Table Of ContentTapping Your Comedy Muse
How to Maximize Creative Flow to Revolutionize Your
Writing
By Jared Volle
Copyright © 2015 by Jared Volle
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The Inescapable Truth About Writing Comedy
2. The Undisputed Champions of Flow
3. How This eBook Is Organized
The 8 Factors of Achievement
4. Motivation
5. Skills
6. Responsive Environment
How to Take Control of Creative Flow
7. The 9 Factors of Flow
1. Flow Goals
2. Using Feedback to Fuel Creative Flow
3. Balancing Challenge and Skills
4. Achieving the Ultimate Focus
5. Eliminating Distractions
6. Eliminating the Worry of Failure
7. Eliminating Self-Consciousness
8. Bending Time
9. Enjoying Every Moment of "Work"
Introduction
The Inescapable Truth About Writing Comedy
As comedians, we live and die by the material and performances we create. We aren’t paid to
write material, we’re paid to get results on stage. The audience doesn’t care how many hours you
spend writing or rewriting material. The only thing they care about is whether you’re funny that night
or not. It’s entirely up to us to use our writing time effectively.
If you want great material, you have to put in the time and effort to write it and hone it to
perfection. But not all “creativity time” is created equal. Some days you struggle and end up with only
mediocre ideas, but other days you find yourself in a creative flow where everything clicks into place
and you create some of your best material with ease. In this eBook, you’re going to learn how to
maximize your time “in the zone,” and produce killer material faster than ever before. I’m going to
give you a blueprint for getting into and then protecting your creative flow so that you can get the most
out of yourself every day.
It’s a huge promise. I know. But I’m confident in it for two reasons. First, I live what I teach.
I’ve worked with A-list comedians, built companies, and graduated with a 4.0 from the top Creativity
& Innovation Master’s program in the U.S. Achieving these goals would have been impossible if it
weren’t for my ability to consistently get into a deep creative flow while working.
Second, this eBook isn’t simply “what I think.” It summarizes the best of what motivational and
creativity scientists have found through decades of research and has translated those findings into
actionable advice for comedians. As with Faster & Funnier and Creativity For Comedians, this
eBook represents an intersection of psychology and comedy. My job is a simple one. It’s putting in the
grunt-work of going through mountains of research (admittedly, I love it), discovering ideas that can
help me succeed in comedy at ever-greater levels, testing them out in my own career, and then
translating those ideas into something that is both easy to understand and easy to apply to your comedy
career. I can do this because I’ve lived in both worlds: I’ve stood in front of audiences of 1000+
waiting for them to stop applauding so I can get to my next joke and I’ve been the nerd sitting on his
couch devouring psychology textbooks.
I don’t want to tell you what I think, I want to tell you what I KNOW works. Everything in this
eBook has been put to the test and triumphed. That means it’s something you can trust in. The process
works.
Getting The Most Out of Every Moment
Flow is the ultimate state of creativity and productivity for any creative person. Think of it as
“being in the zone.” Flow is paramount to comedians because it leads to extremely high-quality
material with less stress and wasted effort. Perhaps it is easiest to see the true benefits of flow by
looking at characteristics of non-flow.
Outside of Flow
Outside of flow, creative people often describe continual struggle: Difficulty finding creative
inspiration, hopelessly searching for ideas on where to start or “where to go from here,” and constant
second-guessing. Each step forward is usually met with another step back. In this environment, it is no
surprise that creative work comes to a standstill. Unfortunately, this is where many creative people
spend the majority of their time. But they press on because they know that when they get into a
creative flow, magic happens. All the struggling is justified by the great work they created in their
flow state. Thus, they often spend time struggling through non-flow because they know that when they
“get in the zone” the results will be worth all the trouble in the end.
Inside of Flow
However, inside of a creative flow, most people describe a feeling of invincibility; pure,
unadulterated engagement in their creative pursuit; increased self-efficacy (belief in your own ability)
and happiness; and, perhaps most importantly, the feeling of self-actualizing their creative potential.
But it’s not simply that more-creative work was done (increased quality) or that the flow-state
allowed them to do that work for a longer period of time (increased quantity).
The true power of creative flow lies in reaching a point of self-actualization. In flow, we don’t
feel like we are “doing creative things.” We feel like we are being the creative person we were
always meant to be. It is no surprise that such powerful emotions have lead to the greatest creative
ideas the world has ever seen.
This power is available to all. Those that understand the mechanics of flow are able to
consistently enter that state again and again, regardless of industry or circumstance.
The Undisputed Champions of Flow
In the next few pages I’m going to show you how a group of “lazy” people are consistently able
to:
put extreme focus …
into a mentally difficult activity …
day-in and day-out …
for hours at a time…
to quickly master new skills…
all while experiencing intense enjoyment.
