Those of you who travel know that it can result in countless benefits, both tangible and intangible, but it can often be hard to convince those who don’t travel that there is much more to traveling than just taking a break, going on holiday or avoiding reality. Not that taking a break and relaxing is a bad thing, but there is a common misconception, especially in places like the United States, that traveling, and in particular, traveling for long periods of time, somehow detracts from the normal progression of one’s life and career. Don’t travel, or you’ll get left behind and have to catch back up to those who had their priorities straight and focused on more important things like working hard and making money!
Obviously if you follow this site, you know traveling can be extremely educational and can teach you valuable lessons that simply can’t be learned from reading a book or listening to a lecture, but skeptics will continue to question that education and responding can be difficult because the lessons learned aren’t always readily identifiable nor as simple as 1+1=2. As a result, its always refreshing when a respectable or successful individual stamps their seal of approval on travel as a worthwhile endeavor. One such individual is Sir Richard Branson, chairman and founder of the Virgin Group. The career networking site LinkedIn recently debuted a series called The Commencement Speeches You Wish You’d Heard. It’s a compilation of advice from people across a broad spectrum of business, culture, politics and academics aimed at inspiring people in much the same way as real life commencement speeches are aimed at motivating graduates before they head out into the big and scary post-college world. In his submission entitled; Class of 2013: You’ll Never Again Be so Unburdened; Do Something Bold, Sir Richard Branson talks about several things, but what struck us the most was his comments about travel. We love it when successful people like Richard champion the merits of travel because it makes convincing the naysayers just a little bit easier… and if the naysayers still don’t believe you, well, you have the comfort of knowing that people like Richard Branson believe you, and with people like that on your side, who cares what the others think.
photo credit – howtomakeadifference.net
