Hey Reader,

My sister, Nia, completed a 26-mile charity walk last weekend for Alzheimer’s UK, in memory of our late dad.

13 hours and 43 minutes out there and nearly 5,000 feet of climbing.

It meant a lot to us because he suffered from dementia.

But her words after the marathon were: “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Never, ever, ever, ever doing that again.”

It reminded me of the idea of “type 3 fun.”

Something that feels awful in the moment and stays awful.

Type 1 fun is fun while you’re doing it.

Type 2 fun feels awful in the moment but feels great after you’ve done it.

I could tell she experienced type 3 fun.

But let’s take a closer look at type 2 fun.

🧠 It’s all part of the process

Most of us have been in a version of what Nia went through.

Not necessarily on a mountain in Wales, but somewhere that felt just as long and just as hard.

And somewhere in the middle of it, you had that same thought.

Never doing this again.

But it’s quite interesting how soon after, you feel great about it. Like, “Yes, I did it!”

And you’re already thinking about doing it again.

Or even doing something harder or crazier.

That’s type 2 fun right there.

What’s funny is the pain we feel in the process and immediately after, before the happy part is all part of the reward.

Sounds silly, but why do you feel great later?

What exactly made you feel proud?

Think about it, it’s the sacrifices and the things you’d never done before to make that goal a reality.

It’s the fact that you achieved it despite how hard it was.

It’s safe to say that the pain is all part of the reward.

And it’s okay to feel it and let it out if you have to.

❤️ What keeps you going anyway

You’re chasing greatness, so you’re going to do hard things you haven’t done before.

It’s going to get hard as hell.

There’s no sugarcoating that.

You can have the training, strategy, plan, or preparation in place, and still hit a wall.

You need a stronger reason not to fall back when it gets tough.

Something close to your heart to hold onto.

Your why.

It’s the key thing that makes the awful part bearable.

It reminds you that there’s a purpose beyond you.

It has a way of keeping you a little at ease.

A way of making the suffering all worth it.

I can imagine when Nia was somewhere around hour ten, with blisters, dark skies, and miles still to go, she wasn’t thinking about the finish line.

She thought about our dad, and that’s what carried her through 26 miles.

So what are you working on right now that feels so hard?

There’s one question worth going back to.

Why does it matter to you?

Once you’re clear on that, the awful part may not feel like a good enough reason to quit.

You’ve got this.

And if you’ve just had your fair share of a type 2 fun experience, I’m proud of you too.

Keep going.

With appreciation,

Huw

P.S: We had a good chat about this idea of type 2 fun on this week’s pod.

I also shared how I showed up to the 15th Harvard Business School reunion, “two stones lighter,” and barely anyone recognized me.

You’ll find more interesting topics there too.

Take a listen here.​

Ep 14. We committed to a 90K... Jun 23 · Two Average Runners 50:18   ​

Huw Edwards Founder & CEO, h3.xyz​

Our next episode drops on Tuesday

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