“You HAVE TO take improv classes at The Courtyard Playhouse!” a fellow Toastmaster told me in late 2015. “It’s not only fun. You’ll meet incredible people, benefit from it career-wise and in many other ways!”
I didn’t doubt anything he claimed. But the timing was terrible: I had quit my stable job and just came back from a 9-months self-imposed sabbatical to reinvent myself…
The background story
Being my own boss, training my public speaking skills for my second career, getting clients, marketing myself, learning to delegate work – all these skills needed to be mastered first. Improv had to wait.
Fast forward to 2021: One of my best friends casually mentions during a catch-up that signing up for improv classes at The Courtyard Playhouse was one of the best things she’s ever gifted herself with. Erm, yeah… I’ve heard that before!
That’s when I promised myself to create enough space in my calendar in 2022 to finally plunge into the improv world, too.
We made it happen!
And here I am. I’ve successfully finished my first improv workshop: “Don’t panic” and it was totally awesome. A big thanks goes out to coach Salman Qureshi, and my wonderful improv mates. You’ve turned Wednesday evenings into my favorite nights of the week.
Imagine what happens when 12 adults, L&D Managers, Legal Directors, Financial Analysts, etc. actively choose to let go of all the rules they follow at work. When they get out of their minds, have fun and allow themselves to be playful…
Lessons learned
As various friends asked me what made improv so “magical”, I designed the time to reflect on what I’ve enjoyed most and what I’ve learned over the last two months. The best way to sum it up is as follows:
- Don’t even try and win anyway
“Embrace failure”, “fail fast”, “fail forward” – although I’ve read these pseudo motivational quotes at least 10,000 times on social, none of them taught me how to make failing less painful.
Salman changed that by teaching us how to even enjoy screwing things up. He showed us that it’s impossible to succeed flawlessly; so, given that scenario, let’s make it fun!
During our fourth session, we played “the S game”: Build a scene on stage without using the letter s in any word you say – good luck! Haha
We tried, felt paralyzed, overthought the process, hesitated, got frustrated. Whenever the judge hit the bell and rebuked me, I got angry on the inside: “What’s the point of this stupid game?! It doesn’t work! There must be something I don’t understand!”
Salman’s approach was jaw dropping. He turned off his inner critic and surrendered to whatever happened. He didn’t even try (!) to use words without s. He “just” acted, corrected his path if needed, corrected it again until he wasn’t told off. The room was filled with laughter…
Although I’m not that easily to impress, this attitude left me speechless. I had experienced a profound truth I had forgotten about. Something in me clicked. After that, I literally signed up for every chance to “fail” on stage. 😉
- Say what(ever) you want
As a professional speaker, being on an improv stage without having to focus on what I’m saying, was a new, highly unusual experience to me. No pressure, no judgement, no overly intellectual critics asking for the source of my claims. It felt liberating!
The “expert game” forced us to pretend we’re an expert on anything – within no time. The group with more experts would win. Here’s how: All members of group 1 stood in a line on stage, looking at the audience, while group 2 waited for their turn.
Someone from group 1 took a step forward and start a random expert talk on any topic: “As an expert on…”. Their speech ended as soon as anybody from their group used a term the speaker had chosen, took a step forward and claimed, “As an expert on…”. Speaker 1 stepped back into the line. Within less than 3-5 seconds speaker 3 interrupted speaker 2 and claimed to be an expert on…
That’s it. We could be illogical, make up facts and words. We weren’t rated by what or how we said it. The only thing that counted was to step forward and within seconds talk of a topic you had no clue about without being frozen by fear. It was blissful!
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- Improv rules = life rules
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Some improv rules are also great reminders for performing on the stage of life: When someone makes an offer, skip your standard “yes, but” answer and use the word “and”. Give it a try! This week it’s “yes, and” time. That’s powerful stuff.
Furthermore, we need to stop trying to be smart, creative, and outstanding. Let’s be more obvious. I know many people who don’t start because they don’t believe that their idea is “good enough”. Be resourceful. Start with what you have. Today.
And lastly, we take ourselves too seriously and often limit our opportunities due to too many rules. I love structure and things to be organized. (Yes, I’m German. Haha.) And since improv I’ve seen the benefits of having more flexibility and spontaneity in my life.
Conclusion and final thoughts
Improv didn’t only have a positive impact on my presentation skills and work but also on my heart. It helped me reconnect to a level of playfulness that was buried inside of me and started to get dusty. I felt more alive and energized after each session.
During our final feedback round I’ve also learned that I, as a self-confident person – surprise, surprise – naturally step into self-confident roles. “What about playing a shy, insecure, or weak person, Natalia?” Salman asked.
Boom! I would have never thought about that! These are aspects of me I’ve never shown publicly. Using improv as a “safe space” to express them could open doors to pathways I didn’t even know existed! I’ll experiment with it in my next improv course.
Now over to you:
What did you recently do to unleash your playfulness?
About the Author
At 29, at the peak of Dr. Nat’s career and unhappiness, she quit her job and started from scratch. During a nine-month sabbatical she committed to design her dream life and founded Think Natalia.
Her obsession is helping businesses to get more visibility, clients and become the voice of their niche through the art of social selling on LinkedIn. Dr. Nat consults and speaks globally, comes from Hanover (Germany) and lives in Dubai.
She started as a Social Scientist, turned into a Dr. of Philosophy, Personal Branding Strategist, flawsome Edutainer, bilingual Keynote Speaker, 2x bestselling Author, Top 100 Leader in Education and LinkedIn Marketing Unicorn with 111.000+ followers.
Books, good food and stuff that glitters make her happy.
