If You Want to be Creative…Travel

Creative geniuses from all fields seem to know travel is indispensable to their work, boosting their creativity by changing their thinking.  Travelling gives them the inspiration that resulted in discoveries that have defined their lives – and careers.

For most, creativity and inspiration come through new and exciting experiences. But when the most exciting thing about your day is the commute to and from work, or the office gossip at the water cooler, you’re limiting your mind’s ability to expand and be inspired.

So, if you want to find inspiration from the world around you, travel.

Writers and thinkers have long felt the creative benefits of international travel. Ernst Hemingway’s novels are heavily inspired by his time spent in France and Spain, and Mark Twain’s sail through the Mediterranean is documented in his travelogue ‘Innocents Abroad’. And the philosopher, Alain De Botton’s book ‘The Art of Travel’ was inspired by…. well…..travel.

In the 1940s, on a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night in Kansas, Princeton physics researcher Freeman Dyson cracked the problem of quantum electrodynamics – the theory of radiation and atoms – that others had been trying to solve for years.

Their exposure to new and different cultures enabled them to produce some of their best work.

Going on holiday in another country, or another part of the UK, helps you open your mind. You can try local foods, visit notable landmarks, make friends with locals, or even just go for a walk on a beach, a wood or climb a hill. When you are on holiday, rather than spending the whole week lying next to a pool, take one day and visit somewhere new. If you are attending a conference or a seminar then plan your trip to allow you at least half a day to sightsee.

Simply immersing yourself in a different location for several days can inspire your creative abilities, help with your problem solving and give you space to think in a different way.

But you don’t need to go Rome, Bangkok or New York to be inspired by a new location! My guess is that there will be villages, towns and visitor attractions, no more than an hour away from you house, which you have never visited.  So, jump into your car or climb onto your bike or take the bus and go and visit them.

Just travel – you will be amazed how inspired your thoughts will become.