Traveling isn’t only good for one’s soul. It also gives you a lot of different perspectives that will empower you to navigate through the rigors of your job. For example, every time you encounter adversity at work, think about the time you had to wait eight hours for a delayed flight. Or, how about the time that you climbed Machu Picchu? So many people want to travel but don’t because they believe that it hinders their career growth. They don’t take advantage of their paid vacation leave credits because they want their bosses to notice how dedicated they are to their jobs.
Traveling isn’t something you put off. You embrace it as part of who you are. If the last year has taught you anything, it should be to never take traveling for granted again. Who knew you will be stuck in your house unable to see much of the outside of your own town because of the coronavirus? You missed a lot of the places you don’t seek. Traveling isn’t just for fun. It’s to experience people, open yourself up to possibilities, and embrace the differences that make every person unique.
You go back from your travels as a new person. With a clearer mindset, you will chart a path that will advance your career. Incorporating your travels into your career goals isn’t even that hard. You can pursue an online postgraduate course while working and traveling. You can attend virtual classes from the top of whatever mountain you plan to climb as long as there’s a reliable internet service there. There are so many things you can do while working and traveling and trying to be a goal-oriented individual.
Reevaluate What You Want
You may want to travel on your own before a big change in your life. Traveling alone will give you a perspective of what you want to do. Should you pursue this career or choose another one? When you are all alone in a strange new place, your gut instincts kick in. You are able to listen to what you truly want and find the strength to make big changes in your life. When you come back from your travel, you are more focused on pursuing your dreams than you ever were before.
Promote Understanding of Different People
Many times at work, you feel like you are so different from your colleagues. What made your colleagues think that they can pursue such actions at work? Try as you might, you can never comprehend how anyone can do such mistakes. Traveling allows you to understand how different and yet similar people can be. You just need to pull from a travel experience—how you bonded with a taxi driver from Beijing despite the language barrier, for example—in order to promote understanding and even compassion at work.
Saying “No” at Work
Things happen when you travel that you just sometimes have to say “no.” As much as you want to experience things, you must also learn how to set boundaries for yourself when you are in another country. The ability to say no can spell the difference between life and death when you are traveling. It is the same thing with work. Others find it hard to say no at work even if their rights are being trampled on. However, setting boundaries is not only a protection for yourself but also a recognition of what you want in your life and career.
Be More in Tune With Your Decisions
When traveling, you sometimes have to make uncomfortable decisions. Do you go down that empty side street, which is a shortcut to your hotel? Do you go to a new friend’s hotel room? These are unfamiliar things. You will make decisions based on your instincts and the facts presented to you. When you go back to work, that experience will make you trust your judgment better.
Handle the Unexpected
Whether in life or work or travels, you will encounter a lot of unexpected situations. Sometimes, they end up being good experiences for you such as an unexpected trip to Tokyo when a flight was diverted. Most of the time, you would rather forget that they happened at all. Don’t. Every good and bad experience leaves something in you. They make you more resilient. They give you a good understanding of how to deal with different situations at work. More, they will push you to do better and be better and make better decisions.
Travel benefits you both at the personal and professional level. You take the lessons you learn from traveling and apply them in your workplace. These lessons are the same ones you pull from when there’s adversity or challenge at work that you find hard to go through.
