A Little Bit of Improv Goes A Long Way
What a great surprise to have this land in my inbox! I taught an improv workshop last week, and one of the participants really overcame her fears surrounding improvisation, and as soon as she dove in… she loved it!
She wrote a blog about it, and I wanted to share it with all of you!
Hi all,
Over a month ago, another coach who I’ve admired from afar—Katie Goodman—reached out to me and asked if I’d like to join her upcoming improv workshop in Manhattan. There were a couple of factors to consider.
It was on a Saturday, so I needed to think through spending an entire weekend-day away from the kids. This is always a tradeoff, but with the right positioning (once a marketer…) and a well-curated set of activities—a day away can be good for everyone involved.
Then there was the obvious staring me in the face. IMPROV. A discipline I don’t exactly consider to be in my wheelhouse.
My approach to being a working mom and a business owner has traditionally been to plan my life and my world down to the minute detail, to create processes and roadmaps, to predict outcomes and scenarios and then build newer, better processes to address that wider scope of potential outcomes…and scenarios.
So, improv. It made me want to run the other way. And that’s exactly why I said, "yes."
Katie, a veteran comedian, speaker and coach, led us through a day of improv games that truly pushed me to the Antarctica of my NYC comfort zone.
In the safety of a group of kind, open fellow improv newbies—I found myself stuck several times. Blank mind, unfunny, desperate to plan my way out of a moment of silence.
It got so bad that at one point, I could not come up with ANY word in the English language that began with the letter K. Any. Word.
My inner critic, busy polishing off an epic monologue, opted instead for a clear and concise, "Wow, you really suck at this." I even texted that to a friend at a break who said, "Strange, you’re usually so funny." And for a moment I wondered if I lost my funny on the subway ride over.
After getting to know some of my fellow improv’ers at lunch and throughout the day, I did manage to loosen up slightly…even smile and laugh at clever choices.
Then, just as I was ready to announce myself done for the day, Katie asked us to do one more exercise—an improv musical. She gave us a topic and played a few songs on a keyboard. Then we were expected to…ahem…put on a musical? In my mind this definitely required the next level of improv skill, and since I didn’t even have level one down, I was pretty shocked when I raised my hand to volunteer.
I stood up with a few of my new peeps and we simply began our scene. The music started and something changed for me. I was clear and calm. I burst into song. The words flowed more freely than they had all day. Without notice, we were all belting out the catchy refrain of my made-up song in unison, "Let’s all break stuff together. Let’s all break stuff together."
I felt alive. Energized. Adrenalized. I got it. I was present and without a plan. I let go. I let it happen. And it happened—ideas, flow, connection, creativity, energy. Fun.
What I found in this moment was that sometimes you need to go to Antarctica to redouble your mojo. You must do something that makes you want to run the other way, something that challenges your wiring. Sometimes you’ve got to break from the rules and the plans and the roadmaps so you can simply…play. As a grownup, I too often forget this so I know I will need to practice. I’m grateful to have had this chance to try it out. Making up songs about breaking stuff is a really good start.
You got this,
Rachel
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