Sounds too good to be true right? … but you undoubtedly know someone like this. This is a
state of pure flow, and it’s the Ultimate Advantage in stand-up comedy. It’s been used by elite
businessmen, top-level athletes, and world-renown artists to achieve success on massive scales. In
this book, I’m going to show you how you can achieve even your most ambitious comedy goals by
harnessing the power of flow and directing it toward specific outcomes that lead to massive
achievement.
So who is this group of “lazy” people that are able to consistently direct their focus, refine their
skills, and achieve their goals? You’ll probably find them a little strange at first… but you’re going to
find them inspiring as well because flow has been studied in almost every profession or hobby you
can think of… and the laws of achieving flow are universal. The same factors lead to flow, regardless
of industry. That means when you master flow, you master your personal and professional life.
So who are they? … gamers. And they’re the undisputed masters of flow. Gamers are a great
example of flow for two reasons.
First, we can all relate to loving games. Maybe not video games, but all of us have our own
activities where we achieve a similar flow. Choose any activity that you intensely enjoy (maybe even
obsessed with) and you’ll see these same principles at work.
Second, gamers illustrate the raw-power behind being able to consistently achieve flow. Just
think about some of the startling statistics found in the video gaming industry. A study of gaming
behavior found gamers spent an average of 20 hours a week gaming. 9% of the participants showed
signs of addiction while 4% played video games over 7 hours a day!
How is it that a person that many people stereotype as lazy can spend more than 7 hours a day
with one, singular focus? It’s not because video games are easy. In fact, many are extraordinarily
difficult to master. It’s because video games are designed from the ground up with one purpose in
mind… to provide flow. Video gaming has grown to more than an 80 billion dollar industry because
game designers have an unparalleled ability to get gamers into an intense state of flow.
Here’s exactly how they do it.
There are 9 factors of flow, but three of them play a dominant role. When these first three
factors are aligned, creative flow is not far away. Here are the first three factors and how video
games use them to put gamers in flow:
1. Flow-Inducing Goals - Gamers follow the storyline. They understand where they are and
where they need to be. Simply put, the goal is to win… and there’s a fairly clear path toward
that victory. As you’ll learn later, the type of goals that produce flow isn’t the same as the long-
term and short term goals you might have for your career.
2. Effective Feedback - A gamer can make a mistake, die, and try again. The ability to keep
trying allows him to learn from mistakes and quickly develop his skills at a new game. Contrast
this with the ambiguous feedback we get in the real world that makes it difficult to know
exactly how well we’re doing at any given time.
3. Balance Between Skills and Challenge - Games start off easy, allowing a gamer to
explore his new world. As the gamer’s skill increases, the challenges grow as well. He’s never
bored because the game is providing a challenge, but the challenge is never so high that he gets
overly frustrated or gives up.
When these 3 factors are aligned, a flow-state is almost inevitable. Here’s what happens when
the first three factors align:
4. Action & Awareness Merge - Early on, a lot of effort goes into learning the controls. The
gamer sees where he wants to go, thinks about which buttons to press, and awkwardly makes
his way there. But a short time later, he’s not even thinking about the controller. His awareness
is in the game… and ONLY in the game.
5. Distractions Are Excluded - As more and more of the gamer’s attention is focused on the
game, he sinks deeper into flow. Distractions become irrelevant. Any distractions that do arise
are either written off or minimized, allowing the flow to continue.
6. No Worry of Failure - If a player makes a mistake, he can always try again. There’s no
need to constantly second-guess a move or feel anxious. If his character dies, he can try again.
In the real world, this doesn’t mean you’re free to “do something stupid.” There’s a time for
long-term strategy and a time for taking action.
7. Self-Consciousness Disappears - As the flow gets deeper, the gamer becomes so focused
on playing the game that self-consciousness disappears. Worries about the past or future drift
away. When self-consciousness is gone, the gamer feels a spike of positive emotions. In fact,
these positive emotions can be so significant that many researchers argue that this is why video
games can be so addictive.
8. Time Becomes Distorted - Any time a person is deeply involved in a flow-activity like
this, his sense of time becomes distorted. Hours fly by and only feel like a few minutes. Think
about the last time you got caught up in a TV show or a game only to look up and see that
you’ve blown through hours in what seemed like only a few (intensely enjoyable) minutes.
9. The Game Is Fun For Its Own Sake - Games are fun for their own sake. A gamer isn’t
trying to “get something” from playing a game. It’s not like a horrible job he must grin-and-bare
until he gets his paycheck. Playing the game is its own reward.
Now I gotta ask… aren’t you jealous?! Never mind the video games. Don’t you want to be able
to…
quickly immerse yourself in a project
learn how to master personal and professional skills quickly?
and have work feel more like play?
Here’s the great news, just like video game designers have been able to master these principles
and provide flow to millions of gamers worldwide, you can master flow for yourself and direct it
toward achieving even your most ambitious goals in comedy. What could you do if you were able to
spend 50 hours a week in a state of intense mental focus? And what if you felt intense joy while doing
it? What if you loved every moment?
