At this past weekend’s performance a couple developments. The first is that I no longer feel like a beginner. I’m far from mastery, but I’m not sweating just to go on stage, nor struggling to work up the nerve to write, nor wondering what to work on. You learn fast when everything is new, though it’s hardest then. I’m still at the stage of learning fast since I have so[…] Keep reading →

Several people from the audience said they liked the second part of this performance, saying it spoke to them, or something like that. I should be writing my next book, with the deadline for my first draft approaching, but I had the idea for these bits and couldn’t resist trying them. It’s funny that my first attempt, only a few months ago, took me months to prepare. This one I[…] Keep reading →

I’m happy with my latest performance despite the flub in the last seconds. My stage delivery didn’t get as many laughs as the times I practiced the routine with friends, which I attribute to inexperience and needing to practice more, but I’m forgiving about the result. Of the million things to learn to master it I can only learn a few at a time. I’m discovering value from developing the[…] Keep reading →

I lost my place for a few seconds, but otherwise, I think, improving. While I hope to improve my skills at making people laugh, my long-term goal is to develop more social and emotional skills of leadership, as I teach and coach my students and clients. I live and practice what I teach and coach. I’m doing this to Face and overcome anxiety Empathize with people Find and express universal[…] Keep reading →

I didn’t always love performing. Before writing a sketch and performing in the sketch comedy class play in business school, called Follies, I avoided the stage. That performance experience became one of the most amazing, transformative experiences of my life. It opened me up to emotional awareness and expression beyond any expectations. I knew I would perform more, despite the anxiety the mere thought of it created. Taking Meisner technique[…] Keep reading →

I’ve quoted Martha Graham many times. At last I got the video of her saying the words. She describes how a performer achieves freedom through conforming and discipline better than anyone, in my opinion. I believe what she says holds for any active, emotional, expressive, social, performance-based field, including leadership and entrepreneurship. The dancer is realistic. His craft teaches him to be. Either the foot is pointed or it is[…] Keep reading →

30 Years of Love in the Time of Cholera Love in the Time of Cholera appeared in English thirty years ago this month. Two years later — owing to a crush on a pretty British girl I took classes with in Paris, or more precisely her roommate, who volunteered at the English Language Library for the Blind — I read the book onto tape there. I suppose many blind English-speaking Parisians have heard my recounting.[…] Keep reading →