Yes, today I turn 40 years old (wow, a milestone!).

To celebrate my 40 years on this planet, below I have listed “40 ways to improvise, adapt, and innovate.” Hopefully they will help you take your life or business to the next level – and beyond!

If you want to give me a birthday present, why not pick your one or two favorites from below and copy and paste into your Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Google+ feed, along with a link back to this post (Short link: http://goo.gl/lnfzD)

Improvise: How to React to Ding Moments

1. Great creativity comes not from being full of ideas, but from being empty, observant, and in the moment
2. When Ding Happens, saying, “yes, but” is whining. “Yes, And” leads to proactive solutions.
3. You can laugh or cry; your choice won’t change the situation. So why not laugh?
4. High emotion blocks creativity. So take a minute to calm the heck down before you take stupid action out of fear.
5. To increase productivity, decrease stress, and improvise effectively, focus on what you can control and let go of the rest.
6. The ultimate goal of the improviser is artistic self-expression (paraphrased from BruceLee)
7. Improvising quickly about training reflexes; anyone can do it. It just takes practice.
8. By being willing to fail you greatly improve your odds of success.
9. When Ding Happens, get to work fixing the problem. Stop wasting time freaking out, assigning blame, or worrying what others might think.
10. Creativity is a muscle, not a set of tactics. Build the muscle over time and it will be there for you when you need it.

Adapt: How to Take Advantage of Ding Moments

1. You will learn more by taking a small step and analyzing the results then you will by taking hours and days of “thinking.”
2. When Ding Happens, ask yourself, “how can I get to a place that’s better than where I was before?”
3. Wisdom is knowing when to stick to your plan and when to be flexible
4. Adapting to new situations often means letting go of your plan and stepping off the ledge into uncertainty.
5. A positive attitude doesn’t guarantee success. But a negative one almost always kills your ability to adapt.
6. Compromise is meeting in the middle so both parties are a little happy and a little sad. Collaboration is jointly creating new ideas that make both parties happy.
7.  Stop thinking of Dings as things to be gotten around. Start looking at them as opportunities to become more efficient, effective, and successful.
8. Two ways to adapt: 1) Same goal, different path 2) New goal, same path
9. Flexibility comes from realizing that there is usually a much big picture than your “really good idea.”
10. Ego, pride, sunk cost, and an unwillingness to be wrong are common, but stupid, reasons people struggle to adapt.

Innovate: How to Create Your Own Ding Moments

1. “Yes, And” gets you out of your comfort zone, which is the only place real innovation can occur.
2.  Constraints may seem annoying, but they create the field within which your creativity can play.
3. To innovate and break through barriers, find ways of increasing, not decreasing, complexity (for you, not your clients)
4. To increase innovation and creativity, practice connecting two seemingly un-connected ideas.
5. The best ideas are often buried under the worst. Explore the stupid, impossible, ridiculous, and uncomfortable so you can get to the good stuff.
6. Periodically throw away everything you have known and believed (about your life, business, goals, etc.) and start over with a blank canvas.
7. The seed of innovation is panted with discomfort (yours or others). Explore, rather than avoid, the discomfort to grow the innovation.
8. If you never fail, stop patting yourself on the back and start taking more chances…
9. There is a limit to how long and hard you can work. There is no limit to how may times you can innovate and improve a process.
10. Stop trying to conform to other’s normalcy. Start getting others on board with your ridiculousness.

Business/Life/Motivation

1. ‘Be So Good You Are Impossible to Ignore.” One of my favorite quotes, and what I believe is the first step to business success.
2. Difficulty can be your competitive advantage. Be willing to put in the time, effort, and skill to push past that difficulty and you will leave most of your competition behind.
3. Bosses who berate, demean, flip out, and rip employees apart are horrible. You are directly reducing another person’s (or a group of people’s) quality of life because you don’t know how to communicate or deal with your own insecurities. Get over yourself.
4. Laugh. Everyday. It’s healthy, makes you happy, and keeps you focused on the positive.
5. The more “you” you can be, the easier everything else becomes.
6.  Stop wasting times on things that don’t matter. Identify the few things that do, and become a rock-star at those.
7. I can’t think of a valid reason not to build more and better relationships with quality people – especially once you learn the art of graciously saying, “no.”
8. If no one criticizes what you do, you are probably playing it too safe to be unique, relevant, or distinct.
9. Nothing succeeds like success. If you’re struggling, reduce the goal so you can build momentum.
10. Anyone – yes ANYONE – can perform improv comedy. Even great improv comedy. They just need to learn a few skills and be willing to practice. Have fun, and be willing to make mistakes. The same rule applies to almost anything in life.

Your Turn!

What would you add to this list? What have you found to be simple but powerful advice to improvise, adapt, and/or innovate? Please share in the comments below!

