Personal Development

Travelling as a tool for growth.

Travelling is about more than seeing far flung lands and having fun experiences. For me, travel has always been a way to grow. An incredible opportunity to experiment with different ways of beings and to consistently get out of my comfort zone. Being on the road, stretched far beyond my experience and skillset forced me to work things out and make things happen.

It was really like taking ‘confidence steroids’ as I constantly had new opportunities to be scared and then be brave. Travelling enabled me to learn new skills, and ultimately become a more capable human being. The opportunities of travel for personal development are endless. And that is what I want to share with you.

To travel outside of what you know, to step into the weird and the wonderful, to bob along on the river of serendipity and find joy and gratitude as you do so – this is what travelling is all about…

Both life itself and backpacking are journeys into the unknown that send us on trajectories of change and growth that we could never predict. Both are beautiful and full of light and darkness. But when you hit the road, with a mission mayhap, and not enough money to do it comfortably, that’s when the true magic happens and that’s when life really feels it’s most ALIVE.

Growth begins at the edge of your comfort zone. 

This is what I want to share with you guys, and this section is all about giving you the tools you need to make the most of your adventure and to craft lessons, memories and experiences that will stay with you for a lifetime.

Sharpening your tools

It’s not easy to define the best things one should do to foster growth and greater mental fortitude. I’m a firm believer that not everything works for everyone, and that we all have our own ways. In the end, each of us is responsible for forging our own path – ideally one that keeps evolving.

But still… there are things I believe EVERYONE should try. They are tried-and-tested practices that work for me and that I’ve developed over many, many moons.

The below are all incredibly powerful for me, and they turned an awkward teenager setting forth on his first solo trip to the online entrepreneur and veteran vagabond that I am today.

This is somewhat of a holy trinity of personal development if I may…

1 – Defining Your Values

To grow into the person you want to become, you need to define that person first. Define your values, set your targets, and be who you want to be.

For me, something that helped tremendously on this journey was writing my personal manifesto – it is one hell of a powerful and therapeutic exercise that I cannot recommend enough.

Even The Broke Backpacker has its own — check it out! I hope it inspires to create your own.

2 – Having a Routine

Deciding what habits you want to make up your daily or weekly routine is important and first you may want to define your goals so that you figure out what habits you need to hit to achieve what you want.

I track all my habits on a static whiteboard. I tick them off each day, and record it digitally and wipe clean at the end of every month. I also ask myself the same series of questions, and score how I’m doing in various arenas in my life, at the end of each month. Having this to look back on years later is incredibly powerful.  habits. This is perhaps the one thing that is consistently able to keep me together in one piece, and I can never stress it enough.

If I had to pick 3 game-changer habits to start with, they’d be:

– Exercise: a healthy body is the foundation of a healthy mind. But more than that, staying fit is an act of willpower. Learn to do it even when you don’t want to and keep pushing yourself even when you’re ready to give up.

– Reading/Learning: the more you know, the more you grow. It doesn’t matter if it’s an informational podcast or the audiobook your boss recommended, as long as you can learn from it. Here’s a list of 5 books that changed my life.

– Journalling: learning how to journal changed my life and completely transformed my travel experience. It helps me organise thoughts, release anxieties, reflect on lessons learned, and record meaningful moments.

3 – Spending your Alone Time SMART!

Spending time with yourself, talking to yourself, and most importantly, listening to yourself is the only way to begin truly understanding yourself. It’s important that you do this consciouslly – by getting off your fucking phone – and put pen to paper. Introspect, journal, set goals.

I learnt this lesson by spending a lot of time on my own when venturing solo and travelling on a tight budget. Stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting people, dealing with what goes wrong, and spending lots of time with myself. The road is the greatest teacher.