years from now.
Nobody does.
Maybe we'll all have AI employees.
Maybe meetings will happen as holograms.
Maybe I'll finally get that flying car.
Maybe somebody will invent an app that makes clients send everything you need the first time you ask.
Okay.
Now I'm getting unrealistic.
What I can do is keep learning.
Keep paying attention.
Keep experimenting.
Keep the tools that make sense.
Dump the ones that don't.
And make sure technology works for my business instead of turning my business into a full-time technology experiment.
Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing
There's an episode-opening moment where George gets stuck on that treadmill and starts yelling:
“Jane! Stop this crazy thing!”
Honestly?
That's freelancing sometimes.
Another notification.
Another platform.
Another update.
Another AI feature.
Another person online telling you that if you don't learn something by Friday, your entire career is apparently over.
Jane!
Stop this crazy thing!
But I don't want off the ride.
I'm curious about where it goes.
I've spent more than twenty years watching technology change the way people work.
And somehow, we're still at the beginning of whatever comes next.
That's pretty damn cool.
I just have one question.
Where.
Is.
My.
Flying.
Car?
CURRENT MOOD
“Paper Planes” by M.I.A.
Because if The Jetsons promised me flying cars and 2026 still hasn't delivered, apparently we're making our own transportation arrangements.
All I wanna do is...
Well.
You know.
And take your money.
Very freelancer appropriate, actually.
Listen to “Paper Planes” by M.I.A. on YouTube
PEAK OF THE WEEK
Catching myself using something that would've looked like absolute science fiction to me twenty years ago.
Then immediately getting annoyed because it took three extra seconds to load.
Human beings are hilarious.
We get the future and complain that it's buffering.
#WhereIsMyFlyingCar
XXX,
M💋
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