Lesogana le sa eteng le nyala kgaetšedi is an African Sepedi proverb which means if you do not travel, you will marry your own sister.
You want good ideas? leave home, leave the city, the province, even the country.
The brain gets too comfortable in it’s everyday surroundings. Being exposed to different people, cultures, environments expands your minds and knowledge.
Human beings like comfort zones, we like associating with familiar people, visit the same places, do the same things. While that is okay, it is important to expose yourself to different things, do different things, visit different different places once in a while.
You need to make your brain uncomfortable. Spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you.
Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brain work harder.
When was the last time you got out of your comfort zone?
If you can’t travel that far due to financial constraints, consider spending time around interesting people, and not necessarily people who do what you do. If you are an engineer, hang out with accountants, artists, lawyers, poets, writers, musicians, tech geeks in your area. Get to know what their world looks like, how they think, their stories, what their philosophy is. Listen to understand their world.
Hang out with people from different cultures, backgrounds, race, nationalities, religious backgrounds etc. Try to understand their world and how they approach life.
Have the presence of mind to know that yours is a voyage of discovery, to learn and understand, not judge.
You grow when you get exposed to different people and things. Ideas are likely to form when you connect the dots of the musician’s struggles and the tech geek’s potential to produce a software solution to the musician.
The farther the distance outside your comfort zone, the higher the exposure, the greater the likelihood of ideas.
Find a place that feeds you, creatively, socially, spiritually and literally.
Go tsamaya ke go bona, to travel is to be exposed. Have the courage to step out of your comfort zone often, and see how many ideas you generate. Don’t forget to take your scrapbook with you and scribble as you journey. Take pictures, build memories, smile and wave.
This is the happiness of pursuit, the journey is the reward.
Safari njema!
rochemamabolo 
Wow!
Roche Mamabolo, I have been richly blessed by your articles, especially this series on ideas.
You write so well, and I am learning from you…all the way from Lagos Nigeria, I have been ‘nicodemously’ reading your posts for the past two years.
I have had my own fair share of ideas that alighted on me, which i didn’t entertain or implement. I simply flirted with them, discussed them with friends and moved on.
I am inspired to do more with them now. I am also inspired to carry my scrapbook wherever I go.
Please keep it up the good work, Sir Roche. God bless you.
Oh wow thank you very much. You are very kind. I sometimes don’t think anyone reads my rantings but I’m glad that you find them valuable. Thank you, keep well and all the best with implementing your ideas, I would like to see them one day. 🙂