While I have been an audience member many times, this past season I was also involved heavily in the production side through my work with RocketHouse. Of all the work that the position required, I’m most proud of the new video monitoring system I developed. It gives the speakers an enhanced view of their slides so they always know exactly where they are in their presentations. I’m very glad to have created that new system because for the final show of their ninth season I was asked to also be one of the speakers. (That didn’t remove me from my technical responsibilities, however.)

The theme of the night was “Not.” All of the speakers, myself included, had to find a way to incorporate that theme into their talks. There was a wide variety even within that very simple theme (including one presenter who has a PhD in knots). I chose to talk about rejection, or, to stay on theme, every time I’ve heard the phrase, “not you.” That’s all I’ll mention about it because you watch the full presentation with the embedded slides in the video below.

If it’s a format that you enjoyed you can learn more about upcoming Calgary PechaKucha nights by visiting their website. While there you can also nominate speakers that you think might be a good fit for the format (even yourself). Their next season resumes in September and I know I’ll be there making sure that future presentations go well.

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1. Blaming a calendar year for all the personal troubles.
2. Stating that the next calendar year will definitely be much better.
3. Admitting to already failing at achieving the resolution.

Twelve months from now the cycle will repeat. Hope quickly turns to disappointment. Somewhere between now and then we all seem to forget that we’ll be pretty much the same people on January 1 that we were on December 31.

I’ve always tried to steer clear of traditional resolutions. In fact, I usually avoid anything that looks too much like “goal setting” as it’s taught. Goals have never seemed all that effective to me. I’ve been told the, often patronizing, advice that’s supposed to make them better. The “SMART” approach, taught in business schools and self-help seminars everywhere, extols the virtues of setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely (with a due date). While that is something that can be regurgitated during a test, it has never been effective for me personally. And, based on the aforementioned social media posts, it’s not that effective for many people that make resolutions either.

Another age-old (and equally patronizing) piece of advice surrounding goal setting is to reward yourself for successes. When making a goal you’re supposed to include a reward for when or, more accurately, if, it is achieved. This always struck me as redundant. If the benefit of achieving the goal itself isn’t enough of a reward, then I can’t imagine it was a very good goal in the first place.

In general, all this classic advice seems to go against human nature. While we like to think of ourselves as rational beings with our own best interests at heart, we still don’t save enough for retirement, don’t exercise regularly, and drink too much. (And that is very much the royal “we” I used there.) There’s a whole field of science called Behavioural Economics that uses psychology to determine just how flawed our decision making is and how to nudge people to better choices. While my interest in the actual science of that field is, at best, a hobby, it has certainly informed how I approach making decisions and achieving my objectives.

Looking back on my accomplishments (and I know in some cases calling them that is generous) I am far more likely to set myself a trap than a reward. I figured, at least subconsciously, that I’d avoid the pain of failure more diligently than I’d pursue the pleasure of a reward. For those that have doubted my approach, I always ask: do you think you’d run faster towards a pile of money or away from an attacking lion?

As an example, when I decided to embark on 260 Minutes, I set myself a trap. I made the project public and invited people to follow along. While, yes, this had some publicity benefits, its true purpose was to ensure I couldn’t back out for fear of the shaming I would endure. The sheer joy of successfully completing the year was great, but I knew that if I had failed the snide remarks from my peers (“Hows that 55 Minutes project going?”) would have been far more painful. Avoiding that experience, the trap, pushed me through the lows of the project at least a couple of times.

Regardless of what we choose to call these – goals, objectives, resolutions – or how we go about achieving them, there’s a certain progression. You decide what it is that you want and then you go and get it. This year I’ve been thinking a lot more about instances when that first step never happens. You have a success or an achievement and only realize in hindsight that it is indeed a success or achievement. It’s something that you would never have set out to do but are still grateful for it, you may even take some pride in it.

These surprises are a result, I think, of our naivety. When entering any industry it’s easy to see the biggest picture. In show business, you can see television appearances at major festivals around the world or on late night shows. In other industries, it could be the most prestigious position or the largest paycheck. While those big things are crystal clear from day one and tend to form our stated goals, the hundreds of steps along the way are nearly invisible to you at that time. They are all important and they can show you that you’re making progress even when the biggest goal is still far from being achieved. This sense of accomplishment can sometimes be a much-needed shot of motivation.

These surprise successes will, obviously, be different for everyone. They’re not necessarily pinned up on dream/vision boards. For me, this year, these surprises have included access to knowledgeable people in my industry (the types of people that can/will answer questions when I have them), acknowledgement and compliments from peers whom I respect, and the opportunity to see how different shows are created and produced. When I was starting out as a performer there is no way I could have guessed at the specifics of these or any other tiny steps but I know now that they’re leading me onto something much bigger. I’m using the start of this year to take inventory of them and it has made me incredibly grateful.

If you’ve set yourself resolutions for 2018 (and haven’t yet completed the usual “cycle” by giving in to failure) be on the lookout for these surprises. They could help keep you on track and excited to see your lofty objectives through – as they have for me on more than one occasion.

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On our episode, Marcus and I talked about many different topics including dogs (specifically my dog because I talk of little else) and the nature of taking offence. We talked a lot about how stand-up comedy fairs in a social media world. If at any point we sound like experts that would sure be nice, but trust that it is entirely accidental.

