There Are No Rules

Hey all,

I was in Japan with my family for the past two weeks, and something happened to me that had never happened before:

I had prolonged jetlag.

Every day, while my family woke up at around 9, I was up at 4 am against my will.

Luckily, this wasn't a massive problem. Although it seemed like a stressful place to live and work, Japan still was a wonderful tourist destination with its big cities, beautiful landscapes, and incredible shrines/temples.

But, Japan's beauty aside, what I wanted to talk about today was what I realized in those five hours between when I woke up and when the rest of my family did:

Life has no rules - be spontaneous.

See, the day we'd arrived in Japan, my dad made an offhand comment about my sister and I "being able to see the first real sunrise of our lives" because we've lived on the US West Coast our whole lives, meaning our sunrises were always over the mountains instead of the sea.

So when I woke up early the next morning, I made an impulsive decision: sneaking out of the hotel, I took my phone, Kindle, and a camera and started walking towards the coast for the sunrise.

I missed it.

And then the next day, I went out again and missed it again. And that repeated, for at least a week till I took a morning to climb the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

But, why did I miss the sunrise every morning for that first week?

Well, I let myself get sidetracked. From exploring the Imperial Palace to walking through a neighborhood to just getting an excuse to read in a park, I had a great time walking around Tokyo and Kyoto just following what I found interesting.

While my initial goal every morning might've been to see the sunrise, I found the moments I got sidetracked in a park or an interesting promenade just as fulfilling as finally seeing the sun over the horizon that day on the mountain.

I got into this habit of looking for cool landmarks (even though I was supposed to be sleeping) just because it was fun.

And now, thinking back - there's something teachable there.

I think sometimes we as people get super focused on what we should do at any moment that we don't take the time to take chances and follow what we find interesting. Perhaps we need to build some spontaneity into our lives. I mean, if at any point in time I had said "I should probably at least stay in bed till 8 am to adjust to my jetlag - it's the right thing to do," I would have missed out on so many interesting spaces tourists usually never see.

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Plus, in my opinion, the world has enough ways to become wildly successful that it's actually beneficial to take risks with your interests and hobbies even if you're following a more traditional route to success. Just through sheer consistency maybe you'll luck into making a hit song, writing a great book, or discovering a scientific breakthrough - it's happened before.

And here's the kicker: from a self-improvement standpoint, I probably gained more out of walking around aimlessly while stopping to read my Kindle than if I had slept and gotten the sleep you're "supposed to" get. Just by taking the risk, I opened myself up to a beneficial opportunity.

And similarly, in life, I think we find a lot of success (this Ted-Talk is amazing) when we try a bunch of things or pursue our hobbies because those experiences can give us opportunities that help us improve ourselves or think about problems in new ways.

And in the end, if things don't work out, I like to think you haven't "wasted" your time, just paid a fee for an opportunity that didn't hit. You took a calculated risk on something that aligns with your values and who you are.

And that's the best type of risk you can take.

So, keep taking them.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

-Ethan

Things I'm Enjoying:

📚 Books - Both Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon and The Psychology of Morgan Housel were big influences on today's post - especially their views on holding onto hobbies and taking risks that line up with who you are. Therefore, I highly suggest you check those books out.

👨‍💻 Tech - I've had a Kindle Paperwhite for around 3 months now and I would say it's been one of the best recent investments I've made. For one, it's lightweight, has discounts for books, and streamlines the book-buying process which definitely helps reduce the bar of effort for me to read. And funnily enough, I think I focus better reading on my Kindle because it kind of looks like my iPhone, just without all the other distractions it comes with. So, if you have the chance, I would pick one up (especially if it ever goes on sale for like $120 when I got mine).

💻 Website - Realtime Colors. Color theory is hard so I've made a lot of use from Realtime Colors in creating potential colors for this website's color scheme. Unfortunately, I don't have Ghost's "Creator" plan yet so I've had to settle for this blue and off-white scheme, but I will probably use Realtime Colors again when I upgrade to add more flair and cohesion.