Key Takeaways
- Everybody wants to have more exciting, interesting, and adventurous travels. It’s those epic trips that make for the best stories, the best photos, an
- Wanting to find out how we can have more adventurous travels (and lives!) I sat down with scientist, influencer, adventurer, and author Jon Levy to di
- Tell everyone about yourself! My name is Jon Levy. I am a behavioral scientist, and I specialize in understanding influence and the science of advent
Everybody wants to have more exciting, interesting, and adventurous travels. It’s those epic trips that make for the best stories, the best photos, and the best memories.
Wanting to find out how we can have more adventurous travels (and lives!) Route for Less sat down with scientist, influencer, adventurer, and author Jon Levy to discuss the possibility of creating more consistent adventures.
Tell everyone about yourself! My name is Jon Levy. I am a behavioral scientist, and I specialize in understanding influence and the science of adventure. I’ve spent the last decade traveling around the world trying to understand what causes people to live fun, exciting, and fulfilling lives. What I discovered was that every adventure follows a four-stage process that can make any person’s life more adventurous. I chronicled these discoveries in a book called The 2 AM Principle: Discover the Science of Adventure.
What is “the 2 AM principle?” I hear nothing good happens after that time! Nothing good happens after 2am — except the most epic experiences of your life!
The book is about my research and discoveries in the science of adventure. It includes some outrageous stories of my life: I get crushed by a bull in Pamplona. I beat Kiefer Sutherland in drunken Jenga, then he forgets that he invited me to his family Thanksgiving, which we both realize when I show up. Within 10 seconds of meeting, I convince the woman at the duty-free checkout counter in Stockholm airport to quit her job and travel with me.
When people go on adventures, they will often try to push the experience long past the point of enjoyment. As a result, they remember the experience less fondly and are less likely to participate in the future. The 2am principle is the idea that there is a clear time when you should call it a night and go to bed — or you should push onward and make the experience more “EPIC.” What do I mean by EPIC?
I discovered that every adventure follows a four-stage process: Establish, Push Boundaries, Increase, and Continue (EPIC). These stages have specific characteristics that when applied make life exciting. The best part is: anyone can use the process.
In the book, I explore the science that makes this possible, so that any person can lead a more adventurous life. All they have to do is follow the process.
For example, there’s a simple idea called the peak-end rule. Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Fredrickson found that human beings judge an experience based on the peaks and the end, not its entirety.
Imagine that you are having one of the best dates of your life. However, at the end, your date turns to you and says the most awful thing that you ever heard. It might be something that completely contradicts your values or that you find offensive. If someone were to ask you later how your date went, you would say it was terrible. In reality, it was three hours of good and three seconds of terrible.
This means that we need to understand when to end an adventure, and when to keep going. Often you are better off ending early and on a good note. Otherwise you could end up at a pizza place at 4 in the morning trying to convince your friends to keep going. The fact is if you don’t end positively, you will remember the experience less fondly, and be less likely to participate in opportunities in the future.
What made you decide to write this book? I think what inspired me most were movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; I wanted to understand how those characters did what they did. I wanted to understand what it would take for me to live a life that is worthy of Hollywood.
I was a geek growing up — and back then, there was no such thing as a cool geek. I thought that my love of science could help me figure out how to fit in. This book is really for the ones that didn’t quite fit in, who didn’t know how to act at a party or maybe never even got invited.
Is there really a science to adventure? Undoubtedly, yes, there’s a science to just about anything that you want to do. As a species, humans have certain universal characteristics. What excites me might be different from what excites you, but we both experience excitement. That means that we are both capable of having adventurous lives. As I define it, an adventure has these characteristics:
- It’s exciting and remarkable – The experience is worth talking about. As a species, we’ve spent millennia passing on our knowledge orally. If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not culturally relevant.
- It possesses adversity and/or risk (preferably perceived risk) – You have to overcome something. Although our brains process imminent peril (a snake biting you) differently than a perceived risk (looking over the edge of a mountain), the physical response is incredibly similar. You can participate in activities that are frightening but incredibly safe. It is the difference between climbing Everest and skydiving. Almost no one ever gets hurt skydiving.
- It brings about growth – You are changed by the experience. You will notice that in every great hero or heroine’s journey, the participant is changed from the experience. They have a greater capacity and skill set in the end compared to when they started. The true gift of an adventure is not just the stories you will tell, but the person you become in the process.
If you’re ready to design more intentional, transformative, and joyful adventures — whether across the globe or in your own neighborhood — the EPIC framework offers a practical, research-backed roadmap. At Route for Less, we believe adventure isn’t reserved for outliers — it’s a skill, and one anyone can cultivate.
