توضیحات ای جی

BEC : Global -AJ

Hi, this is AJ. Welcome to my commentary. This commentary for me is going to be a little more personal probably and not quite as business focused simply because this is a subject I absolutely love. It’s a personal passion of mine, which is travel, international travel --global travel. So for me this is more than just business and I hope that it will become more than just business for you because learning about other countries, traveling to other countries, learning about other cultures, all of these things, certainly there are practical benefits to doing this.

Certainly there are practical benefits to your career by learning English. Connecting with people in other countries, making friends with people in other countries, understanding other cultures, traveling to other countries, all of these things are certainly beneficial to your career or can be if you do them well, but I think at an even deeper level they’re just beneficial to you as a person. I certainly have felt that myself.

You know I didn’t start my career as an English teacher, for example, and eventually as an entrepreneur and a businessperson, I didn’t start off thinking I’m going to travel to a bunch of countries and learn their cultures and then I will turn that into a business. That was not the plan. I didn’t do it because it was some grand plan to make money and advance my career. I did it because I was just excited and passionate about it.

So my first job abroad I lived in Korea and I taught English in Korea. At that point I had a Masters in social work and I thought of myself as a social worker. I did not think of myself as an English teacher at all. I just did it because I wanted to experience another country. I wanted to have the experience of living in another country and so I went off to Korea. I just happened to get a job teaching English because it was the only job I could get in another country.

It was actually a very tough experience, but I learned a lot too and then that experience started my English teaching career. Eventually, I realized that I actually enjoyed the teaching part in addition to the travel part and ended up going back to school and getting a degree as an English teacher and lived and worked in other countries. There were lots of adventures.

The point is that I did it really for more of a personal excitement and I hope that’s the attitude you’ll have that this can be really fun. It’s very meaningful and it really produces a lot of personal growth when you travel to another country and I think there’s no replacing actually traveling and experiencing it directly. So, it’s great to read about other countries. It’s great to learn about their customs, learn how they do business and learn everything you can by reading books and watching movies and all of that.

With the Internet it’s great now that you can actually connect with other people. In fact, a lot of businesses do this now. They have kind of virtual meetings, meaning that it’s very, very common now in business to have a webinar or a telemeeting where you might have one team member in Japan, another one is in the United States and another one is down in Brazil and then they all have a meeting. They have like a webcam meeting.

You turn on your camera on your computer and the company has some system so you can all talk to each other. You have a meeting and you’re all in different countries and even different continents. That’s very common and that’s also a great way to connect globally.

You can do this in your personal life. You can just get online and join different clubs and online groups. You can make friends with people in other countries. You can learn about their cultures and learn about them. That’s also a great thing to do, I highly recommend it, but best of all is to get on a plane or a train and go there. Starting in the beginning you can just do it as a vacation. Go to another country because when you go there and you really experience a life that’s very different than your own it’s powerful.

For one thing, it will change your attitude and perspective about your own country. In every country in the world people are raised to believe their country is the best.

Americans are raised to believe America is the best country in the world and Thai people that Thailand is the absolute best country in the world and Chinese people believe that China is the best in the world and so on and so on.

When you actually travel to other countries then you get a different viewpoint. You realize hum, the way we do it in my country is not the only way and maybe it’s not even the best way. So you’ll gain a kind of wider perspective. You’ll be more accepting. You’ll become more flexible through international travel. All of these things are beneficial.

They make it easier for you to deal with people who are different than yourself and they also give you skills that will practically help you as well in terms of your career. There’ll be benefits for that too.

I think the best experience of all in terms of learning and growth is to actually go and live in another country, if that’s possible to live and work somewhere. Now, that’s difficult sometimes. You know there are laws and visa requirements and work permit laws, so there are a lot of barriers to that. There can be challenges trying to work abroad and for some people it’s just not possible. They can’t really do it. That’s okay. If you can’t then travel as much as you can and learn as much as you can, but if you have the opportunity, if you ever have the opportunity to work abroad, live abroad, volunteer in another country, I highly recommend that you do it.

I don’t guarantee that it will be easy. In fact, I can almost guarantee it will be difficult.

You’ll have to deal with culture shock. You know when you live in another country everything is different. The food is different. People’s attitudes are different. The lifestyle is different. So that’s a big challenge and it can be very, very, very frustrating for a while because you’re used to being in your own country doing things a certain way then suddenly you have to adapt and change, but that’s also why it’s such a powerful experience because it does indeed force you to adapt and become more flexible and more open and to grow and to learn and to experience a wider range of experiences.

So it’s a challenging thing to do to go live in another country for a while. It can be even more challenging to work in another country, especially if you’re working with other people who are local to that country, if your boss is local to that country. Ooh, it can be tough, but it’s an experience that will help you your entire life. So if you have the chance, if you can do it, absolutely get a job or volunteer abroad --in another country.

Do it for as long as you can. This is really, really, really going to help you. It’s been fantastic for me.

I mean the reason that my business has been successful, one of the big reasons, is that I have this experience. I have lived in several other countries so, number one, I understand students because I’ve taught English for so long and I didn’t just teach, but I really, really learned from my students and talked to them, listened to them, learned what they wanted, learned what they needed and really developed that understanding deeply.

Then the other thing is that I have lived in other countries so I have developed great flexibility. I understand people from other countries probably more than the average American does. I’m used to being in situations where I don’t know what’s happening and I don’t understand everything and I’ve learned to become comfortable with that, which is a great business skill too. It’s a good life skill in general.

So, anyway, I’m only half talking about business here, honestly. I mean all of these things are great. Doing these things will be great for you in your career, but I think what I am really saying is that these things are really rewarding and meaningful personally, deeply in your life in general. They will enrich your life. They will improve your life. They will give you skills in your life that are fantastic and not just in business, but in all parts of your life.

So fall in love with traveling. Fall in love with connecting with other cultures. Fall in love with learning about other cultures and expanding your world view. Do everything you can possibly do. If you have the chance, volunteer and work abroad. If you don’t have the chance, travel, make friends online, do everything possible. I think that you’ll find it’s very fun, very, very interesting and it will help you constantly be learning and growing throughout your life.

So, good luck. I hope I’ll see you someplace new and different. See you on the road, bye-bye.

The End.