We're happier when busy

Like most self-employed people I enjoy being busy.

Recently I came across a really interesting study in the Psychological Science journal that says that human beings are happier when busy even though we're usually more inclined towards idleness.  I'm especially intrigued by new thinking in airport design whereby the distance you need to travel to get to baggage reclaim is increased so less time is spent standing around waiting.

Thick & thin

A couple of London's longer-running comedy rooms closed recently. Nothing especially unusual about this as there's a natural rate of turnover in the industry.

A couple of the promoters (anyone who cajoles a pub landlord into giving over his upstairs room for comedy is a 'promoter') have mourned the passing of their nights on the Chortle website. There's a consistency in their moanings that has been picked up elsewhere.  Somehow London's comedy-going audiences are simultaneously too thin to be profitably shared amongst all the clubs and too thick to be relied upon to find their way to the 'quality' nights (i.e. the ones run by the writers).

As in Edinburgh, bizarre forebodings of a form of Gresham's Law prevail. The hand-wringing prediction that cheaper, low quality nights will somehow drive out the better gigs that pay their acts is pathetic. If you think so little of your audience before they enter the room what chance that they'll be treated well once the show starts?

Improv history

Way back when.

An eighth of a second

Kevin Kelly is republishing his wonderfully prescient New Rules for the New Economy, first written in 1998.  I wasn't all that aware of Kelly ten years ago so it's all new to me.

In a post entitled From Places to Spaces he turns on its head an old Tom Peters maxim that cheaper products made in the developing world, American manufacturing's worst nightmare, are now just an eighth of a second away; this being the time that it takes to communicate an order from one side of the globe to the other.  But as Kelly points out: -

The good news is that those geographically far away competitors will never be any closer than an eighth of a second.  And for many things in life, that is too far away 

The trainer in me really likes this idea.  So does the comedian.  Both jobs happen in real time and I thrive on the intimacy that comes of standing at the front of a room and changing the way the audience thinks or what it feels.  By Kelly's logic the feedback loop between speaker and listener has a margin for error of less than an eighth of a second.  This is why I travel for work.

Enough of life thrives on subtle instantaneous responses that one-eighth of a second kills intimacy and spontaneity

If the secret of comedy is 'timing' then an eighth of a second is more than long enough to be the difference between success and failure, between laughter and silence.

Beginners' mind

I'm on my way to Zurich for a kick-off meeting for a new project. It's a new client, new product and new therapy area so I've spent the last few days immersed in the detail.

For me this periodic requirement to start from scratch and quickly learn the intricacies of a new field is one of the chief joys of consultancy work. I enjoy the sense that I've gone from zero knowledge about an area to maybe 85% comprehension in a matter of days.

I think that much of this pleasure comes from what Zen philosophy calls 'the beginners' mind': -

Having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject

I trust in my ability to quickly learn enough to ask intelligent if somewhat naive questions. In fact it's the quality of these questions that dictate my worth as a consultant.

Being paid to be a constant beginner can be liberating but of course it comes with a caveat: 85% comprehension is a very long way from mastery; tomorrow I need to know just enough to help my clients see their world through fresh eyes.

Understanding expectations, then meeting them

Max Dickens has a great essay on the Chortle website that presents a refreshing take on the hackneyed debate about the merits or otherwise of 'mainstream comedy'.  The essence of the piece seems to be: -

1. Understand the expectations of your audience even if these are unstated or even unrecognised
2. Please your audience by meeting those expectations
3. Don't worry about anything else

In other words: -

Don't pretend to be someone you're not and don't pretend that your audience is something that it isn't

Longform

Many improvisers divide the craft into 'longform' and 'shortform'.  Longform is certainly harder to master and therefore see as a sort of holy grail by many. 

LONGFORM – An extended improvisational format.  Sometimes used by improv teams who find that the break between the short sketches they present gives audience members a chance to leave.

Jerry Schaeffer's Devils Dictionary for Improvisational Theatre

A fool and his time are easily parted

Over 50% of all American teens see themselves as 'content providers'.  Seth Godin exhorts his acolytes to above all else 'ship' (i.e. focus on the act of completing a project rather than its quality).  500 shows at the Edinburgh were free.  Prosumer technology abounds.  This August Twitter had 96 million unique users.

We are all producers now.  The financial cost of entry to a vast array of creative endeavours is approaching zero which means every moment we're not at work we're on the horns of a dilemma: -

Do I spend the next hour consuming someone else's creativity or producing my own?

But if you're serious about being self-employed in a creative field then this zero sum game should haunt your every waking moment.

Unless you're actively working on a sitcom script then watching Arrested Development reruns isn't 'research' its 'leisure'.  This is fine provided you label it as such.  Same with reading your favourite Blogs instead of writing your own or slipping into the back of a gig when you told yourself you'd be writing new material.  A stand-up comic on the UK circuit can even convince himself that time spent on Facebook is a bit like work.  Time spent reading this Blog is time you're not creating something worthwhile.

Likewise time spent writing it.  There's a hierarchy of creative activities:-

- a Tweet is not that Blog post
- a Blog post is not that new joke
- a new joke is not that sitcom pitch
- a sitcom pitch is not that novel or short story or screenplay or business plan

A fool and his time, etc.