I do a 5K 3 or 4 times a week around the Rosebowl in Pasadena. I'm not a runner – I walk it – and while it's great exercise, what I'm really doing is clearing my head and giving my brain some space.  My tips this week are on how to make a decision, and my tip today is one of the most effective ways I've found to make a decision is to get my body moving.  Take a walk. Go on a bike ride do something. Just get moving.

It's something about having the ideas rattle around in my head, while I'm not focusing on them, that helps me make a decision. A lot of times during or after my walk, the answer pops into my head. This is somewhat the same method as asking the question and then sleeping on it! Both methods work, but with mine you'll get a little exercise in.

So get moving and get your answers. And speaking of moving, head on over to my website TheWorkLady.com to check out the good and bad decisions I've made in comedy.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

.  I just lost a gig to eeny, meeny, miny, moe. I'm not kidding. The would-be client said that the committee just could not decide between me or another keynote speaker. I lost because of Moe. I also once lost the coin toss when another potential client couldn't decide between me and another speaker . . . random games of chance may not be my thing.

This week we're talking about how to make decisions on things that you may not have made decisions on before. That was certainly the case for me when I got into stand-up comedy. I was presented with all sorts of choices that I had no idea about. How do you make a decision?  And I'm here to tell you that there are better ways than eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

My tip – ask other people about their experience and run it through you how-much-do-I-want-to-do-it scale. That's a scale I made up by the way, but it works.

For example, in comedy, comedians have varying experiences with comedy club owners. An owner who is nice to one comic may not be nice to another comic. I learned that I should certainly listen to other comic's advice when it came to working certain clubs, but that there may be other things at play. Maybe the comedian drank up the bar, and so the club owner doesn't like that comedian. Or maybe the club owner didn't immediately return the comedian's call, so the comedian doesn't like the club owner. So I always listened to comedians and their advice about gigs. But if I still really wanted to do it, I would. . . but I'd be on guard for possible issues with the club. Sometimes I realized the comedian was right, and I shouldn't have bothered. And sometimes I realize that the comedian was wrong, and I'm glad I didn't listen. So gather information from other people. But don't always base your choices on other people's experiences. Run it through your how-much-do-i-want-to-do-it scale.

To hear about some of the things I should and shouldn't have done, check out my short podcast titled Comedian Stories. I kick off with a joke, tell a short story and end with a take-away tip. All in under 5 minutes.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Over the years, besides just telling jokes as a comedian, I've also done a lot of different projects. Some hit and some didn't. From characters on the radio to touring theaters in the Baby Boomer Comedy Show and even this flash briefing, I have always had some other projects going, and they've lead me down some fun paths. Hey I got to meet Sally Struthers from All in the Family! An icon from my generation!

This week's theme is making decisions, and when running your own business, you have to make decisions on how to spend your valuable time. And sometimes it's hard to decide.

My tip today on making decisions, especially if you really don't know what you should do or how you should spend your time?  Pick the thing that will bring you the most joy. Hey, if everything blows up in your face, at least you had a great time doing it. Sometimes I do things that may not be commercially successful, but I enjoy them. We're only going around once in life, so do the things you like doing, and everything else will fall into place.

Who knows where these flash briefings will take me . . . but I'm enjoying them for now!

And if you like these flash briefings, please give me a positive comment and a 5 star rating.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Many moons ago, I was offered a gig to dress up as Hillary Clinton but instead of wearing a pantsuit, the client wanted me to wear a tight leather outfit and carry a whip. Yeah, this was a serious offer, but he didn't tell me what the event was, because I said no pretty quickly. I've impersonated celebrities before, but the leather and the whip were over the top.

Saying no to that gig was an easy decision. But sometimes we're asked to do things, and there's a little more grey area. This week's topic is how to make decisions. My move from the corporate world into the comedy world, presented me with a lot of decisions that I had never had to even thing about before, so sometimes making a decision was hard. How did I make decisions about these things?

My first tip is one I got from my buddy comedian Frank King and I've used it for years. He said to close my eyes and pretend that I said yes and then pretend that I said no. Pay attention to how I feel when I say yes versus no. If I get bummed out when I say no, then it's probably something I'd like to do, but if I get stressed when I say yes, then it probably isn't. Try this, it really, really works.

Your action item for today. . . tackle a decision that you're not sure about and use the yes versus no method. Then make the decision and move on.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Oh the irony. I came up with that joke by listing people who we associate with being healthy or not healthy . . . and I pulled out the irony. That was my humor tip yesterday.

If you want to hear stories from my comedy career, check out my short podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. It's called Comedian Stories. I kick off with a joke, tell a short 3 or 4 minute story, and end with a take-away tip from what I learned. All under 5 minutes.

