Sometimes we get stuck in a rut. But there’s a simple theatre game called ‘Yes, And…’ that opens up possibilities in your life. ‘Yes, And’ is one of the basic principles of improvisational comedy. It’s a recipe that allows for anything to happen and it goes like this:
Whatever idea is presented to you, say “Yes, and”..adding to the idea
Instead of disagreeing with it, your job is to simply accept it and saying “Yes, and…” to expand and continue the scene (or the conversation, IRL).
I know, your cognitive brain wants to over-analyze it. But just accept the idea as it’s presented to you (regardless of where you wanted it to go), and then to add to it. Respond back with an idea your fellow player(s) can continue building on. Think of it as tossing the ball back and forth. The sillier the ideas the more fun it becomes – and it allows the actors to really run with ideas that pop into their head – no realism needed here. It’s sort of like a Brain Dump on steroids where all ideas are good!
In real life many of us say “No” a lot – for many reasons. But, what if we changed our mindset? What if we tried saying “Yes, and…” to possibilities? How would it change your work? How would it change your relationships?
So
I ask you, what possibilities might open up to you by simply saying ‘Yes, And.”? Try it, I challenge you!