This strategy revolutionized a field. Heres how you can use it

This strategy revolutionized a field. Heres how you can use itThis strategy revolutionized a field. Heres how you can use itWhen Steve Martin first started performing stand-up comedy, there was a proven formula for telling jokes. Each joke came with its own cringeworthy punchline.Heres an exampleHow does NASA organize their company parties? They planet.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBut Martin wasnt satisfied with the standard formula. It bothered him that the laughter following a punchline was often automatic. Like Pavlovs dogs salivating at the sound of a bell, the audience would instinctively laugh when the punchline was delivered. Whats more, if the punchline didnt produce laughter, the comedian would stand there, embarrassed, knowing his joke had bombed. Punchlines were a lousy way of doing comedy, Martin thought, both for the comedian and the audience.Martin asked himself , What if there were no punchlines? What if I created tension and never released it? Instead of conforming to audience expectations, he decided to violate them. He believed that, without a punchline, the resulting laughter would be stronger. The audience would laugh when they chose to do so, without being triggered by a gimmick.Martin then did what all great scientists do He tested his idea. One night, he went onstage and told the audience that he was going to do the Nose on Microphone routine. He methodically proceeded to place his nose on the microphone, stepped back, and said Thank you very much.There was no punchline, so the audience sat in silence, stunned by Martins departure from conventional comedy. But the laughter arrived when the audience caught up to what Martin had done. Martins goal, in his words, was to leave the audience unable to describe what it was that had made them laugh. The state would be like the helpless state of giddiness experienced by close friends tuned in to each others sense of humor, you had to be there.The initial response to Martins approach was ridicule. One critic, sticking to the stand-up comedians playbook, wrote This so-called comedian should be told that jokes are supposed to have punchlines. Another described Martin as the most serious booking error in the history of Los Angeles.That most serious booking error quickly became the most profitable one. The path Martin followed proved Max Planck right The ridicule was followed by discussion, which was followed by adoption. Audiences and critics eventually caught up, and Martin became a stand-up legend.What in your own world is the comedic punchline- an unnecessary relic of the past clouding your thinking and hampering forward progress? What do you assume youresupposedto do simply because everyone around you is doing it? Can you question that assumption and replace it with something better?We used to assume that a restaurant required tables, an immobile kitchen, and a brick- and-mortar location. Questioning these assumptions gave us food carts. We used to assume that late fees and physical stores were necessary for video rentals. Questioning these assumptions gave us Netflix. We used to assume that you need bank loans or venture-capital funding to launch a new product. Questioning these assumptions gave us tretanlasser and Indiegogo.Your assumptions are your windows on the world, as Isaac Asimov put it. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light wont come in.Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned law professor and bestselling author.Click hereto download a free copy of his e-book, The Contrarian Handbook 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, youll get the Weekly Contrarian - a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers only).This article originally appeared on Ozan Varol.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people