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Something from Nothing

I was flipping through late night TV this week, when I looked up and caught a glimpse of Jerry Seinfeld. This should hardly come as a surprise since Seinfeld reruns are in heavy rotation on the syndication circuit. Strangely, I saw Jerry but there was no puffy shirt, no soup Nazi, no contest, and no sponge-worthiness. (Serenity now!)

It turns out that I had landed on TV Land's "Sit Down Comedy", a show hosted by stand-up legend David Steinberg. Jerry was David's guest in this "Actor's Guild" for stand up comedians. In the interview (available for your viewing pleasure on TVLand.com), Jerry shared his experiences before, during, and after his famous series. He spoke about some of his successes, and he shared some of his failures along the way.

At one point, Jerry described one of his earliest acting experiences on the 1980s show "Benson" starring Robert Guillaume. After appearing in two episodes, Jerry showed up on the set for the week's table read. He looked around for his script, but he abruptly learned that he'd been dropped from the show. Too bad nobody had mentioned this minor detail to Jerry.

Hey, we've all been there, right? I don't mean on a Hollywood set with Benson, but we all face setbacks from time to time. We invest ourselves, and we get our hopes up. We think things are going along swimmingly, and just when we least expect it - blammo!

When things go wrong, we often focus our attention on the setback when we really need to focus on how we're going to respond to the challenge. Since so many things are out of our control, we need to retain our control over our attitudes, our mindset, and our determination to succeed.

Fortunately for loyal Seinfeld fans out there, that's just what Jerry did.

He described his unsanctimonious dismissal from Benson as a "great experience". (What the?) He described feeling so angry that they had the power to take that away from him. That temporary setback only redoubled his commitment. He focused on his writing and his stand-up comedy. Soon, he was knockin' 'em dead on Carson's Tonight Show and Letterman's Late Show.

A few years passed, and then NBC approached Jerry about doing a show. By this point, Seinfeld already had a career, thank you very much. When he decided that he wanted to do a show about nothing alongside Larry David, Jerry had tremendous control. His response to that early failure and his subsequent determination to succeed now allowed him to call the shots.

Even if you can't deliver one-liners in front of millions of people, you have the same ability to respond to life's challenges with grace and confidence. You can stand up to challenges, and you can overcome personal obstacles. You can be bigger than those problems, and you can assure yourself that if you stay focused - you'll prevail. There's no need to quit when there's no quit in you!

Jerry has found a way to make me laugh for years. The interview this week helped me think about the trials and tribulations that take place off camera. It reminded me how successful people overcome mammoth problems in a very simple way: they control their mindset and they control their behavior.

Comedians. Is there anything they don't know? Next week - Dave Chappelle shares his tips on @#$%-ing a *&^%$! as a way to achieve your full potential.

Coaching Quickie: Something from Nothing

Check back next week for results!

Last Week's Results

Coaching Quickie: Leftovers, Again?
How would you characterize your current efforts to achieve your life goals?

(50%) Appetizer - Bite-sized morsels that don't seem to fill me up.
(17%) Main course - Heaping helpings of the good stuff. Yum.
(33%) Dessert - Something I treat myself to once in awhile.
(00%) Leftovers - If I finish everything else and have some time left over, I may get to them.