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Category Archives: Travel

Still Small Voice

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Al Leave a comment

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[et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]You have to create the quiet to be able to listen to the very faint voice of your intuition.

Jon Favreau – American Actor / Film Maker

Which confirms for me that it’s not possible to do your best thinking without creating the conditions to do so.

Which reminded me of a previous blog entry. Where to Think[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column]
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Where to Think

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Al 1 Comment

If you’ve read a few of my blog entries, you’ve by now stumbled on the value I place on thinking. Planned…purposeful thinking.

I try hard to not tell my readers how to think, but will do what I can to help you maximize this important activity. And here I’ll offer tips about where to think.

Some have already found a quiet place where distractions can be shut out and thoughts gathered. But I think that your best thinking is likely to come by removing yourself from that comfortable environment. Allow me to offer a couple of reasons why I’ve reached that conclusive…

While reading Business Traveler magazine I came across the mention of a research project documented in The Journal of Experimental Social Phycology where two Indiana University teams of problem solvers were studied. The only difference between the two groups is that one was told that they were to gather data for a “linguistic skills” program on the IU campus, while the other group was led to believe that they were doing the same work for IU students studying abroad in Greece.

With only that single difference, the work being done for the “distant” program led the second group to come to a significantly higher number of creative answers than the first. Psychologists have concluded that this is a common trait and that we tend to think in concrete terms (construals) when we’re in a familiar environment. But that when we’re geographically distant we tend to think in the abstract.
The deduction reached is that creating spatial distance has a demonstrable impact on creative performance.

While I’m addressing thinking rather than problem solving here, I think you’ll agree there’s a connection. But if you’re unconvinced, allow me to pull in a second example…

Some speculate that the reason that so many Dutch philosophers appeared in the “Early” Enlightenment period was that the Dutch were exploring the world more widely at the time. Seeing new cultures, landscapes, flora and fauna may have stimulated new ways of looking at the world. Seems reasonable to me.

This reminds me of, what I considered at the time to be, a serious problem I was facing in my twenties. I could see no way out. I was stuck…and nearing exasperation over it. But a breakthrough occurred when my father took me for a short jaunt in his plane during which we circled one of the larger towns in our little piece of central Illinois. Looking down, I was struck about how small it looked. Suddenly, my problem had a new context. I recall leaping from the plane with a completely different attitude about finding a solution.

But I’ve proved the premise (to myself, at least) of the above multiple times…As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a Chinese hotel listening to conversations I do not understand…while looking out the window at a cityscape with signage which I cannot read, yet reminds me where I’m at. Some ask me how in the world I can stand to travel so much, to so many far-away places. Yes, travel can be hard with 14 hour flights, unfamiliar food and drink, disgruntled travelers…but I seem to always be energized by it too. I’ve learned that unfamiliar places jar me into thinking outside of my box. And the value of that for me personally has been huge.

You don’t have to find yourself in China to facilitate new thinking…but I do believe that you’ll find new ways of thinking easier to come by when you purpose to think in less familiar territory than your room or office.

Notre Dame

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Al Leave a comment

Today, I am French

Today, I am Catholic

Today, I wept

A tip for getting a great cell phone signal in any airport

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Al Leave a comment

I travel by air almost every week, and many of those trips are to locations outside of the USA. In many airports I used to find cell service a little spotty. That is until (Through many observations of fellow travelers, cabin crews and airport employees.) I learned the secret to having the best service possible in any airport.

Here’s the tip…make your call from the center of any concourse. You’ll find the best results if you drag your oversized carry-on and computer bag (a large purse may be substituted ladies) and place them on both your left and right side, while facing either direction along the path of traffic. You may also face a gate, but then adjust the bags so one is in front of you and the other behind. It’s optimal to do this in front a of gate that is preparing to board, but only if the boarding area is small enough to ensure the passengers are queuing in the concourse.

Now…I haven’t fully tested this technique but can say, after 100’s of observations, that it’s certain to work.

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