While some entrepreneurs believe travel to be nice but unnecessary, others know it’s vitally important. Experts say travel is beneficial for a number of reasons, including the following:
- It prevents burnout.Burnout is one of the worst things that can happen to an entrepreneur. When you’re constantly working with no end in sight, the only thing you can and will see is burnout. That’s why you need a break from work. Leaving your office desk to work out of a home office isn’t sufficient. To prevent workplace burnout, you need to travel. It can help you decompress and take your mind off your business, even if it’s only for a few days. When you return from your travels, you’ll be using your brain at full capacity and feeling more relaxed.
- It can inspire you.When you’re stuck at your desk all day, you’re likely not learning new things or analyzing different perspectives. Thus, your creative muscles aren’t stimulated, so you feel like there’s nothing more to add. But how can you know that if you’re not going places and experiencing life?
Traveling to foreign countries helps you recharge your creative energy. You’ll notice the way people interact, their values and how they do certain things. All these factors combined might lead to you launching a new service that helps solve a problem for your customers that you hadn’t previously considered. Or, you might find a different perspective on a problem you’re facing in your business.
You’d be surprised what connection your brain can make when you travel to other cultures, and how those connections might be the catalyst to help propel your business forward.
- Travel improves your adaptive skills.Being an entrepreneur means constantly being thrown out of your comfort zone and having to do things that you would prefer not to so your business doesn’t fail. That means you need to always be able to adapt to the changes that present themselves to you. Travel is one way to push your boundaries.
Try visiting places you’ve never been to before. Step out of your comfort zone. Go to different countries and interact with diverse cultures and people. It will force you to adapt to your surroundings and learn how to fit in. Traveling can help you change what you consider your comfort zone until nothing intimidates you and you thrive on the curve balls life throws at you.
- It helps you read people. When you travel to different countries and interact with people whose language you may not be well-versed in, it forces you to communicate more efficiently – to better read body language, facial expressions, hand gestures and tone. Learning to read people is a critical skill to have when conducting business, especially if you have international clients with different social norms.
- Travel can grow your network.Whether you’re traveling for business or personal reasons, you can meet new people and make meaningful connections. Conferences are a great place to meet colleagues and potential clients, but you can also build relationships other ways. There’s no guarantee you’ll meet lifelong friends on a trip, but it’s possible to spread the word of your business and help others or learn from them.
Source: Inc.