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This an idea that helped me get better at martial arts and improv, and is a cornerstone in developing the mentality of quick thinking and creativity,

For more info on this concept, check out this video:

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“You have given various methods of how to make an idea successful which are very useful and easy to implement. I wanted to check – how do I make sure that my idea will sell or it is the right direction I am going in. Unless and until I am sure about my initiative I cannot encourage myself to work towards it.”

This is an excellent question and one that I am sure many people have.

Unfortunately, my answer may not make those people happy:

You Can’t!

This is one of the most useful lessons I picked up from the world of improv comedy:

Success comes not from having a fully formed idea right up front, but rather by taking one step, seeing what happens, and adjusting as you go.

This is not to say that you should “wing it,” or abandon planning altogether. It just means that plans are limited, and if you spend your time coming up with a perfect plan that covers all contingencies and guarantees success, you’ll never get started.

Instead, here is how to use the improv comedy / “Ding Happens!” approach to implementing projects, new ideas, and initiatives:

1. Get Clear – Why are you taking this action? What is your goal? What are you trying to achieve? When you are clear on where you are trying to get to you have a much easier time adjusting and staying on track when things don’t go as planned. It’s when people only focus on their plan that they waste tremendous time and energy.
2. Minimize Risk – The danger in taking action when success is uncertain is that you could lose time, money, energy, and more. The key is to minimize risk by thinking lean and agile. Don’t bet the whole farm right out of the get. Start with a small step where the loss is acceptable. Shrink the task until the potential loss is something you can live with. One caveat: There should be some risk involved. If you try to shrink the task to a point where there is no chance of loss, then your steps will be insignificant.
3. Take Action – Sounds simple, but I know many people who had great ideas but never even took the first step. Heck, I have a few projects of my own that I have yet to take an action on. Don’t get caught up in over-planning! You can’t figure it all out in advance. You will learn far more and make more progress by taking action and studying the results than you will trying to prepare for every contingency. So ACT!
4. Analyze – One of the hallmarks of being lean and agile is that after each discrete step you analyze the results. What worked? What didn’t? What did we learn? Should we stay on the plan or adjust? This stage not only helps you stay on track, but by regularly taking stock of what’s going on you reduce the likelihood of wasting time and money on a losing prospect.
5. Adjust and Try Again or Quit – Once you’ve analyzed, it’s time to make adjustments and try again (or take the next step). Or quit – gasp! A motivational speaker talking about quitting?!? Yes, quitting. Not all paths are brilliant. Not all goals are achievable. Most importantly, you may decide that what you set out to achieve isn’t worth achieving or isn’t really what you want. Quitting the things that don’t matter makes room for the things  that do.

Life is uncertain. Rather than waiting for a guarantee that things will go your way, adopt the mindset and approach of the improviser: start with a plan, take a small step, and analyze and adjust as you go. You may not always end up where you planned, but you will often end up somewhere wonderful…

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Does your team or organization need help with its creativity, innovation, or ability to deal with change? If so, give Avish a call – 484-366-1793 - or send him an email to talk about having him work with your group! !

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Just when you think you’ve got a handle on things and start to feel comfortable, DING! the situation, economy, industry, or world changes on you.

Change is inevitable. And yet, no matter how much we all know change is inevitable, so many people resist it.

For many, their first instinct when a change occurs is to think backwards. That is, their primary thought becomes, “how do I get back to where I was before the change happened?”

Unfortunately, this not only shuts them off from flexibility, adaptability, and innovation, it often keeps them stuck in less than optimal situations.

For example, years ago I bought Intuit’s Quicken software package. I was going to use this tool to revolutionize the way I managed my finances.

I have used Quicken for about 10 years now, and you know what? It has not revolutionized my finances at all.

You know why?

Because to this day, I still only use Quicken as a glorified checkbook register.

I know it has lots of options, tools, and reports, but I never use any of them.

In short, I use the new technology to keep doing things the same way I have always done them.

I fell into the trap of thinking backwards.

Too often, organizations, businesses, and individuals operate the same way. When a change in technology, regulations, economy, or organizational structure comes along, they scramble to figure out how to keep doing business the same way they used to in this new environment.

In short, their instinct is to “go back” to where things were before.  However, “going back,” may not be such a great idea for three reasons:

• The old place may not have been so great. It might not have been a happy, profitable, or satisfying place. But it’s what we know, so we try to go back.
• Going back may cut off new opportunities in the present and future. Progress is made by going forward, not back. When you dig in and resist change, you cut off innovation and progress.
• The old place may no longer exist. Companies and entire industries get wiped out by trying to hold on to a past that no longer exists. For example, when technology changes the landscape, the “good old way” of doing business may not work anymore.

Organizations and individuals who try to go backwards are the ones that get left behind by the ones who say, “now that things have changed, how can we do things in a better way than we did before?”

