How to Survive the Pandemic Like an Improviser

As many of us have, I've been thinking a lot about a lot of things. We are in a visibly rapidly changing environment and a time that is putting our improvisational skills to the test. It’s so important that we take care of ourselves and others. As entrepreneurs and business leaders, it’s particularly an important time to take care of ourselves, while also being an incredibly difficult time to take care of ourselves. 

As you know I am all about improvising in life and leadership, strengthening resiliency, adaptability and the ability to handle whatever comes our way in the face of uncertainty. IMPROVE equips and empowers improvisational leadership and has helped me and thousands of leaders handle rapid change and uncertainty, so I want to share with you a few ways our Core 4 principles might help you during these pandemic times. 

Say Yes, And.

Acknowledge what’s happening. Accept the reality versus denying it. We can only move forward to capture the opportunity or fix something once we acknowledge there is something to address. There are a zillion ways corona could have been handled differently, but the reality is that it happened how it happened and we cannot change the past. We can only acknowledge and accept the present moment and move on to make decisions to improve the future.

Practice: For yourself and your business, acknowledge the present moment and what’s happening (that’s saying “yes”) and then consider the possible actions you can take considering that present moment (that’s the “and”). For example, acknowledging that people are encouraged to not go into public group settings, so instead of holding in-person classes, offer digital classes.

Take everything as a gift.

This may be difficult to see now, but there are many gifts that have, are, and will come out of this pandemic. Some examples of gifts include being united together as a country and world, forcing us to rest, showing us what we’re capable of individually and collectively, rediscovering the sanitation skills we learned in kindergarten, and providing us with an excuse to not go to any of the social gatherings and events that we really didn’t want to go to anyways.

Practice: Consider three gifts coming out of the pandemic for you and your business. For instance, “we are improving our systems and processes”, “we are learning how to communicate and collaborate remotely,” and “I am able to spend more time with my children because I’m working from home”.

Note: just because we’re listing gifts, doesn’t mean we are belittling the gravity of the situation we’re in. We’re just choosing to ALSO see some of the positive outcomes. We are reframing our minds so that we don’t get stuck with our doubts and fears. We can acknowledge the gravity, sadness, and fear that we feel AND acknowledge the gifts and positive outcomes. It’s not an either-or situation.

Play the scene you’re in.

Which is a quarantine scene (and if you’re not in the self-quarantine scene, say “yes, and” get to this scene because this is our reality right now and it's best for everyone if you get in this scene). This scene won’t last, so enjoy it while you’re in it. Be there while you’re there. You’ll be a lot less stressed if you just accept the reality of the situation (“yes”) and be present with it. Consider what's likely to be in a quarantine scene -- rest, naps, playing board games, doing puzzles, organizing your closet. And what's not in a quarantine scene - going to the club, squatting in Starbucks all day, or giving high-fives on the subway. Look, a quarantine scene is not a scene we're used to playing, so it may take some extra creativity to come up with activities we can do (or not do) while on quarantine. That's okay. Let's practice.

Practice: Consider your surroundings. What are three things in your quarantine scene that you enjoy? For me, I have a yoga mat, Airpods for pacing while taking calls, and an appropriate amount of toilet paper.

If it feels weird, do it. 

This principle is about making new choices to heighten the scene. In an improv scene, we’re heightening to make the scene funnier. In the pandemic scene that we’re in, we need to make new choices because we’re in a new environment. In fact, we have to make a lot of new choices right now. Old habits die hard, but better to kill old habits than to kill each other. Stop shaking hands. Choose activities in solitude. Don’t lick your fingers after opening a door. You know, new choices.

Practice: What are three new choices you need to make to play this new scene you’re in? Follow me @maryimproves to find out what new choices I’m making.

These Core 4 principles are especially helpful to remember and practice during this time. And these are just a few ways we can improve our response to the global pandemic. If you want to learn more ways you can improve your and your teams handling of the rapid change and uncertainty, join us Tuesday, March 24 at 5:00 pm EST for a webinar “Improve Your Response to COVID19: How to improvise your leadership, teams, and company during times of rapid change and uncertainty” where we’ll discuss specific ways to help your teams improvise and make new choices during this time of major change and uncertainty. Contact me to get the link to participate.

And if you’d like to chat more specifically about the challenges you, your teams and companies are facing during this time, please click this link to schedule with me a free consultation.

And, finally, option number three, if you'd like suggestions for more ways to improve your leadership and life during this pandemic, follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram @chooseimprove for regular suggestions and exercises to help you handle this quickly evolving real-life improv scene we're in.

Be well, safe, and sane. And remember to smile.

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