Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Improv ideas for Life - Part 3

In my continuing series, here's hoping these improv mantras can positively influence your experience and help make life better. Today's topic is:

Make your partners look like geniuses

This is actually a continuation of the accept all offers concept. Nothing makes an improvisor, a team member, or an individual feel better than when someone else props them up. Everyone likes to hear "good job", but verbal kudos are not the only way to continue to motivate another person. The name of the game in improvisation is to make your partner(s) look good. This would be the opposite of actions taken to make them look bad. I say this out loud because as a society, we revel in doing and saying things that make the people around us look bad - overtly or subtly. Making the people around us look good not only makes them feel better about themselves and what they are doing, but also makes them want to reciprocate. I make you look good and that makes you feel so wonderful that you just want to do something that makes me look good too. Once that cycle starts, the sheer power it can manifest is formidable. OK, but how do you do that?

The best improv happens when people focus on helping each other. If you make an offer, I am going to accept and build on it. If you are taking the scene somewhere, I am going to support and go with you. If you are struggling, I will help you out and pick up the slack. When you seem insecure, I'll tell you how great you are. And so on. When everyone adopts this mind set, then everyone sets everyone else up, continuously.

Could you imagine if everyone’s primary goal was to have fun and make each other look good? Go about the world seeing what you can do to make others look good. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results you see. As an added benefit, when you treat other people like geniuses, you’ll often find that they rise to the occasion. Another huge side effect of using this approach - it builds trust. And a team that has trust in each other is a powerful team.

"I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly." ~Buckminster Fuller
"Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others." ~Mark Twain
"The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius." ~Rebecca Pepper Sinkler

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