First, Be Funny
One of the many lessons my comedy background taught me is the importance of understanding one’s professional priority. This is why —in the first month cutting my teeth in comedy — I came up with a little line of self talk: “First, be funny.”
I uttered those words to myself multiple times per week — especially while taking the stage! “First, be funny.” Three words that clearly defined the primary objective for which I was paid.
Situation, Expectation, and Success
Showbiz aside, each of us plays a role and has a professional priority.
What’s yours? Do you know? Ask yourself these three questions:
Why was I hired / why was I placed in this situation?
What does the client / employer expect of me?
What does a successful outcome look like?
When you know why people do business with you, their expectation, and what success looks (and feels like) to your “audience,” your professional priority is clarified.
Are You Performing?
A comedians primary objective is humor. When the lights come on, it’s time to deliver. The audience doesn’t care if you’re tired, jet-lagged, sick, hung over, going through a break up, stressed out, or dealing with behind the scenes issues. It’s your job to bring laughs. Period.
There are plenty of people whose professional priorities should be just as clear, yet they fail. The plumber’s job is to fix your pipes. But if the plumber shows up late, or worse yet, no-shows, did he or she perform their primary objective? What if the plumber arrives, only to inform you they don’t have the right parts on the truck, or makes some other excuse?
Every day, in every industry — and especially in the public sector — we see people fail to perform the primary objective for which they were paid.
First, Be Funny
There is a reason you were hired to do what you do. Are you delivering?
Ask yourself the three questions posed earlier. Can you clarify and prioritize your professional objective in a few words?
You’re likely never going to be a comedian. But by applying the concept of “first, be funny” to your own profession, you’ll be poised to deliver for your paying audience each time you take the stage.
Damian Mason is a business person, farm owner, author, podcaster, speaker, consultant, and former comedian who’s still fairly humorous. Find him at www.damianmason.com