What if you didn't have outside influences?

What would happen if you stopped snoop shopping online, turned off the TV and just sat with a piece of paper and a pencil and thought about how you live? I know when I start sewing a new project, it either starts with something I've seen that I want to make for myself, or an actual pattern, but what if it were the other way around. What if we first determined what we needed and then looked for it, or drafted it and designed it. What if we picked the fabric in our minds and hunted until we found it, instead of seeing what's available and working with "whatever" that is. How much different would our wardrobes look, or our homes for that matter.... if we stop "buying" what is sold to us, and instead seek what we need.