Hi everybody, welcome to the first lecture and the travel A to Z travel course. In this lecture we're going to talk about cultivating the travel mindset. So I think you all know me by now. I'm Dr. Nicole Montero, CEO and Chief creator here at Zen wanderlust travel. And as I said in the welcome, the first part of the course is really looking at the psychology of travel, and what our mindset has to contribute to our travel journey. So in today's lecture, we're going to talk about a few things.

One is why you have to be mindset ready to is some of the steps that go into the psychology of travel. Three is building the skill of practicing the power of your thoughts, and then we're going to end on a challenge a pretty easy one, but a very important challenge to start off the course. Why do you have to be mindset ready? This is one of my favorite travel quotes. Man cannot discover new oceans Unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. And this really gets at the heart of what travel is, many people talk about travel starting in the mind and in the imagination, which is why some people say even a good book, or look at a nice piece of art can make them feel like they have traveled, it really gets at the heart of what it means to travel.

Traveling is about our journey is a lot different from just going somewhere or getting from point A to point B. And it's that journey that really is at the heart of the travel mindset. So first and foremost, this travel journey is psychological, being able to lose sight of the shore and getting out of your comfort zone, which is one of the things that helps you to even go across the ocean, literally and figuratively, is psychological. So if you have things that are blocking you from being able to get your imagination on board or make plans or act on it Plans, that means that you really need to go back and establish the travel mindset, as I call it. And so the travel mindset really goes into some of the three components as I call them of the psychology of travel. Like everything else in life, travel starts in the mind, what and how we think these are the things that set the stage for how we feel and what we actually do.

In psychology, we talk about this cycle of your thoughts really influencing your emotions, which then go on to influence your behavior. And so if we can really get at the heart of how you're thinking that can really contribute to change in your emotions and then your behavior as well. So I talk about often these three steps that are at the core of the psychology of travel. One is to clarify why you want to travel sounds simple, I know but we all have different travel wives as I call them. We are all wanting to travel or love travel or going out and traveling for different reasons. And it's very individualized and personal, your travel why or your configuration of travel wise might not look like anyone else's, any of your friends, your families and so forth.

So in, in order to really cultivate the travel mindset, you've got to get at the heart of why you want to travel. There are many different reasons. Some people just want to start at the basic foundation of getting out of their comfort zone, getting out of their bodies and of their minds and getting into a really completely different zone and different place. Other people want something a little more basic, they just want to rack up on passport stamps, go to as many countries or locations as they can and as short of a period of time as they can. They're not necessarily looking for depth of experience, but they might be looking for breadth of experience they want to see as much as they can. Others are back to basics with Wanting just that vacation and relaxation, they've worked hard.

They've been going hard all year. And now they finally get a chance to have a vacation, sit down, relax, and just enjoy themselves. Other people want to step it up with a bit of adventure. There's a whole cadre of adventure travelers who some say are even addicted to going to different locations, and really pushing themselves beyond their physical and mental limits. Others want to have more of a cultural immersion where they really go deep into a particular society and learn about the language and the food and the customs and the religion and really understanding the culture and that is really important to them. Other people have more of a focus on personal growth and finding purpose, finding work perhaps abroad or getting involved in volunteer endeavors or other work, charitable work that really helps them to feel good about what they're doing and the purpose for their travel.

Some people Understand that now in the 21st century, you've got to be global to really help your career advance. So some people want to go abroad either for study or for work or other experiences to help build their resume. There are many other reasons. These are just a few. So clarify why you want to travel is really important. The next step is really actually working on cultivating the travel mindset.

And that really gets at the heart of how you become more confident as a traveler. If you're passionate about travel or you're just discovering or learning, your travel passion, you might run into people who are not as understanding as you are. So many travelers that I talked to they sort of get into communities or groups because some people who are not as avid travelers as they are, may not understand or some people may be beginner travelers and when they tell other people, their friends or family just don't get it. Why do you want to go that far away? Can't you do all of that those fun things a little closer to At home, why are you going to put yourself in harm's way? Couldn't you spend that money a little bit differently?

And that misunderstanding can actually even lead to some doubt some people close to you, whether it's your friend, your family, your co workers, they may actually even start to judge you. In some even think you're a little nuts, right? You're just putting too much time, money and energy into this thing called travel. And these things may come together and actually contribute to you doubting your own journey. Hey, I thought I was passionate about travel. I thought travel was interesting or fun.

But now I'm getting all of this backlash. Is this really something I want to do? So the travel mindset cultivating the travel mindset is being aware of all of these factors that may be contributing to you being doubtful or other people not understanding or judging you. And using that knowledge to then say okay, it is what it is, but I am still going to become a confident traveler because I understand by Point number one, why it is I want to travel. And then thirdly, it's about making a commitment. So it's starting in your mind, but it's also an actual behavioral commitment.

Traveling more means a commitment to a travel lifestyle and global thinking. Some of the things that we'll talk about in the upcoming lectures like budgeting and planning for travel, saving for travel, these are all commitments and it's sort of a lifestyle, okay. And also your thinking may also evolve to become broader and perspective in global in your thinking. And so I always have people to write down this one of my favorite travel quotes. investment in travel is an investment in yourself. And oftentimes, that simple simple quote can really help you to develop that confidence in yourself and in your reason for traveling and help you to make the commitment.

So go ahead and take a second and write it down in your little travel book that goes with this course. investment in travel is an investment in yourself. So let's practice a skill. This is really helping us to understand the power of our thoughts. If psychology starts in the mind, and it's a psychological, if travel starts in the mind, and it's a psychological process, how do we practice harnessing the power of our thoughts? As Buddha said, The mind is everything, what you think you become.

So we have to begin by believing in the power of our thoughts, knowing that they really do have an influence on what we ultimately do. So we really have to go down to really believing in and starting to practice different types of thoughts. And so one way that I often tell people to do that is to really try to to develop your travel narrative. What is your narrative about travel, you can use the worksheet that goes with this lecture to write that down or you can write it in your notebook, but I want you to take some time to listen your top three travel wise, we listed in a few slides back some of the different reasons why people have a passion for and a love for travel, you may have your own that you want to add to the list but whatever your top three travel wise are, take some time to write those down, clarify them, claim them, name them and write them.

And then you're going to come up with a list of positive thoughts that support each of your travel wise. So your your travel why number one may be I'm traveling for cultural immersion. A positive thought that supports that is learning about others is a great way to learn more about myself. It's a positive statement that starts as a thought and it supports that travel Why? So make sure you list your top three travel wise and a positive thought that supports each one of them. And finally, Travel challenge number one is to tell a friend, it might seem simple, right?

But many of you may have some people in your life who don't really know exactly why you want to travel, maybe you've just discovered your travel narrative. So you're going to claim this travel narrative by telling a friend or someone that you know are close to you, within the next week sooner if possible, tell one person your travel narrative. And that could be one, two, or all three of your travel wives and the positive statements that go along with them. You have to practice striking up a quick conversation, bringing up the topic of travel and explaining to that person why it is that you want to travel, you'll be surprised about how confident that makes you in your travel narrative, and how it may actually inspire other people around you to understand their travel wise, create their travel narratives and go out to see the world.

So go ahead, practice. That challenge and I'll see you in the next lecture.