I must confess I wasn’t sure how this would turn out. Most of the areas of discussion that we found were heretofore only a fleeting thought that I never really fleshed out. Add to that the muddiness of a head cold during the recording and I left wondering what Marcus would pull from the conversation. Turns out it’s mostly coherent! The ideas that need work I’ll mull over and develop – which is to say that I’ll mull over all of it in one way or another for quite some time. Nothing is ever really done changing and evolving (and we discuss that in a way as well).

For future updates and episodes from Citizencast be sure to follow along on Facebook or Twitter. I know that Marcus’ hope is to pull guests from a wide range of backgrounds to find out “what makes them tick” so the future of the podcast promises a great deal of variety. The up to date list of all the episodes can always be seen and listened to on SoundCloud.

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It all kicked off with a spot on Comedy Monday Night. While I have performed there many times this was made even more special by the fact that this was part of their YYComedy Festival show (and the first night of the fest!). It was a great way to start the week – a packed house ready to have a great time.

Next up, and also part of YYComedy, was An Evening with Steve Patterson & Guests. I was one of the “guests” and acted as host for the show starring Steve Patterson. As you likely know, Steve’s best known for hosting The Debaters on CBC Radio. You may not know he’s also the two-time winner of Best Male Stand-Up Comedian in Canada (and he showed us all why that night). This was a special treat for me to share the stage with him as, up until now, I’ve only ever worked with him behind the scenes of The Debaters LIVE On Tour. Since February of this year, I’ve been helping with tour and stage management for that show so it was a pleasure to be on the other side of the curtain with him.

Friday night was the first of two shows with the Jake Hirsch Entertainment Group. The first night was in Calgary at a brand new show in Bonasera North. As this was the premiere show the audience was certainly small but, I think, enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Hopefully, it’s a show that continues and builds a following. Regardless of crowd size, I was pleased to be on the bill. Shows like that, at least for me, tend to be more playful and loose.

The very next morning I was hitting the road for the long drive to Fort McMurray. There I would open for my buddy, Trent McClellan, at his sold-out theatre show for 600 people! Suffice to say it was a tremendous amount of fun and the audience was into it right from the moment I walked out on stage. After the stand-up portion of this show, we tried something new: Trent fielded questions from the audience and I moderated (as well as I knew how to moderate something). We didn’t know how it would go but the crowd brought really thoughtful questions and made it into something that we definitely want to try again.

Weeks like this last one don’t happen often but when they do I’m very grateful. Thanks to everyone mentioned above and the countless others that were also performing on shows and organizing behind the scenes.

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Trent is about to join the cast of CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes so it was great to get a couple of more shows with him before he moves to Halifax. Starting this fall, be sure to check him out on TV every week.

While Trent and I were on stage, Jake was busy snapping photos for us. Some of the best are featured below. Thanks, Jake, for forwarding these!

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If you’ve seen any of my recent shows you know that I talk a lot about my dog, a corgi named Molly. She’s become a big part of my life given her demanding nature and my being a pushover. I’d hoped to find a way to share her cuteness with the world beyond her own Instagram account. Thanks to a 3D printer I received as a gift at Christmas I’m now able to do just that by way of a Corgi Cookie Cutter!

Like most things in my life (including becoming a stand-up comedian) this is definitely not something that I expected. In playing with what my new 3D printer could do I stumbled into making an owl cookie cutter – images of which got more love on social media than most of my posts ever do. Everyone thought that the owl was “cute” and “adorable” and that’s an animal that poops out of its mouth! Surely I could make another design out of something a little less gross. Thankfully, at that moment, my dog’s bladder was apparently about to burst. Her head popped up onto my lap and, after a walk to prevent the imminent explosion, I began a new design based on her.

A couple of prototypes were made, images of which were shared online and they (rightfully) got even more attention than a face-pooping bird. Many people were asking for their own so I perfected the design and started shipping them out.

I then remembered that most of my fans are also avid bakers (obviously) so decided it would be fun to sell these adorable baking accessories after shows, I will also be selling accessories for baby strollers from these reviews for baby strollers. On Tuesday night I started to do just that but didn’t want to leave people out that couldn’t make it to an upcoming show so I’ve started selling them online for $20.00 including tax and shipping.

You can order yours today and be showing off your new and improved cookies within a week!

PS: If you do get your very own corgi cookie cutter be sure to share the results with #corgicookies on social media so I can see how it goes!

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• The web pages concerning No Backup Plan (its sale, production and the like) have been combined into one location. You can now see all the behind the scenes details and purchase your copy for $5 all on this page.
• The 260 Minutes video archive can be seen on this page. That includes all 52 original sets and the nine Overtime sets.
• If you’d like periodic updates about upcoming shows and new releases I’m offering, you can now join my newsletter on the Contact page.
• Speaking of shows… my updated “Upcoming Shows” page now has more information about each appearance including related links and direct ticket purchase links when available.

Should you notice anything that’s missing, incorrect or incomplete please send an email with what’s wrong and I’ll have that fixed right away.

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I was asked to be a part of his December 7, 2016 edition of the show taking place at Yuk Yuk’s Calgary. As part of the appearance I performed some stand-up comedy (which didn’t quite make it to the CBC airwaves) and sat down for an interview centred largely around my last year of being a new dog owner.

Thanks very much to Russell Bowers for having me be part of it! You can listen online below or by clicking here.

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