The more people you meet around your country and around the world, the more you realize how similar we are and how different we aren’t. People are people around the world. They want to take care of their families, have positive relationships with others and typically enjoy good food and good times. We aren’t that different.
The world is full of magical and diverse landscapes. The more you see, the more you’ll value this planet’s beauty. Blue warm waters, volcanoes (live and dormant), canyons, animal species, natural formations and night skies that light up green, blue and purple. The world is a magical place
Pushing your comfort zone makes you a stronger individual. Traveling to new places forces you into the position of being an outsider. When you return to your present place, you’ll have more empathy for the outsiders close to you. EQ is a driver of personal growth and professional success.
If you travel to a foreign country and learn the language, you are lowering your risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s in the future. Learning new languages can also help you better understand your own language!
Traveling increases your creativity. You’ll be better able to “think outside of the box” because you’ll be spending time outside of yours! This will make you automatically more creative.
Traveling boosts your confidence. As you navigate new and strange situations, they become normal. As you have events happen in life that could be outside of the norm for some folks, there’s a better chance you’ve experienced it! The more familiar strange situations become, the more confident you will be in these situations.
Traveling exposes you to more personalities. If you have to deal with people for any part of your professional life, understanding personalities is a HUGE benefit. As you travel, you begin to understand how culture drives people to act as they do. This will help you in your future negotiations and relationships.
Traveling gives you interesting stories to tell! As you go through life, you’ll find interesting people like to be surrounded by other interesting people! If you have a random story about riding an elephant through the bush or navigating a school of fish while snorkeling in Thailand, that’ll make folks want to hang out with you!
Traveling allows you an opportunity to reflect internally. How do you respond to being an outsider? How are you navigating these new situations? How are your nonverbal communication skills in a land where you don’t know the language? Self recognition is an important part of self development, travel opens this part of your brain.
Travel forces you to get out there. You have to get on a plane or in a car and go somewhere. You have to plan. You have to create action to make the travel happen and then create a plan to make the travel worthwhile (site seeing, going out to eat, activities). A body in motion stays in motion. Start traveling and you may keep that action in your everyday life!
It’s often said the average CEO reads 60 books a year, while the average worker reads less than one! I don’t know if this is true or not, but personally, I try to read or listen to 25 – 30 books a year. I wish I could do more, but alas, time doesn’t always permit me to. The 5 books below have influenced my life and how I think. I could make this list 10 – 15, but for the interest of time, I’ll keep it pared to 5! Next time I’ll create the 20 books that everyone should read. Until then, please do yourself a favor and check one of these out for your next read.
Side note, the links below are not affiliate links, I don’t make a commission for checking these out. Seriously, they’re just great books!
Atomic Habits – James Clear – The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious. The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive. The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy. The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.
Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss – Tidbits of information from Tim’s long form interviews on his podcast in the areas of Health, Wealth and Wisdom. Tim’s podcast was my gateway drug into podcasts and was instrumental in how I think about learning and asking quesitons.
David and Goliath – Malcolm Gladwell – There’s always a story behind the story and Malcolm teases these out like no other. For example, did you know that shepherds were experts with slingshots?!
Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain – This book taught me that butter and fats make everything better. It also gave me a whole new perspective on food, chasing goals and grit.
When Genius Fails – Roger Lowenstein – The first hedge fund that failed and was saved by the government, in my life, was Long Term Capital Management. The smartest people in the room were right all the time, until they were wrong. Ego is the enemy (which would also be book 6, but this list stops at 5!)
How To Be A Grown Man 