The first rule of improv comedy is that you never say no. “No” is a buzzkill. It robs you and your partner of an opportunity for forward motion. It’s a block, a dead-end of creative pursuit. A betrayal of trust. You can’t do anything with a “no”. “No” stops the creative process. There are no possibilities in a “no”, no new horizons to explore, no new stories to tell. It’s self-evident.
Yet, how many times do we say “no” to ourselves in our own creative work, blocking off the multitude of paths ahead?
“No, this is not perfect”.
“No, doing this was a mistake”.
“No, this is not the outcome I was expecting”.
“No, if I’m X, I cannot possibly do Y”.
“No, I do not have time for this”.
“No, it would be silly to even try”.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been forgetting to “yes, and” myself lately. I’ve been too focused on the outcome, and not the process. And I’m feeling the consequences: frustration, fear, stagnation, lack of excitement, being closed off to possibilities I can’t necessarily predict.
The thing is, you cannot control the outcome. It is what it is.
You can follow all the instructions perfectly and that rose bush you lovingly transplanted into your garden dies. Or the damned slugs demolish all your radishes overnight. Or a storm takes down your beloved tree.
All of these are real possibilities, but they are not the reason not to plant your seeds, not to do the work, not to say “yes, and” to the possibilities.
I recognise it’s not always easy. There are all sorts of very real blocks that come our way – from financial, to health-related, to, you know, the small issue of the world being on fire like 99% percent of the time.
Can we find our way to “yes, and” despite it all?
Perhaps, it’s the only possible way to move forward, the only way to navigate life these days.
