“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
— Saint Augustine 4:42
In 2024, I was able to travel internationally six times.
I went to Portugal, Nepal, India, Ireland, and Mexico twice.
Also in 2024, I accomplished many other goals.
I raised close to $10 million.
I started writing my second book, Rich Brain.
I had breakthroughs in my health and my personal life.
I started writing music again.
2024 was a pretty great year for me!
It’s been said that a majority of creative ideas don’t happen while you’re at your desk.
They happen in the shower or exercising or even traveling.
By doing a few things differently, you can make use of that time.
You can positively impact your health, your personal life, and your investing.
I love using travel to help me accomplish this.
Today, I’m sharing some of the lessons I learned while traveling.
Let’s get into it!
1. Lessons Learned from While Traveling
I use traveling as a reward.
In my life, I live by the idea of “work hard, play hard.”
My goal last year was to take 150 days off.
I didn’t quite get there, but I did take a lot of time to reflect. I took 145 days off!
Sometimes ideas will come to me when I’m not in the office.
Airplanes are a common place I use to brainstorm.
I’ll write any ideas I have down on my phone or a journal.
I reflect as I journey.
I also use personal retreats to come up with new ideas.
Once a quarter, I’ll go on a personal retreat for two nights.
They are very productive, both helping me reflect and come up with new goals I want to achieve.
Getting away from my desk helped me look at my recent results and figure out how to improve.
I created new investment strategies.
I found investments we should look into.
I figured out what we should stop doing.
Even in my personal life, I found ways to improve!
For example, I wanted to find a way to get into better shape.
While on my retreat, I would ask myself questions surrounding that goal:
What kind of shape do I want to be in?
What would the activities be?
Will I have more energy?
The answers to those questions help me create a plan.
Traveling can be a powerful tool and also a powerful reward.
Use it in whichever way serves you best!
2. Changing Your Environment
You should change your environment to spark ideas.
Research has shown that if you change your scenery, you change your brain activity.
For example: this study found that surrounding yourself with different colors and music can influence creativity.1
If you change your environment, you’ll come back with a different perspective.
This can also help when you unplug.
Sometimes, I’ll be working nonstop before I have a good break.
When I come back from that break, I’m energized to create more.
Another way to change your environment is to work remotely.
Do you have a job where you can work from a trip to South America?
You can work during the day and enjoy evening activities at night.
Explore, go to museums, experience the culture!
Doing that may spark a lot of great ideas.
3. Real Estate Inspiration Abroad
I talked about inspiration abroad in my book, Fire Yourself.
I wrote the outline for the first chapter on a plane to Patagonia, Chile.
On that long flight, I thought about my goals for the book.
We need to make goals in order to succeed.
If you don’t make goals, you won’t get results.
When you set goals for yourself, you are proven to have an increased work performance.
If you resign yourself to “doing your best,” your performance will suffer.2
You should always take time to reflect and ask questions like:
Am I getting the results I want?
If you aren’t, you can make a plan to change that.
Be willing to try different things, even if they sound a little silly.
Don’t let doubt weigh you down.
If your goals or plans don’t work, move onto something else.
It’s that simple.
Successful people have the same end goal in mind, but they’ll continually change their approach.
Tony Robbins says that all the time.
Changing your approach when you hit roadblocks is a way to build a wealth mindset.
I love traveling.
It’s a great way to improve your investing and your personal life goals.
Where will you travel this year?
Let us know in the comments!
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Disclaimer: I am not your investment advisor. This is for educational purposes only. I am not giving specific advice on what you can do. I am simply giving my opinions.
Works Cited
1. V. Chulvi, M. Royo, M. Agost, C. García-García and L. Ruiz-Pastor. “Relaxing or arousing environments (through color and music) for fostering designer’s creativity.” International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 10 (2022): 247 – 260. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2022.2107081.
2. J. F. Bryan and E. A. Locke. “Goal setting as a means of increasing motivation.” The Journal of applied psychology, 51 3 (1967): 274-7. https://doi.org/10.1037/H0024566.
