Improv

You don’t do improv once you’ve learned the script. You do improv and then you are able to find the words to say something.

No one is good at improv the first time you try it. Improv is always changing. It is something you can never be competent at. Overtime, you can get better and better at incompetence.

People are really good at following the script. When we walk into the library, we make sure to keep quiet. When we graduate from school, we find a job. When we eat at a restaurant and we are charged $12, we pay them $12. We have social norms and rules to follow.

But what we are finding is that following the script leads us to a place of predictable outcomes. And predictable outcomes have made us afraid that we won’t find something better than the hand we have been dealt.

So okay, some of us will say let’s throw away the script. Then we find that having too many choices paralyzes us from making any decisions. We don’t know what to do. We don’t know what the next step is. Too many of us would rather stay where we at than rock the boat.

Ellen Langeur has pointed out, “All behavior makes sense from the actor’s perspective or else the actor wouldn’t do it.”

Following the script is a very safe and reliable formula. Throwing it away is an opportunity for something better. Yeah, you will be judged. Sometimes you might fail. If it can’t fail then there is no opportunity for doing something meaningful.