I do standup comedy, partly as professional development for my job as a keynote speaker, but mostly because I love it. (There's nothing quite as intoxicating as standing onstage with a microphone making an entire room howl.)
Only love will make you hoof it downtown in a snowstorm, walk into a strange bar by yourself (as a woman, no less), descend a dark staircase in four-inch heels, and deliver jokes in front of strangers in a cavernous club.
At 11:30pm.
As the 12th comic.
For people half your age.
That was my latest open mic experience, and it taught me a lot about myself. I realized that I highly value becoming the best possible performer I can be (as a standup comic, improv artist, and keynote speaker) because of my commitment to the one thing we all MUST have to improve in any area: STAGE TIME.
Whatever you want to be great at lies in getting more stage time. More at-bats. More practice. More focused hours. It's just the way it works, and life sometimes (ok, often) isn't convenient. It snowy. It's cold. It's lonely. It's late. It's scary.
People who are rock stars in their fields push through pain to get the stage time they need to improve. What is your commitment to putting in more time to excel at that which you love?
Theresa Rose is a business motivational speaker, award-winning author and expert on mindful productivity who helps organizations and their teams make more time, get more done, earn more money and have more fun. Her mission is to inspire and energize as many people as humanly possible to make more mindful choices so that they may improve their lives, their businesses, and their world. For more information, visit TheresaRose.com.