In one of my many past careers, back in the 1980s, I was a comedy agent. Seriously. I represented a variety of comedians, including Jay Leno & Jerry Seinfeld at one point, My role was to book an immensely talented roster in gigs at colleges across the country. 

During this time, I spent a lot of my time assessing new rising stars, as well as closely observing long established pros like Alan King and Jackie Mason. I watched comedians in all kinds of venues like Dangerfields, Catch A Rising Star, Carolines, EastSide Comedy & other clubs — witnessing Colin Quinn, Chris Rock, Bob Nelson, Eddie Murphy, Richie Minervini, Larry Amarose, Rosie O’Donnell, Joy Behar, Tim Allen and many, many others work out their routines for shows.  I observed that a lot of their creativity came from looking at everyday situations and asking: What’s wrong with this picture?  

While these years were filled with lots of laughter, they were ironically also one of my more dark and lonely periods. 

As such they were quite formative. In retrospect I know I learned a lot about process and problem solving.

When faced with a problem or a difficult decision, it’s helpful to apply some abstract critical thinking just like a good comedian does when they look at everyday life as a source of material to develop their act.  

All of us can learn to better assess problems or challenges by asking: What’s missing or wrong with the picture? What is working? What isn’t? What if I changed X and did Y? Why not do that? What might happen next? Why? What do I need to do to get ready? 

By risking questioning any situation, we expose our assumptions and are better able to get things out in the open that might need greater exposure. 

We’re all ready for our personal showtime. We just have to continually risk looking at things a bit differently. 

Silver Disobedience® philosophy believes all healthy relationships begin with self-awareness. I’m @DianGriesel aka @SilverDisobedience ✨ I am a Perception Analyst and I wrote The Silver Disobedience Playbook. Here, I share my Daily Meditations for other Ageless, Passionate & Curious People.  More info in my bio, my websites and at Wilhelmina New York.