You Have to Commit

I was coaching someone on a public speaking talk that they were giving the other day.  As this guy was running his prepared speech by me there was a section of the talk that included some humor. As he explained the joke, I thought it was so funny and I also felt him pulling back just a little bit as he told it.  I can relate!  Isn’t that what we all are tempted naturally to do when we create something, and put it out there for the world?  We are tempted to pull back just a little (or a lot) with this question inside, “do you like my art?” While I was coaching this guy, my advice to him was this: “If you’re going to tell that joke live, you’ve just got to commit. You’ve got to decide you’re going to do it and then just put it out there full force no matter if people laugh at your joke or not.”  Well he did, and it worked, and I was so proud of him for taking the risk to put his art out there. Even if it hadn’t worked, I’d still be proud because we need more people to risk, to dare greatly, to take a chance at adding value/joy/insight/art to this broken world. And when you choose to commit, we are all better for it. I am better for it.