React! Don't think!

We all want to be able to stand in front of a group or an important client and speak without notes, answer questions confidently and, really, to be ourselves wherever we are.

That’s what Thinking on Your Feet is actually about: it’s you being you, trusting yourself. It’s self-acceptance. You are enough right now. All of the training is really an attempt to get you to believe it!

About twelve years ago or so, I went to Los Angeles to spend some time with a stand up comedy coach. I was looking for help with my delivery. We met a few times and he also arranged to have me perform at a showroom in a restaurant in Santa Monica, near the beach. I could hear the ocean as I went over my set in the back of the room.

Each comic was given ten minutes to perform. I was prepared. I knew my material. I had performed it before. In fact, I had each joke written on an index card, which I was reviewing over and over again. My coach said, “Let me see those cards.” I handed them to him and he put them in his sports jacket. 

“You don’t need these,” he said with a smile. “I’m doing you a favor. You know your jokes. Your notecards are just going to put you more in your head.  Preparation time is over. Free your mind. Go have fun. Be you. Bold and strong. You got this”

His advice fits nearly every sales and speaking situation. We prepare and study for opportunities; but once it’s “show time”, we need to be reacting to what’s going on in the conversation and room. It’s the time where we truly need to be thinking on our feet, to be present, listen intently and enjoy the moment.

Of course, without training, many of us are in our heads, rather than thinking on our feet. In fact, many people will do anything and everything they can to avoid a spontaneous or improvised moment. They want control. 

What do you give up when you have total control? Freedom. You’re restricting yourself.

Many people want  to memorize every word and gesture. I think that’s a mistake. Sure, you want to cover all of the benefits and highlights of your program; but, you often will appear unnatural and stiff.

If you’re in your head, or robotically going through your program, you can’t handle questions or disruptions–many of which are really opportunities to serve our clients. You won’t be spontaneous or as engaging as you could be.

Of course, it’s very normal–and unproductive–to be in our heads. When we’re in our heads, we can get so flustered, running every thought through the “Is this good enough filter”, rather than going with the first idea that pops into our head. We listen to the voices of self-doubt and fear.  

This habit is what’s keeping us from thinking on our feet.

When we respond or react in the moment and drop the filter, we almost always give the best answer because the first answer is almost always your best answer. You may have heard the improv maxim “React. Don’t think.” 

I know it’s counterintuitive to everything that we were taught as a kid.
“You need to think before you act, Michael,” my parents would tell me. Ironically, reacting is way better than thinking when you’re presenting to a client or an audience.

When you’re reacting, you’re drawing from a lifetime of experience. Our brains have our backs. “What the what?” you might be thinking. It means that our brains, when unleashed and unencumbered by our filters, will take care of us. You will know what to say. Just let it happen.

When we’re in our heads, we hold ourselves back by our limiting beliefs. We’ve instructed our brain to filter everything for us and to keep us small and scared. This type of thinking is very normal. Don’t feel bad about it. Let’s work on overcoming it. You can do it!

The answer to “How can I think on my feet” is Improv-based training. I like to call it human being practice. Once we get out of our head, the genius residing in us can be unleashed.

We also will realize things about ourselves when we do improv-based training. We get jolts of personal understanding. “I didn’t realize that about myself.”

Through these improv exercises and principles, we learn by doing. It helps us to develop the muscle memory to be ourselves and to trust ourselves.

You will no longer be merely parroting information. You’ll be connecting with your clients, truly listening to them, understanding their wants and needs, reacting in the moment, bringing the results your clients and company desire.

Sales people, and those who run sales teams, who want an advantage over the competition pursue improv-based training. 

When it was my turn to perform that night, I didn’t stick to my ‘script’. I let loose.   I started off with crowd work and I improvised my set quite a bit. Rather than reciting my jokes, I had a conversation with the audience. I was in the moment with them. I didn’t do the jokes in the order I had planned and I also didn’t do all of them. I had fun and I didn’t want the moment to end.

Since then, I truly enjoy being in the moment, thinking on my feet. 

Now before I meet with a client, give a talk, perform or attend a meeting, I become very intentional. I say to myself, “Whatever happens, happens. I’m going to be bold and strong and do the best job I can for them.” I allow things to unfold.

I get pumped. Yeahhhhhh.. I want to do this! Yeahhhhh! I’ve got this and so do you!

Go have fun. Be you. Bold and strong. You got this.