In improvisational comedy, actors are trained to use the prompt “yes, and” in order to accept what their scene partner has given them and expand upon it to take it further. It doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with your scene partner, it just means that you heard what they said. I think it’s somewhat related to the idea of “finding your why,” in a sense. You say, “yes, and” to take things in a new direction. You “find your why” in order to figure out that direction.
I don’t remember where I got this but I had written down a few notes about goal setting that involved the idea of “I do this so that I can do that.”
(If you’re the person from whom I got it, please let me know and I’ll credit you.)
With the new year fast approaching and resolutions/goal setting coming up, I thought this might be an interesting way to look at the steps involved in achieving your goals.
For example, as it relates to continuing education:
- I register for pedagogy courses so that I can explore new ways of teaching voice
- I explore new ways of teaching voice so that I can serve my students/clients better
- I serve my clients better so that they can feel more confident about their singing and performing in the community and so that I get additional clients who want to be just like them
- I teach additional clients so that I can make more money
- I make more money so that I can take more pedagogy courses
Or as a performer:
- I take voice lessons so that I can audition for the opera
- I audition for the opera so that I can perform on stage
- I perform on stage so that I can make more money
- I make more money so that I can take voice lessons (and take more pedagogy courses)
What is my WHY? For that, we probably need to go back to my earliest blogposts and the (current) title of this blog.
