The Myth of the Perfect Setup
Why Gear Acquisition Syndrome makes creators busy, but not better.
Welcome to Unknown Arts — I’m Patrick, your field guide to the creative frontier. Join thousands of builders around the world navigating what’s next.
As a guy with many creative hobbies, Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) hits me hard during the holiday shopping season.
Over the years, I’ve gone through GAS cycles in nearly every area of my creative life.
When I was making music, I built and rebuilt my home studio more times than I can count, each rebuild convincing me I was just one purchase away from a great song. When I got into photography, I convinced myself I needed a better camera to get better results. And as a remote tech worker, I’ve felt the same pull toward things like new monitors, microphones, and keyboards for my home office.
These days, I’ve learned to temper my instinct to buy new gear. I’ve accepted a simpler setup — the result of gradually realizing the truth that I do my best work when I give myself fewer choices, not more.
Procrastination disguised as preparation
GAS is tough to fight because it feels like progress, but it’s really procrastination wearing productivity’s clothes.
Buying new gear gives you a simple checklist: research, compare, purchase. There’s a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Creating, on the other hand, provides none of that certainty. It’s messy. It’s trial and error. It’s staring at your work wondering why it’s not connecting yet. It’s banging your head on the desk until a good idea falls out. Shopping for gear becomes a way to avoid that discomfort while still convincing yourself you’re making progress.
The digital media distortion field
The modern media ecosystem amplifies this urge. Every day I’m flooded with content from creators pitching me new gear whose livelihoods depend on selling novelty. While I enjoy my fair share of YouTube product reviews, when we start taking too many cues from them, we inherit a distorted idea of what we actually need to create. We start to attribute creative breakthroughs to new gear instead of the uphill battle of personal growth.
Great art rarely came from optimal conditions. Bon Iver recorded his breakout album For Emma, Forever Ago alone in a Wisconsin cabin with a laptop, an old guitar, and a single mic. Casey Neistat built a global creative identity shooting daily vlogs on any camera he had available. Eric Barone designed Stardew Valley entirely on his own using simple pixel-art tools. The common thread behind these three isn’t great equipment; it’s fluency in their craft and the intention to create regardless of the gear at hand. The tools were basic, but the focus was absolute.
Constraints build fluency
There’s another reason to keep your kit small: fluency.
Each creative tool has its own language. You can stay fluent in a handful of tools but not an endless collection. It’s like speaking multiple languages: it’s possible to be fluent in several, but only if you’re using them routinely.
The more tools you juggle, the harder it becomes to master any of them. The goal isn’t to own every instrument but rather to use a few so fluently that they disappear into muscle memory.
A tight, familiar setup keeps your creative brain focused on the idea, not the interface.
The paradox of abundance
More gear often means more friction. Ten music plug-ins become ten micro-decisions to make on top of capturing the essence of a song. Three cameras mean three ways to doubt yourself before snapping the photo. What feels like freedom quickly turns into paralysis.
Constraints, on the other hand, sharpen instincts. Limiting your tools forces invention. You find new angles, textures, and tricks because you have to. The fewer variables you manage, the more attention you have for the work itself.
So before buying anything new this holiday season, pause. Ask whether you’re solving a real limitation or simply delaying the next hard moment in your creative process. If you’re anything like me, most of the time, the problem isn’t your gear — it’s your tolerance for the inevitable creative discomfort.
And that’s the one upgrade you can’t order online.
Until next time,
🎯 Try this
Before making any purchases this month, finish one creative project using only your current setup. No upgrades, no replacements.
Invest in building fluency: learn your tools until they disappear.
If you find a true limitation, upgrade with intention.
📚 Go deeper
“Gear Acquisition Syndrome” - Isaac Elliot
A good blog post on the topic from a fellow creative technology person who’s all too familiar with the feeling.
“When the Cymbals Come In” – Thorsten Ball
A nice metaphor/heuristic for considering whether a new piece of gear will really make a difference for your creation.
“How the Internet Ruined Hobbies” - Levi Hildebrand
Tangential to GAS, but an interesting exploration of how consuming content about hobbies has started to replace the actual act of doing a hobby for many people in the modern world.
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I never realized there was a name for this. I’ve definitely struggled with this a lot, and I’m using extreme self-control to not buy any new gear this Black Friday!
Absolutely spot on. A lesson I’ve learned over a long time.