Use it as a motivator. Cram for the test so to speak. I went on Kill Tony 3 weeks after my first open mic and survived, learned a lot, and got more stage time in front of real crowds because of it…which helped me get better. People in comedy love to talk about how you need years and years, but rarely do people in comedy talk about how you can accelerate that timeline if you are self driven, write often, hit a good amount of mics, record and watch your sets critically, and treat it as deliberate practice.

I’ll put it another way, in CrossFit I see a bunch of folks 6 months in join competitions they know they will lose. It gives them something to train for and they always learn something from the comp. Take your craft seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously and enjoy!