The Invisible Mentor Weekly Newsletter: Brain Food Wednesdays Number 83: How Improvisation Can Help You

Dear Reader,

Years ago, a colleague recommended that I take an Improv course at Second City. I took the Level One course and intended to take a couple more levels. I never got around to taking any more courses on Improv, however, I appreciated what I learned. And I was introduced to the concept of Yes, And. Improvisation teaches you how to think on your feet.

I was reminded of Improv when I read Sell it Like Serhant. The author, Ryan Serhant, is a high-end real estate agent in New York City, and in the book he mentions that Improv is a critical element in sales. The sales process can involve the unexpected, and the ability to improvise allows you to deal with life’s surprises.

In the ASK Avil section of this newsletter, I’ll answer the question, How Improv Can Help You.

I have four books on Improvisation and I’ve read two of them. For one of the books, Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses “No, But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration–Lessons from The Second City, I didn’t take notes. And I wasn’t reading books the way I now read them.

Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses “No, But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration–Lessons from The Second City
Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up
Getting to “Yes And”: The Art of Business Improv
How to Be The Greatest Improviser on Earth

Since Improv is such an important skill, I plan to read all the books I own on the topic and turn them into a course for my membership site. The price of my membership site is very low right now as I build out the content. What I’ve done with my membership site is to create Bookish Notes that I group together to create courses. I take a topic, create Bookish Notes from some of the better books on the topic. Then I organize them in such a way that after you’ve gone through them, you have a strong foundation of the topic on which you can build.

The first Bookish Note I created was on generating ideas. I also have one on learning, and I’m working on a sales one and a productivity one. If you read one or two Bookish Notes each day, you’ll develop a practice of consuming content that helps you to develop skills. I’m working on courses to help you to become more productive and better at sales. You can subscribe to my paid membership site.

Ask Avil

How Improv Can Help You

I’m an introvert and tend to be reflective, so I’m not great at thinking on my feet. That’s one of the things improvisation helps you with – to think on your feet. This is an important skill for professionals to have. How many times have you been asked in a meeting to present when you had no idea you would have to do so. Improvisation helps you to manage those situations.

As you know, life is a balancing act, and you have to improvise all the time. One of the secrets of improvisation is learning to say, ‘yes’ to extend the conversation. And in doing so, you often end up expanding your world, shifting your perspective.

In the book, Wake Up and Live, Dorothea Brande says the formula for success is to act as if it was impossible to fail. That means that you have to act. What would you do if you couldn’t fail? Chances are you’d take more risks. But you don’t need to have a guarantee like that, what you do need is to take action. You have to act and learn from your mistakes.

“A good improviser is someone who is awake, not entirely self-focused, and moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back and who acts upon this impulse.” Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom

Common benefits of Improv

Shift your perspective.
Extend conversations and gain more from them.
Laugh more and don’t take yourself so seriously.
Confidence in your decision making.
Collaborate with others.
Become more mindful.
Become more creative.
Show up when you don’t feel like it.
Do what’s necessary in whatever situation you find yourself in.
Ability to find opportunities in any situation.

What I’m Reading

I read Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager, which is a business fable. Although I’m tired of business fables, the book had some great information and I highly recommend it. I could do without the fable though because it’s unrealistic. My left brain is taking over here.

I read Improv Wisdom, although it’s not on the list below. However, it’s a book I’ve been wanting to read forever, and now felt like the right time for me. I still plan to read the books I listed below, but I’ll be incorporating other books into the mix.

In a later newsletter, I’ll write a summary of the books I read.

Summer Reading List

Future Mapping (read)
Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy by Leigh Gallagher
Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business by Amos Schwartzfarb
Behind the Red Door: How Elizabeth Arden’s Legacy Inspired My Coming-of-Age Story in the Beauty Industry by Louise Claire Johnson
Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo
I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream by JT McCormick
One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Phil Howard Cooke
Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager Revised Edition: Gain the Mindset and Skillset for Getting What You Need to Succeed by Ken Blanchard and Susan Fowler (read)

The Invisible Mentor Blog

The One Problem

The One Problem series I’ve been doing is slowly getting traction. In fact, I did an interview just a few hours ago. I’m finding interesting people to interview. People are sharing the interviews on social media and some of them are now reaching out to me to interview them. I think that’s news worth sharing. The videos are short, so they’re easy enough to listen to.

Here are the Episodes that I’ve published on my blog so far. Listen to a few of them and let me know what you think. A few weeks ago, someone told me he had already listened to 16 out of the 20 published episodes at the time. It was doable because the majority of the episodes are under 10 minutes. He said he listened to them while working on other tasks. And the good thing about it was that he learned a lot from the podcast guests.

I can’t believe that I’ve published 23 podcast episodes already. This tells me it’s so important to take the first step. To achieve any goal, you have to act.

Blog Posts to Read

Sell It Like Serhant by Ryan Serhant, Summary

Wake Up and Live By Dorothea Brande, Book Review

Product Alert

The Invisible Mentor Membership Site, The Art of Learning

After wanting to create a subscription site for about five years, I finally did it. I believe that if I had created the site before, it would have failed. I created something unique. The site has what I call Bookish Notes and I group them together to help subscribers learn specific skills. The price is heavily discounted right now as I build out the content.

I’ve read several books off the beaten path that I’m turning into Bookish Notes. I think I have about 40 book notes to convert. Because I want to create a product that will help my subscribers, it’s slow going. I’m trying to discover my rhythm for creating this product, so that I can work with it.

Art of Learning Membership Site

7 Day Reading Makeover Challenge

This is an affordable program to get started on leadership reading. Leaders read to learn what they need to know. You’ll also learn how to synthesize information.

7 Day Reading Makeover Challenge

Until Next Week,

Avil Beckford, Founder, The Invisible Mentor!

theinvisiblementor.com

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Facebook

The Invisible Mentor Weekly Newsletter: Brain Food Wednesdays Number 83: How Improvisation Can Help You

In the ASK Avil section of this newsletter, I’ll answer the question, How Improv Can Help You.​

Ask Avil

​

“A good improviser is someone who is awake, not entirely self-focused, and moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back and who acts upon this impulse.” Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom​

What I’m Reading​

Summer Reading List​