I really like clear communication. I’m especially impressed by great verbal communication.

I love to watch skilled communicators work a room.

Comedians, late night hosts, politicians, and preachers are all fun for me to study.

One of my favorites of all time is Steve Martin. He is a comedic genius as far as I’m concerned. Even the slightest non-verbal gesture by him can make me laugh.

I recently read (actually I listened to Steve read) his autobiography, Born Standing Up.

In his book, Martin writes about his life and the development of his act. Steve’s act took him from the Magic Shop at Disneyland to packed stadiums and eventually international fame and notoriety.

I loved this particular observation he made about, “Killing It.” That’s comedian speak for having a great show and being really funny. He wrote:

“I learned a lesson: It was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: Like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances.” –Steve Martin, Born Standing Up

Consistently good.

What a great concept.

Not just for people that communicate for a living, but for everyone really.

It’s easy to get in the zone in your job every now and then. What’s tricky, according to Steve, is being consistently better than average.

There have been times when I get done speaking or teaching and I think, ‘Yes, I nailed that! I am God’s gift to communication.’

Unfortunately there have been many other times when I finished speaking when I was looking for a hole to crawl into.

Consistently good.

That’s something I’m aiming for.

I want to be a consistently good dad, husband, leader, friend, neighbor, co-worker, pastor, son, brother, mentor and more.

I’m not interested in being excellent one day and terrible the next.

Anyone can be great if the stars are aligned just right.

I’d like to grow and become consistently good.