Big Think 2017 Top Ten: #1. Bryan Cranston on Why All Young People Should Travel While They Can

[Music] You know, Americans have a lot of great qualities, and one of it is a general work ethic. I think, you know, we're a nation of hard workers. That being said, I think sometimes we reach down too far into our youth and expect them to produce sooner than they should be able to.

I think people gain a tremendous amount of wisdom when they travel, when they wander, when they allow themselves, as I did, to get lost. Maybe you'll find yourself somewhere, or at least traveling forces you to be social. You have to get directions; you have to learn where things are. You're attuned to your environment; you have to be more careful about the weather and where your lodging is going to be, where you're going to eat, how you're going to get from one place to another. When you're there, what is it you want to see? How can you find a place for you to actually just rest? It's an experience like no other.

I love to travel, and I enjoy not knowing where I am. It's an unusual thing, I'd sell it, and I purposefully teach that to my daughter, who's now 24 years old, to not be afraid of not knowing where you are. So, I'll go for a drive or go for a walk in a different city, and my wife will say, "Do you know where you're going?" "Not really," just kind of exploring different places. And as long as you have a sense of the direction, you'll find your way. You'll figure it out, and I do that in foreign countries as well, just kind of wander and meander and trust that, you know, you've paid attention to at least the basic requirement of where you have to get back to in order to find your way home.

But I think it is, I think, I think we look down now to 16-year-olds and say, "Where are you going to go to college? What are you going to do for the rest of your life?" And it's like they're 16; they're not fully baked yet! How do they know? Give them a break! Just say, "Look, I think after high school, take a year off, take two years off, join the Peace Corps, travel, go figure things out or just enjoy yourself for the first time in their lives."

They're adults, and they don't have to be somewhere; they're not told to be somewhere. Get used to that freedom; get used to having the need to self-govern yourself, you know, to be able to employ self-discipline or not. Or you realize, "Oh my God, I'm really slovenly; if I'm not told I need to go to class, I don't go." You might discover something about yourself. I need order; I need that. I like that some people love to be told this is where you have to be and this is what you need to do. Are you that type of person, or are you a type of person that wants more freedom in your life?

And I think exploration and travel provide that. In 1976, I had just finished my second year of college and realized that, after an experience in an elective acting class, that I wasn't going to be the policeman I thought I was going to be. It was better if I didn't continue on with two more years of an administration of justice major because I knew I wasn't going to become a policeman. So, I thought I better just go figure out what it is I want to do.

I hopped on the back of a motorcycle; my brother was in the same position—really two young guys who were not quite sure what was in store for them, what avenue they should go down. So we both hopped on our motorcycles, and we took off. We left California; I had about a hundred and fifty bucks in my pocket or something, and soon ran low on funds. We had to get jobs along the way.

What was great about it is that we had total freedom. We didn't know exactly where we were going. We didn't know how long we were going to stay in any given town; if it appealed to us, we would stay and explore different places and historical sites. If it didn't appeal to us, we took off again. We slept on golf courses, on cemeteries, in the back of mortuaries, schools, anywhere we could throw a sleeping bag—a little patch of grass—and that was our home for the night.

I was 19, 20 years old. It was fun, and you could do that then. That's the time you want to do it; that's the age you want to do it. In retrospect, I realized that I took off on this trip, which lasted two full years, in an effort to allow myself to get lost, to be lost, and to figure out while I'm gone what it is I really should be doing with my life.

So, I finally determined it was something, all right. I wanted to allow myself to get lost so that I could be found. Basically, that's what it was. After two years, it was during that trip that I had an epiphany; I really wanted to become an actor and do everything I could to put myself in a position to make a living and be a professional actor for the rest of my life. [Music]