I teach improv comedy classes. It’s just regular improv comedy–no HR included. (I also teach improv for leadership development, but this story isn’t about this.) Monday is my favorite class: The final performance.
Classes are 4 weeks long, and on the last night, we set aside 30 minutes where friends and family can come, and the students do a little performance. I’ve been teaching these classes for a long time, and without fail, the students are spectacular in this performance.
While they are funny in class, having an audience there really ramps it up. Their characters are stronger. Their “yes, and-ing” is more enthusiastic. Their physicality jumps levels.
Every single time.
Also, every single time they say they are nervous and don’t really want an audience. But, an audience they get.
And I explain to them you won’t see what you are really capable of until you raise the stakes.
Have you raised your stakes?
Athletes at last summer’s Paris Olympic Games set 17 new world records. That number is low for an Olympics. In Beijing in 2008, athletes set 30 new world records. Indeed, if stakes didn’t matter, we’d expect people to be setting records in practices. Now, I get that timing isn’t official in practices, so they wouldn’t count even if they did. But there’s something different about competing that makes you go a bit higher and a bit faster.
Register for What You Should Know About Marijuana and the Workplace
So, if you’re feeling stuck, I asked, you: Have you raised your stakes?
Have you tried something new? Said yes to a stretch assignment? Opened your mouth in a meeting when you normally sit silently?
Safe is fine, but you won’t achieve greatness
An improv class is super fun and I highly recommend it for everyone! And an improv class room is a safe environment. Everyone is in the same boat and one of the basic principles is “fail with joy” so everyone tends to be supportive. (In my classes, they are for sure! YMMV.) But you will never make an audience laugh without taking that risk to get on a stage in front of an audience!
It’s the same with your career. You can take a safe job. And, literally, there is nothing wrong with that.You maybe very happy with that, and that’s fine. But if you’re not happy with that, you need to raise your stakes a bit.
Or a lot.
And if you’re in Basel on Monday, come see my beginners improv their hearts out. I guarantee laughs. Because they always perform better when the stakes are high!