Unusual Things You’re Allowed to Do

Did you know you can start your own holiday? Not just a made-up holiday for yourself, but one that may eventually get noticed and talked about by others.

This is an example of something you’re allowed to do that most people never think of. Perhaps you don’t want to make your own holiday—that’s fine—but what else could you do? The point is that there are MANY things you are allowed to do but you might not consider, simply because most people don’t do them.

Here is an abridged list of suggestions. If you like it, I’ll write more in a future post.

Time travel to the future. Time traveling to the past is still a little complicated, but you can change your future to rewrite the past. 🤯 You can also create a present-day time machine merely by paying closer attention to the events of your day.
Quit your job, either quietly or otherwise. What’s the worst that can happen? More people should start over more often.
Take a sabbatical or extended break. Don’t want to quit entirely? Sabbaticals became popular a few years ago. If you’ve been feeling burnt out or craving a change—but you like the idea of eventually returning to your job—a sabbatical could be the ideal break.
Give yourself an advanced degree of your choice. I’m not suggesting you buy a degree from a diploma mill, although technically you’re allowed to do that, too. What I mean is: create your own college or university and award yourself the degree you want. Nothing wrong with that!
Hire people to help you with things. Learning to work with contractors is a skill, and it helps to start with small and specific. I like both Fiverr and Upwork (among others), but Fiverr is easier and cheaper for small online tasks. TaskRabbit is great for physical, in-person tasks.
Buy a fleet of cars and rent them out on Turo. There could be an enormous list of side hustle ideas that fit the category of “things you’re allowed to do but rarely think of.” I like this example, though, because it’s both creative and simple. I first told the story of the guy who did this in the Side Hustle book, and also in a very early episode of Side Hustle School. Lots of people think about renting out one car, this guy decided to level-up and bought a dozen cars (very affordably) just for the purpose of renting them.
Make your own board game. This guy did it and raised $900,000 (story here). He’s not alone: in the archives of Side Hustle School, we’ve featured several other stories of individual board game makers who’ve earned six figures or more in support for their creations. And of course, there are lots of other things you could make as well.
Create your own holiday. How to do it? First, decide on a day and a theme for your holiday. Avoid dates that are associated with bigger holidays or other special occasions. For examples, March 14th is known as Pi Day, and May 4th is Star Wars day, for “May the fourth be with you.” Then begin submitting your special day to holiday directories. Put out a free press release. Every year, try to get more media outlets to cover it. There you go—you’ve made your own holiday.
Arrange a meeting with your elected officials. They work for you, after all! Most elected officials have a page on their website where you can request a meeting. Naturally, some gatekeeping is involved—the average Senator or Governor doesn’t actually want to meet with their constituents all the time—but that’s just an obstacle you need to overcome. Give them a good reason to meet with you, and be persistent with follow-up.
Set or break a world record. We did this last summer with hundreds of dinosaur costumes. It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun.
Spend money on things you enjoy. This is big news for some people, especially those who are excessively frugal. I should know—I used to be one of them. Changing this habit was hugely helpful for me.
Ignore debt, at least for a while. Stop paying most bills until you really have to. Some bills can be ignored indefinitely! In recent years, many student loan borrowers learned that if they just held off on repayment, sometimes the debt would be totally forgiven.
Get a loan to live off. To take the last two ideas further, if you need money and don’t have another obvious source—borrow it! Look for lenders, compare interest rates and terms, and carefully consider how much you can comfortably borrow.
Start a religion, philosophy, or school of thought. Have something you want to share? Need followers to spread the word or sell flowers on the street for you? Get to it!
Trade or barter for anything. You don’t always need money to get what you want or need. Be open to negotiations and mutually beneficial arrangements.
Attend conferences, workshops, meetups, or pretty much any event you aren’t invited to. Not saying you should sneak in, but you could always show up and see what happens. The worst thing that can happen is someone asks you to leave!

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What Do These Things Have in Common?

There are a few common themes to the items in the list. Importantly, aside from asking for things for free, none of them require you to ask permission from someone. You have to take the permission for yourself!

As mentioned, this is an abridged list of examples. The greater point is that there are lots of things you are allowed to do, but for whatever reason you rarely think of.

For best results, don’t just think of these kinds of ideas—actually take action on them.

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