Type 2 fun: why the hard thing is the good thing.
By James Carter · Founder, Be Legendary
The short answer
Type 2 fun is miserable while it happens and meaningful once it's done — the hard climb, the cold night, the brutal push you'll tell stories about for years. Type 1 feels good now; Type 2 changes you. Growth lives in the second kind.
Climbers named it "the fun scale." Type 1 is fun in the moment — a great dinner, a perfect ski run. Type 2 is miserable in the moment and glorious in memory — the summit you swore at, the storm you pushed through. Type 3 is never fun and best avoided. Notice which one produces the stories you actually tell.
Nobody tells the story of the comfortable weekend. The reps that changed you were all Type 2.
Here's why it matters for a leader: comfort rarely changes anyone. The experiences that expand your sense of what you're capable of are almost always the ones that were hard while you were in them. Choosing Type 2 fun on purpose — a real challenge with a real chance you'll struggle — is how you keep growing after success has made your life comfortable enough to stop.
Type 1
Fun now, forgotten soon. Pleasant, not transformative.
Type 2
Hard now, treasured later. Where growth and the stories live.
Type 3
Never fun, no upside. Skip it.
Design some on purpose
Put more Type 2 in your calendar.
The free Mindset Workouts help you choose the hard, meaningful thing on purpose — and a Misogi is Type 2 fun by design. Start with one rep.
Straight answers
Why is type 2 fun good for you?
Because comfort rarely grows anyone. Type 2 fun asks more of you than you thought you had, and hands back a bigger sense of what you're capable of — resilience, perspective and confidence that ease never builds.
What's an example of type 2 fun?
A hard alpine climb, a winter survival night, a marathon you hadn't fully trained for, a wilderness expedition. Miserable in the middle, unforgettable after. It's the whole premise behind an experiential immersion like a Shakubuku.
“James helped us turn seven groups of rivals into one leadership team. By the time US Holdings became Eagle Manufacturing Group and I moved from COO to CEO, we were no longer seven companies protecting our own territory — we were one company working toward the same outcome.”
Ronn Page · former CEO, Eagle Manufacturing Group
About the author
James Carter
Founder of Be Legendary and creator of the Flag Model™. Twenty-five years inside executive teams; co-author alongside Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard, Deepak Chopra & Brian Tracy, and featured on CNN and in Business Insider. More about James →
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