And today is the Saturday version of Finding the Funny where I show you how to find humor. I've written for tons and tons of people and companies, and now I travel around the country presenting keynotes on how to use humor in business.

My 60 second humor tip today is . . pull out the irony. Comedy is really about pulling out the irony between two or three different things. The online Cambridge dictionary says irony is something that has a different or opposite result from what is expected. And when I say I irony I mean look for the disconnects between things – the things that seem to contradict each other. I once was at a conference where they had a session on saving money. I pointed out the irony that people paid money to go to a session on saving money. Just by pointing out the irony and the things that are contradictory, you will find the humor. Tomorrows joke is a good illustration of pulling out the irony . . . and it's kinda true! 

If you want more fast tips on coming up with humor in your communications, then check out my book on Amazon – Finding the Funny Fast. It's how to create quick humor to connect with clients, coworkers and crowds.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

My dog is named Delilah and I've got an app that makes her talk. I load it up on Facebook and Delilah gives people updates on my travels. People love it!

This week I'm talking about tips for being the master of ceremonies for an event, and today's tip is to Make Them Want To Listen.  How do you do that? Well, people will listen to if they like you - just ask Oprah or my dog Delilah!  So when you're emceeing, find ways to keep people engaged.  In between speakers, be personable by sharing details about your family, hobbies, hometown, or pets.  You can even have a recurring theme, such as mentioning your cat frequently.  Every time you go back on stage, the crowd will think “I wonder what she’ll say about Rover now?” My friends around the country ask me about Delilah because they have fallen in love with her and her updates. Share some information about you and have a reoccuring theme when you're emceeing. I emceed a 3-day event once and my theme was ribbons. People got ribbons on their badges for being on various committees or winning various awards. So every time I went on stage, I would have more and more ribbons hanging from my badge. I kept adding ribbons to my badge until it was ridiculous . . .and funny.

If you want to see me in action as the Master of Ceremonies for corporate events, go to my website www.ComedyEmcee.com

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

My first big weekend emceeing in an A room comedy club in DC COULD have been disastrous. The feature act didn't show up, so the club owner had to find another feature to drive down from Maryland. I had 6 minutes of material and I had to do 20 minutes on stage. Luckily it was a hot crowd and I was able to joke around with the audience to stretch, but I can tell you that I almost put the microphone down on stage and walked off, never to do comedy again. It was scary.

This week I'm giving you tips so you can be the Master of Ceremonies or coach someone who has to do it.  And my tip this week is . . . plan to stall. There are a million things that can interrupt your perfectly arranged session, but you still have to keep things moving.  So have a plan for power points crashing or the group next door setting up a petting zoo.  You can stall like a pro by highlighting a sponsor, taking a few questions, listing five great area restaurants, asking people to shout out one thing they’ve learned, or inviting everyone to go pet the goat next door.  “Plan B” should not include staring at the banquet manager until she fixes the problem.

If you want a copy of my 2-page article with all of my main emcee tips, send me an email to [email protected]

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

One of the top one thousand popular names for girls in the U.S. is spelled N-e-v-a-e-h. Do you know how to pronounce it? This week I'm talking about tips for being a Master of Ceremonies, and my tip today is to be prepared.  It sounds simple, but there is a tendency to try to just wing it – don't. Practice the speaker’s name out loud several times fast, so it rolls off your tongue, and make sure you've got it written down phonetically.  I read a marketing study once that people would rather have a letter addressed to them generically like Dear Home Owner rather than have their name misspelled. The same goes for saying it. Also practice job titles, introductions, and pretty much anything else in your script. You don't have to read the script, but you do need to try not stumble around when you get to certain words.

So spend a few minutes preparing – it'll go a long way.  And FYI, spell Nevaeh backwards!

If you want some ideas for adding in humor when you're emceeing something, check out my comedywriterblog.com.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

.  I got to emcee a 3 day financial summit and one of the keynote speakers was Aaron Ralston – you know, the guy who got stuck under a rock in Canyonlands national park and had to cut his arm off. They made the move about him called 127 hours. He was really nice, and his speech was great. After he got off stage, I kicked off with "you know I was feeling kinda bad for Aaron for having to lay under a rock for 5 days, until he said that thing about losing 8 pounds a day. Then I got kinda jealous.  It got a huge laugh.

This week I'm talking tips on being a great Master of Ceremonies, and today's tip is Tie It all Together.  Make sure you tie all the speakers and events together. Constantly thanking the last speaker is a dismissal, not a wrap-up.  Make sure you do great transitions between speakers by mentioning something you learned, repeating a website, giving a personal fact about the speaker, or taking a silly survey.  You should tie the event together, not run speakers through on a conveyor belt.

If you want to see me in action as the Master of Ceremonies for corporate events, go to my website www.ComedyEmcee.com

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.