This is How to Improvise More Successfully in Your Life

One of the most famous speeches in American history almost never happened and the only reason it did was that its orator knew how to improvise.

That’s right, were it not for improvisation, the orator would not have uttered the 4 critical words that became the hallmark of the speech and who knows how history would have viewed the speech, if at all.

I’ll let you see if you can figure out what the speech was that I am talking about and will come back to it a little bit later.

So, What is Improv Anyway?

In his great book, Steal the Show: From Speeches to Job Interviews to Deal-Closing Pitches, How to Guarantee a Standing Ovation for All the Performances in Your Life, author Michael Port defines improvisation as being,

“…one of the most powerful secrets from the profession of acting. It is a creative, nonjudgmental, open-ended approach to unscripted scenarios and live possibilities. All successful people employ improvisation to some degree, and it can be learned.” ¹

The cornerstone of improv is the idea of saying yes, and…to whatever is happening. In other words, being flexible enough to change your original plan.

More than anything, improv is a mindset and a learned ability to be able to seize opportunities and conquer difficult situations or crowds with a sense of grace and class.

Improv starts with your objective, of knowing what you want to achieve and your plan on how to get there to achieve your desired result. Then when something unexpected happens, it allows you to stay in the present, with your eye still firmly focused on the prize. It’s just that now you may need to take a different approach than you originally planned.

The Benefits of Knowing How to Improvise

There is a multitude of benefits that you can realize from know how to improvise:

(1)  Gives you confidence

Knowing how to improvise can give you the confidence that you will be able to adapt to any situation. If the situation calls for something other than what you have planned, knowing how to improvise will give you the confidence to be spontaneous and flexible and go in a different direction.

(2)  Improves relevance

There will be times that you need to switch things up to make them more relevant at the moment. For example, you are giving a presentation and fewer people attend than was planned. Well, perhaps you switch things up and make it more intimate by engaging the audience more and make it more interactive.

(3)  Helps you save difficult moments

Lastly, knowing how to improvise can save you when difficult moments occur. For example, the venue where you are presenting gets changed at the last minute or the projector doesn’t work or perhaps the 30-minute meeting with the CEO to pitch a new idea gets cut to 15 at the last minute.  The fact of the matter is that things do and will go wrong and being able to improvise can save you.

Situations That Call for Use to Use Improvisation

There are many situations in life where knowing how to improvise will serve you well. From giving presentations to interviewing for a job to being put into situations with people you aren’t comfortable with, hell it can even make you better in the dating world and in your personal relationships.

Some Ideas for How to Improvise Successfully

In Steal the Show, Port offers several ideas for how to improvise more successfully and frequently when the situation calls for it. The cornerstone of improv is the idea of saying yes, and…to whatever is happening. In other words, being flexible enough to change your original plan.

(1)  Build bridges from where you are to where you want to be using improv

As Port says,

“The whole concept of saying yes is about moving action forward. That’s what improv is for. It helps with all manner of public experiences, such as introductions to speeches, difficult conversations between managers and their direct reports or pitch meetings.” ¹

One way to use improv to move things forward is to be prepared so that you can be fully present in the moment. For example, anticipating potential questions that may come during a presentation will help you perform quickly on your feet when they do come.

(2)  Take whatever is happening and make it better using improv

Using improv is also a great way to react to something that has gone wrong and make the situation better.

Port gives a great analogy from the dating world,

“Think of how well this works in terms of dating. With the yes, and…approach, your date’s embarrassing story is a cue for you to tell and embarrassing story about yourself; your date’s miscue or misstatement isn’t awkward but a yes, and…moment for your to keep the conversation going and to connect over a similar experience.” ¹

(3)  Using improv to stay mindful and tuned in

According to Port, using improv is a great way to live and stay in the present as a sort of mindfulness and is something we should all do on a daily basis.

As he says,

“The more you are inclined to say yes, and…to act as if, and stay in the     moment on a daily basis, the more you will notice, the better you will pay attention, and the more mindful you will be of what others in your life are saying or doing.” ¹

(4)  How to use improv to become more engaged

Lastly, Port believes that by using improv and specifically yes, and…you are more likely to finish what you have started. In other words, when actors are taught how to improvise, they are taught to jump in and jump in deep and find out what works from there. As he says, “You become much more engaged in making things happen than in questioning why things happen to you. The commitment to keep at it that improv requires can make for a clarifying and refreshing change from the half-assed nature of many business transactions. My view is that too many times in business and other realms people say things they don’t mean, make promises they don’t intend to honor, or just don’t care enough to finish strong.” ¹

A Few Exercises to Practice Improv

Let’s now look at a few exercises that can be used for practicing how to improvise:

(1)  The story-story game

This one is done in a group, however big or small, that is arranged in a circle. The group is given a theme and some background information, as well as an opening line such as, “The dog, jumped over a fence”. The idea is to then go around the circle and take turns adding to the story until the facilitator says stop. It’s a fun way to practice improv and you can create little variations of it to suit your needs.

(2)  The gibberish game

This one is done in pairs with one of the people playing an alien who can only communicate in gibberish and body language. The idea is to give the alien a message to get across such as “I need to bring 69 bottles of Coca-Cola to my planet.” As Port says, “She quickly figures out that to communicate, she’s going to have to improvise all manner of intense, wild, and super-animated body language to have any chance of being understood by the translator.” ¹

(3)  The whiteboard challenge

The last one is one that can be used in a work environment with your team. The idea is to write a goal on the whiteboard and then to go around the room looking for suggestions to meet that goal. Each successive person uses “yes, and…” to connect to or expand the previous person’s idea without going in a new direction or refuting it. You will want to go around the table a few times until you have some actionable items that you want to dive deeper into.

Back to the Speech

Have you been able to figure out what it was and the four words that were missing?

Ok, ok, I will tell you.

When he took the lectern on August 28, 1963, to deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King stood there with the speech prepared on a piece paper.  Only there was one specific thing that was missing, actually to be precise there were four things missing. And to be even more specific those things were words and critical words at that.  You see, his prepared speech did not include the words, “I have a dream.”

Interestingly, he only added them in after Mahalia Jackson, a famous gospel singer who was seated behind him and had heard him speak before, encouraged him to ‘tell them about the dream Martin, tell them about the dream!’

So, there you have it, were it not for knowing how to improvise, one of the most famous and important speeches in American history may have never happened!

Until next time, keep improvising by saying “yes, and”, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.

Use it Or Lose It

To use improv better in your life, a few things to keep in mind are:

(1)  Build bridges from where you are to where you want to be using improv.
(2)  Take whatever is happening and make it better using improv.
(3)  Using improv to stay mindful and tuned in.
(4)  How to use improv to become more engaged

When to Use It

As we said earlier, there are many situations in life where knowing how to improvise will serve you well. From giving presentations to interviewing for a job to being put into situations with people you aren’t comfortable with, hell it can even make you better in the dating world and in your personal relationships.

What Do You Think?

Are you adept at using improvisation in your life? Will you use some of the ideas we discussed in today’s post on how to improvise? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

¹ Steal the Show: From Speeches to Job Interviews to Deal-Closing Pitches, How to Guarantee a Standing Ovation for All the Performances in Your Life by Michael Port