What I Learned About Life from Comedy
Today I got the awesome opportunity to go see Trevor Noah at the Amyway Center in Orlando! What a cool experience.
Some really generous friends invited me because they had an extra ticket and little did I know I was in for a really fun opportunity.
I didn’t quite realize how big of a deal they were because when we showed up, we parked in spot that DEFINITELY wasn’t a spot (ya know those parking spaces with lines in them? Yeah they just told us to park there…!?), got personally walked past the line and into a suite seat. NEAT!
We got to see two opening acts before Trevor Noah. I honestly don’t remember the name of the first guy, but the second opener was Josh Johnson and boy was he hilarious! Turns out he’s a writer on the Daily Show so it makes sense that he would be touring with Trevor!
All this to say, everyone was hilarious and I could not stop laughing during the whole show! But as I was listening to Trevor and others perform, I couldn’t help but contemplate on this idea,
“What makes them so good?”
The idea of standup routines intrigues and astounds me because I think about how I could never figure out how to write my own. As I reflect, however, I think about some words a friend of mine, Roman Katowski, shared with me when he wrote and performed a “roast” for a friend:
“Nail your transitions”
It can’t be that easy though, right? I mean, you have to write JOKES that are ORIGINAL and be FUNNY!
But the more I listened to these professional comedians, the more I realized each joke was perfectly setup to transition to a new topic. It made the show feel seemless because you could never feel an uncomfortable pause or break. How everything fit together led to the overall excellence of the show and each performer.
This got me thinking about how it’s the same in life too. Every single day we are coming up with “original content” that hasn’t been done before. Every single season of life is all one big joke. It could be said that one of the greatest indicators for success in life is how we tackle and approach TRANSITION.
When you move from one period of time to the next, what sets you apart is how you handle the in-between. Do you dwell too much on the past? Do you look too forward? Are you consciously thinking about how what happened prepared you for what is happening?
“When you move from one period of time to the next, what sets you apart is how you handle the in-between.”
One of the key success drivers when any new employee takes on a new position is how fast they can move from “consuming value” from the employer towards “producing value” for the overall company. Same with even the President of the United States! When a new candidate takes office, everyone looks at their “First 90 Days” and it can be an indicator for how the rest of their presidency will go.
I want to be better at transitions. Here’s how I’m going to practice this skill:
- Gratitude — Consistently looking at past experiences with a feeling of thankfulness and joy while simultaneously approaching new opportunities with excitement and gratefulness
- Growth Mindset — Always looking for ways to improve what I’ve done and what I can implement to practice what I haven’t accomplished.
- Reflect — Taking purposeful time away to think about how I am in the here and now. Sitting and processing how past situations link to the present in future.
I don’t know much, but I do know this: you’re probably in a transition right now, whether you realize it or not. It’s up to you to determine how you handle it. How are you going to nail your transitions?
