30 to 1

This is a photo of my first ever keynote presentation, I think the client was General Motors in Las Vegas, (don't think they ever paid me). Actually, it was my families back garden when my sisters and I put on an impromptu concert for the neighbours. I think I was reciting a poem about a car, the poem lasted all of 20 seconds (nerves!! - I suspect). Almost 60 years later, the speeches last longer but I still speak with my hands in my pockets and still rarely wear a tie. 

One of the most common questions, which I get asked still is. "How do I become a better speaker"? The answer hasn't changed in 40 years - "write more, present more.....get stage time whenever and wherever you can". When I was a stand-up comedian back in Los Angeles and London, I can honestly say those who went on to become household names, were the hardest working. When they were not officially doing a gig, a club, TV, private function, corporate, they would be driving around the comedy clubs every evening looking for a 5-minute slot, to work on their stuff, to find the gold from within the jumble of their as yet unformed 'funny ideas'.  

I had then and still have today a 30 to 1 rule. Which remains true. When writing material, 30 minutes writing will produce 1 minute of good useable content. When I read the biographies and life stories of comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Woody Allen, and Steve Martin. Their pre-fame work rate was off the scale, it was immense. I doubt many of us put that level of effort. The first line of Steve Martins biography Born Standing Up, "I did stand up comedy for eighteen years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success".

I wish I had known that when I was a four-year-old boy nervously reciting my little poem all too quickly. That the more you put in with passion and purpose directed towards a meaningful goal, the more you get out.