10 Life Lessons I Learned From Improv
I have so much love and passion for the life lessons I learned from my time improving at Second City.
When you live in Chicago, the capital of improv, you have access to some of the best improv programs around, including Second City and IO. I finally took advantage of this Chicago perk and signed up for a Level A improv class at Second City in June 2016. I was hooked! Little did I know when I signed up that I would actually be learning more about life than I would about improv. I’ve gone through 11 consecutive months of Level A through E classes and am now gearing up for my Level E graduation show at the end of April. Signing up for improv classes is one of the best things I’ve done for myself (along with learning to scuba dive). I feel like I've gained superhero powers from the life lessons I've learned. My new powers include: a clearer focus, more creative thought patterns, confidence to take more risks, and a fifth sense for interpreting feelings.
I hope I can inspire you to sign up for an improv class! When practicing improv, you’ll adopt valuable life lessons that you can apply in your daily lives. If anything else, you’ll learn some impressive improv games to bust out at a dinner party. (;-p) But seriously, sign up for a class, especially if you live in Chicago.
Here are my top 10 life lessons I’ve learned from improv. I'd love to hear your improv stories. Please share!
There are no mistakes
The biggest fear people have in improv is the fear of failure. This goes for life in general, too. I don’t have to tell you twice that the fear of failure is very dangerous. Fear can paralyze you in your tracks and not allow you to move forward, whether it be in the scene or in life. But, I’m about to let you in on a secret that will help relieve you of that fear. Here it is: the beautiful thing about improv is that there are no mistakes. Even if you think you made a mistake, you can fix it because (a ha moment) it is all made up! Actually, “messing up” on stage is GOOD because it is usually just as funny as perfecting the scene. The difference between an improviser and an everyday person is how he/she responds to failure. To quote Beethoven, playing a wrong note is insignificant, but playing without passion is inexcusable.You’ll know you've advanced as an improviser when you’re able to turn your failures into opportunities. And when you get there, treasure that powerful feeling and use it to take risks!
Don’t listen to reply, listen to understand
This is a biggie. Listening is crucial in your improv career or any day-to-day communication you may have. In order to really listen, you need to be present and in the moment letting everything else on your mind go. Before practicing improv, I was very guilty of listening to reply, rather than listening to understand. In any form of communication, whether it be at work, in meetings, on the phone, or at home, it's easy to respond to someone in anticipation of what he/she is going to say. That’s because we stop listening once we think we know what someone is going to say because we already start planning our response. When we listen to reply, we often miss the true point of the conversation. Don’t be a conversation killer - listen and react to what is actually said. To be a great communicator, practice not assuming you know what is being said and start listening to what is actually being communicated.
A genius is a person most like him or herself
We acknowledge that everyone brings a unique flavor to his/her improvisation style. Funny comes in all different shapes, voices, mannerisms, styles, quirks, and sizes. Always be yourself and embrace your unique characteristics. Never change your ways to act like someone else because you’re not the genius you are if you’re not being you. I’ve seen people in my classes who are very quiet and shy be the funniest people on stage because they embrace their own style, instead of pretending to be someone they aren’t. The audience can always read real versus fake. Playing real always wins.
Live and be in the moment
In improv, today is always the day! Today is the day you ask her to marry you. Today is the day you confront your highschool enemy. Today is the day you tell your friend that he should use a new deodorant brand. Watching two characters reminisce about how they met or talk about the future is boring to the audience. The audience wants to see them act in the now because the now is way more interesting. Life is the same way. Too often we are caught up in what happened in the past, or what we should plan for in the future. Because our minds get stuck in the past and future, we completely ignore the present, the now. By focusing on the now, we take control of our lives in the moment. We can then begin experiencing life, instead of missing it.
Make others look better than you
Brilliant improvisers have a gift of making their partner look better than them.By handing your partner “gifts” like saying, “You remind me of my grandmother,” or “You always laugh when I tell you something serious,” allows your scene partner to add traits and feelings to heighten their character. The more successful each person is, the more successful the ensemble is as a whole. Of course, this applies in our everyday lives, too. By making people look good, it will make you look good and feel amazing. Karma is real! What goes around comes around. Be good to your scene partners, friends, family, and coworkers and good will come to you.
Learn how to accept (Yes, and)
Because “yes” is more fun than “no,” right? As an improvisor, your job is to accept whatever it is your scene partner has presented to you (the yes) and then add to it all your own (the and). By accepting your partner’s words, no matter how ridiculous they might be, you’re able to start collaborating and building a scene.
Commit!
Don’t overthink it. Commit to it. Since everything is made up in improv, you need to make a quick decision and stand behind it. Once the decision is made, it’s on you and your scene partner to commit to it and make it work. Same thing goes in real life. If we don’t make a decision we won’t get things done and if we don’t get things done then we’ll never be able to achieve anything. Committing to a decision is the first step.
Learn to find the root feeling
Part of your job as an improviser is to acknowledge and accept responsibility for anything your partner says you’ve done. Then you work together towards finding a solution. If you end up going back and forth with you partner accusing eachother of doing something that they say they didn’t do, well then that puts the scene to a halt. Instead, find ways to “Yes, and” whatever your scene partner has presented you with to explore real issues that are way more interesting to the audience. In order to effectively do this, you’ll need to find the root feeling of the scene and heighten it. The same goes for real life relationships. Don’t let a conversation or relationship halt because you weren’t able to distinguish the root feeling. If you work hard to find the real issues of a situation, it will strengthen your relationships and save you a lot of heartache.
Be real
Playing with real character feelings is more important than playing for laughs. Being real is way more interesting to the audience than being intentionally silly. Because when you act on real feelings, that's when the magic comes on stage. In our lives, it’s always important to stay true to our feelings and talk through them to get closer to our end goals. Remember, you do you!
Never take yourself too seriously
Laugh it off! When you’re improvising you can’t take yourself too seriously. You’re never too cool to sing a Christmas tune, to dance to 90s music, or talk in a foreign accent. Have fun stepping out of your comfort zone to enter a world of fun. That applies for both on and off the stage.
