Travel in New Circles

Gee, am I depressed. I just mapped my activities during the first three days of this workweek. I went from home to work to home to work to home to work. In a few minutes, I’m going home.

Contrary to my normal activities, I did not take time to meet interesting people, to expose myself to new ideas, or to let random events nudge me in fresh directions.

Fortunately, tomorrow I am meeting with a fascinating new person, someone introduced to me by a friend. I will cut short my “boring streak” at three days.

It takes a conscious effort to expose yourself to new ideas. Most people have a natural tendency to associate with people who share similar interests. Young parents have an easier time meeting and hanging out with other young parents. College students hang out with college students.

But it takes a rare talent to deliberately reach out to others who are very different from yourself. This is one of the things I love best about giving speeches.

I once gave two speeches in the same day at the Utah Governor’s Conference. At both events, a tall, grizzled man with long gray hair and a cowboy hat sat in the third row. At some point during the second speech, I realized he was holding a hammer. When he started to approach me at the conclusion of my speech, I actually checked whether there was an exit nearby.

It turned out that the hammer was the top of his cane, and he was a contractor, who used many of the strategies about which I was talking. I learned more from that man than he did from me, and I never would have met him unless I travelled hundreds of miles to the edge of the Utah desert.

Every week, get out of your comfort zone. Go meet someone who thinks differently than you do. In the process, you will expose your ideas to many others.