The other day I was listening to an interview with an author on NPR when a call-in comment made me stop and think. This caller, John from Chicago, explained the powerful creative tool he learned from doing improv comedy.
"Yes! And…"
Whoa. Two words that affirm and springboard to more ideas. How simple. I can see that these two words will create a spark in my creative projects – and in my business and personal life, too.
Let's all say it together (good and loud now):
"Yes! And…"
Aha!! My brother-in-law Mitch will recognize this, as he's taken improv classes off and on for some years now. He's described this very game/concept/ethic to me before. I'll try to find out what show it was specfically so I can link it here later.
Mitch has also mentioned that "Yes! And…" is useful in conversation, in brainstorming meetings, and so on.
We saw a little improv recently at the holiday party for my husband David's company, and there was one scene that fell pretty flat because the one guy just would not give his partner anything to work with – the stuff he said was funny enough in a dorky way on its own, but instead of "Yes! And…" it was more like "I got nothing except this hot wet mess in my hand. Here you go."
the british like to use “yes, but …”