Travel a top priority for “potentialists”

Have you met Canada’s potentialists? Chances are, though you may not have heard this term before, you know more than one.

This group of people, identified in a survey from American Express as people from every demographic who want to reach their full potential and lead positive lives, are multiplying and they want to travel.

Since American Express first identified this group in October 2009, the number of Canadians who identify themselves as seeking an active, enriched lifestyle rose from 28 to 31 per cent.

Seventy-seven per cent of respondents who said they were potentialists listed travel as their top goal. Other ambitions include philanthropy (41 per cent), learning a new language (32 per cent), and living in a different country (32 per cent). Twenty per cent of Canadians also said they wanted to fly in a hot air balloon, 22 per cent would like to take a cooking class, and 29 per cent yearn to put pen to paper and author a novel.

“It’s exciting to see growth in the number of potentialists in Canada,” Jeremy Gutsche, founder of TrendHunter.com and a consultant on the survey, said in a press release. “The last year was a game-changer for many Canadians, and people really took the time to evaluate their priorities and their values, and what we’re seeing is that great experiences and quality time with family and friends trumps monetary success as even more people embrace the potentialist ethos.”

The survey found that 54 per cent of Canadians felt spending time with family and friends was the top priority in their lives. Career and monetary success was the main concern of just three and six per cent of Canadians, respectively.

Would you identify yourself as a potentialist? Is travel, learning a new language, or taking a ride in a hot air balloon one of your ambitions?

- Nicole Feenstra

Tags: canada