Coming back from a trip I often find myself lighter, more tolerant, friendly, and motivated – having soaked up the numerous benefits of travel and refuelled my soul.
Things that had been causing me stress seem to dissipate, or appear more manageable, while problems that I couldn’t crack before the trip suddenly seem achievable.
If you are like many people who think of travel and holidays just as an escape from work, you may not have considered how travelling the world can have a positive change influence on how you’ll do your job when you get back. The exposure to different people, cultures and situations significantly improving the mindset and influencing behaviour in the workplace. Here are some of the reasons why.
New places open up your mind to new ideas
Discovering new places is like opening a new chapter in a book, curious to learn more with all senses stimulated. Staying in the same place, on the other hand, is like reading the same chapter over and over again, you may gain some additional understanding, but no new valuable insight. You’re likely to get used to one way of doing things and when faced with a new challenge will try and solve it the only you knowhow, often without a good result.
Travelling opens up your mind to new ways of doing things. It fires your imagination as you realise different approaches to new situations. Your increased creativity and innovation resulting in creative and innovative ways of handling challenge will. In addition, resting your mind will rejuvenate your whole being, which is always good for your creativity.
Interacting with different people increases networking opportunities
Travelling allows the opportunity to meet and interact with many people on a personal level. Say, for instance, that you needed to get some work done while travelling, you could for example if in Denver, pop into their co-working space in Denver. There you would find a pack of different professionals from different parts of the world, giving you a great opportunity to make global connections.
Being an entrepreneurial city, Denver attracts international professionals and business travellers from around the globe. Shared and co workspaces are built with this in mind. It is easy to find a coworking space in Denver or elsewhere that’s equipped with state-of-the-art amenities, technology and office design.
Different cultures teach you a lot about people behaviour
Travelling exposes you to different cultures and customs. You get to understand how different people behave in different situations. You may find some people’s reaction to different situations that are normal to your culture, unusual. Such incidents force you to be observant and to learn from this without being rude or ill-mannered. You’ll learn to pay attention to the small details and take a back seat to listen and learn from the locals.
This lesson comes in handy if your working team is made of people from different cultural backgrounds. You’ll get to understand why different people behave the way that they do and learn to accept and respect others, making you a better team leader and improving your communication skills.
Travel teaches you to be calm
There is a lot that can go wrong when abroad. You may find your flight delayed, lose your luggage, have your credit card declined on check-in, which may push your frustrations, but that rarely helps. The better option would be to keep calm and find ways to work around it. Similarly, at work, you will be able to regain your calm amidst any unforeseen chaos. The experiences beyond your control while travelling will teach you to be patient and innovative and better at solving problems and working under pressure.
Travelling alone increases independence
Travelling solo teaches you to be more resourceful. If you are travelling to a different time zone, connecting to people back home can be a hurdle and means surviving without your support system, or your manager to double-check your decisions.
Read Practical Safety Tips for Female Travellers.
Travelling the world can really make you better at what you do, and the next time that you travel it is recommended that you ponder the various situations you find yourself in and take lessons from them. I personally, can’t wait to get back to it.
Travelling helps you become independent, innovative and a self-starter.
Memories of walking the Masaai Mara with my guides, touring in Vietnam and a roadside view of New York.
** My pics from my travel. Post provided.
