Why Your Best Joke Might Be Holding You Back

The Einstellung Problem (Comedy Mindhacks #128)

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a collection of credentials. I’ve earned five degrees, completed a variety of continuing education courses and certificates, written around forty books, taught at multiple universities, preached thousands of sermons, delivered around a hundred conference presentations, given a TEDx talk, and spent countless hours researching subjects that most people would never voluntarily read about. Every now and then someone learns all that and says something like, “Well, I guess by now you’ve pretty much figured things out.” I usually laugh because, if anything, the opposite has become true.

The longer I’ve spent learning, the more I’ve become aware of the limits of my own expertise. Experience and education certainly have advantages, and I wouldn’t trade those for anything. At the same time, I’ve noticed that learning comes with a hidden danger most people never talk about. The more often something works, the easier it becomes to assume it’s the best way rather than simply one way. It’s like teaching first-semester Greek students. I’ve been studying Greek for like two decades and still am because there’s so much to learn. But these first-semester Greek students learned a few things and now think they can wax eloquent on every Greek word of the New Testament.

Professors often describe such students as “Those who know enough to be dangerous.” That’s because, while they know some things, they don’t know what they don’t know. And because they don’t know what they don’t know, they think they know a lot. Let me put it another way: What they do know blinds them to what they don’t know.

I’ve seen that happen in classrooms many times. I’ve also seen it happen in churches, businesses, and, yes, in comedy. For instance, I write a joke that works, so I keep telling it. I find a transition that consistently gets me from one bit to another, so it quietly becomes permanent. I develop a rhythm on stage that feels comfortable, and before long I’m not even consciously choosing it anymore. It’s simply what I do. For a long time, I assumed this was just part of just getting better. After all, it’s what a lot of people do.

But what if it’s this sorta thing that, despite some initial short-term success, actually prevents any long-term success? What if it’s this sorta thing that contributes to or leads to plateauing? One thing I’ve been thinking about for a little while now is that other hardworking comedians aren’t plateauing because they lack effort. That’s usually just not the case. Many comedians I know have a great work ethic and consistently grind. Maybe the problem, then, is that they’ve started plateauing because, like those first-semester Greek students, the experience of some success has narrowed their attention. Let me explain.

There’s a concept known as “The Einstellung Effect,” or what I myself might simply call “Success Blindness.” Researchers discovered that once people find something that works, they often become less likely to recognize better solutions later. They solve a problem, for instance, and their first or original answer becomes so familiar that the brain keeps reaching for it automatically every time after. It does this even when a more effective option or set of options is sitting right in front of them. In other words, success with a first answer to a problem can blind us to more and better answers later.

I’ve been thinking about that in relation to stand-up but especially joke writing. I’ve spent inordinate amounts of time, for example, trying to improve Version A of a joke without ever stopping to ask whether Version B might be dramatically stronger. I ignored the possibility of a Version B existing all because A was more familiar and, at least to a degree, worked. So, I better leave it alone; I better not touch it. Why mess with what works?!

I’ve watched the same thing happen with crowd work. Some comedians discover one interaction that reliably gets laughs, so they repeat it every show. Eventually, what began as spontaneous crowd work becomes another scripted routine wearing the disguise of spontaneity. The audience may not know exactly what’s happening, but they can usually sense the difference between genuine discovery and recycled conversation.

I’ve also noticed this tendency whenever comedians ask for feedback. Sometimes they don’t really want another perspective. They want confirmation that the approach they’ve already chosen is the right one. I’ve caught myself doing the same thing. It’s amazing how often I’ve asked for advice while secretly hoping nobody would actually tell me to change anything. And that’s why I think the Einstellung Effect is so dangerous.

This Success Blindness doesn’t make people lazy. If anything, it often affects the hardest-working people in the room or in the game. They keep writing, performing, studying, and revising, but all that effort gets poured into improving the same solution instead of exploring whether a better solution exists. From the outside, it looks like momentum. Underneath, it can actually be a rut. It can look as common as telling the same joke for years but never growing it into a bit for fear that it’ll mess it up.

I also think this is one reason curiosity, something I talk about all the time in my college writing classes, keeps showing up in so many of my articles. Curiosity isn’t just helpful for generating new material. It’s also one of the best defenses I know against becoming trapped by yesterday’s successes. The moment I stop questioning my own assumptions is usually the moment I stop seeing possibilities that were there all along. Looking back, I think it’s really all about humility. It’s the willingness to believe that the thing which got me this far may not be the thing that gets me where I want to go next.

That might be something of an uncomfortable realization, but it’s also an exciting one because it means growth hasn’t stopped. It simply requires me to become curious again. And again. And again. And that’s exactly what growth usually feels like. Momentum isn’t created by becoming attached to yesterday’s breakthrough. It’s created by remaining curious enough to believe there’s still another one waiting.

To be honest, if this idea honestly resonated with you at all, you’d probably enjoy Comedy Mindhacks: 100 Mental Shifts to Help Comedians & Creatives Succeed. The entire book is built around hidden psychological obstacles like the Einstellung Effect. My goal isn’t simply to help comedians write better jokes. It’s to help comedians think differently about the invisible patterns or barriers that quietly determine whether they continue growing or slowly plateau.

This entire book is built around helping comedians identify the mental obstacles, hurdle over them, and boost their momentum. Again, if this article resonated with you, you’ll find a lot more like it inside the book. You can check out sample pages HERE. If you’re not yet a subscriber, use code MH10LIVE at checkout HERE for 10% off. Free subscribers automatically receive 15% off, and paid subscribers receive 35% off because I’m a big believer in rewarding people who invest in themselves. 👉 Click HERE to grab the book.

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