The Make-It-Fun Perspective Reset
Interrupt a hard task, choose a playful lens, and change the experience.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
Drummond uses a perspective reset when commitment is intact but the experience has become miserable. Her signal is a funk marked by pushing, anger, or unhappiness. She pauses and asks what would make the same task easy or fun, often borrowing the imagination of her five-year-old self. The external work may not change: building ice walls remains cold and heavy, climbing remains demanding, and cold calling still produces rejection. What changes is the frame and the energy available for continuing. She adds concrete play mechanics, such as a toy gun or basketball shot after a rejected call, so the reset is behavioral rather than merely positive thinking. The output is renewed engagement with the required task, often with better morale for the people nearby.
Origin
Drummond connected playful perspective shifts from Everest and other climbs with the games she used to make repetitive cold calling tolerable while building her business.
Core principles
- 01Perspective changes the lived experience of a fixed situation.
- 02A miserable mood is a cue to pause and redesign the experience.
- 03Play can break monotony without changing the goal.
- 04Childhood imagination can reveal a more enjoyable interpretation.
- 05Fun helps energy spread through a group.
How to run it
- 1
Catch the timeout sign
Notice when you are pushing through the task with anger, unhappiness, or a collapsing sense of energy.
Pro tip Use the mood shift as a repeatable trigger for the reset.
- 2
Ask the fun question
Pause and ask what would make the same necessary task easier or more enjoyable.
Watch out Do not use the question to deny a genuine safety problem.
- 3
Borrow a playful lens
Imagine how a child might interpret the task, or choose another frame that makes the surroundings feel more inviting.
Pro tip Drummond imagined that building protective ice walls would feel extraordinary to her five-year-old self.
- 4
Add a physical play cue
Turn the new perspective into a small game, prop, movement, or ritual that interrupts monotony.
Pro tip After rejected cold calls, Drummond used a toy gun or took a basketball shot before making the next call.
- 5
Re-enter the work
Resume the unchanged task and assess whether the new frame restores energy and makes continued effort easier.
Watch out If the reset repeatedly fails, the task may need redesign rather than another attitude change.
In the wild
Pink goggles changed how Drummond saw a whiteout on the Lhotse Face. She imagined cotton candy, Candy Land, and a watermelon rind and spent hours dancing and having fun. When the goggles moved, the gray, freezing conditions became immediately miserable to her.
→ The same climb felt radically different as her visual frame and imagination changed.
While building her business through cold calling, Drummond used a sponge-ball toy gun after hang-ups and kept a basketball hoop nearby. The playful action broke up rejection and monotony before the next call.
→ She created a repeatable reset that helped her return to the calls required to build her book of business.
Common mistakes
Relying on abstract positivity
Drummond paired the new perspective with concrete props, games, memories, and actions.
Changing the goal instead of the experience
The reset is designed for a goal already chosen; it changes how the task is experienced, not whether the task matters.
Keeping the reset private
Drummond emphasizes bringing people with you and describes enthusiasm spreading through a group.
Is it for you?
Best for
People who must continue a safe but monotonous, uncomfortable, or frustrating task.
Not ideal for
Situations where play would distract from immediate safety, grief, or a problem that requires a structural fix.
From the transcript
“your perspective changes your experience on every level of everything you're doing.”
“if this is hard, what would make it easy? What would make it fun?”
“What perspective do I need to have to make this fun?”
From the episode
First Woman to Climb the 7 Second Summits ft. Jenn Drummond
Jenn Drummond