Peak Performance Improv

^z 2nd August 2023 at 8:27am

From "5 Fundamentals to Achieve Peak Performance" posted 5 years ago by Skip Prichard, a thoughtful list from Cathy Salit:

Choose to grow — "... growing instead of knowing ... reintroducing play, pretending, performing and improvising into our work and lives ... embracing the unknown and the ambiguous ..."
Build ensembles everywhere — "... people with different skills, different experiences, different temperaments, and varied points of view ... saying 'we' every time you would normally say 'I' ..."
Listen — "... with a focus not on yourself and what you're going to say next, but on what the other person is saying and doing ... more like jazz – where you're building and creating and riffing off what you hear ... slowing down, pausing, and letting the other person's words sink in and have their full impact on you before you respond ..."
Create with crap — "... it's all just material to build with ... creating something playful and incongruous with the crap we're dealing with gives us some distance from our immediate reaction ..."
Improvise your life — "... walk and talk a new way, ask questions when you would normally say nothing or argue, use different body language ... listen with laser focus, say 'yes, and' to everything that comes your way, and actively create with it ..."