For example:

• When you lose an employee, don’t ask, “how quickly can we replace this person?” Ask, “do we need to replace this person, and if so how can we adjust both the responsibilities and the qualities we are looking for to improve the position, department, and organization?”
• When a company wide decision forces you to adopt a new software package, don’t ask, “what do I need to know to use this software so I can get back to work?” Ask, “what features does this software have that can help me be more effective, efficient, and profitable in my job?”
• When a new law forces you to change how you do business, don’t ask, “What are the minimum changes we need to make in order to comply with the law?” Ask, “what opportunities does this new law open up for us to serve more clients or to serve existing clients better?

You won’t always come up with a game-changing brilliant answer, but by building the habit of asking the question you open yourself, your team, and your organization up to the possibility of finding and leveraging opportunity in every change that comes your way.

Remember, when Ding! Happens (and it will!) think better, not back.

And that is how you start building the flexible company.

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Does your team or organization need help with its creativity, innovation, or ability to deal with change? If so, give Avish a call – 484-366-1793 - or send him an email to talk about having him work with your group! !

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Here’s a quote from Jerry Seinfeld from the book “Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV” which was about NBC’s dominant run in the 80’s and 90’s:

“All creativity should be exploratory. If we know what we’re doing completely, we’re not in the right place.”

This quote sums up the heart of great improvisation and creativity. Waiting until you have 100% certainty will cut off your creativity and slow you down so much your competitors will jump ahead of you.

This is not to say you should act foolishly. However, by adopting an exploratory mindset instead of a certainty mindset, you open the door for tremendous creativity, flexibility, and innovation.

Here are three simple ways to bring this mindset to the workplace:

1. During idea generation, don’t shoot down ideas because you don’t know where they will lead. That is exactly the place that great ideas come from.
2. Rather than getting stuck in over-analysis, take small actions that let you observe results and make adjustments. By not waiting for certainty, you open up the possibility of unexpected positive results.
3. Instead of being scared by “experts” or “focus group results,” take calculated risks and see what happens. If Seinfeld had followed the “experts” advice or listened to what initial focus groups said, it never would have made it on air. Not every bet will work, but if you never make a mistake you are probably not reaching far enough.

Acting from a place of uncertainty can be scary, but it can also be exhilarating – and extremely profitable. Mitigate your risks, explore ideas, and take small actions.

If it was good enough for Seinfeld it should be good enough for you…

***
Does your team or organization need help with its creativity, innovation, or ability to deal with change? If so, give Avish a call – 484-366-1793 - or send him an email to talk about havign him work with your group! !

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To bring this same humor, content, and engagement to your next event, check out Avish’s keynote speaking page now!

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I said “Improv Comedy style,” not “Gangnam style”…

Tomorrow – Thursday, November 22^nd – is Thanksgiving Day (here in the U.S.)

It is a day to pause, reflect, and give thanks for all the things we have.

(At least that’s what it’s supposed to be. For many, it’s a day off from work, a chance to be gluttonous and watch football, and an opportunity to go to sleep early to hit 4 AM “Black Friday” Sales. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we shouldn’t forget the whole “Thanks” part of it!)

This year, I decided to approach the “Thanks” part with an improv comedy mindset, and I would suggest you do the same.

When people give thanks, they may sit for a moment, think of all the things they have to be thankful for, and then maybe write them down or say them out loud out (perhaps as part of a pre-meal toast).

Improv comedy, however, is all about creative expression and explosion. It’s about going far beyond scratching the surface and digging deep, because that’s where the good stuff really lies.

This year, try this simple 12 minute exercise to really appreciate all you have to be thankful for, improv comedy style:

1. Grab 2 or 3 blank sheets of paper and a pen.
2. Clear your area of any distractions.
3. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
4. When the timer starts, immediately start writing a list of things you have to be thankful for.
5. This is the most important part: For the next ten minutes, until the timer goes off, do not let the pen stop moving! Keep writing items, even if they seem trivial or ridiculous. It doesn’t matter what you write; you are not going to show anyone this list or even read it yourself.
6. Keep writing. I can assure you that at some point you will think, “hasn’t it been ten minutes already?!” No, no it has not. Keep writing.
7. When the timer goes off, stop writing.
8. Take the next two minutes and reflect on all the things you wrote down. Think about all the things you have to truly be thankful for.

That’s all there is to it.

I just did this myself, and in the two minute reflection period afterward I can tell you I felt calmer, more fortunate, and more satisfied with my life than I have in a while.

Gone was the “striving for more,” the “annoyances at things that hadn’t borne fruit yet,” the “frustrations at all of life’s little ‘Dings.’”

I am lucky. Luckier than most. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Do this exercise yourself and you’ll probably feel the same way. The key is in not letting yourself off the hook with the few standard items we all know to be thankful for.

Do it improv style, tap your creativity, dig deep, and you’ll start to feel some real “thanks” this Thanksgiving!

Have a safe, fun, happy, and gratitude filled Thanksgiving!

***

For more information on tapping into and developing your creativity download the Free “How to Think Quick” MP3 by filling out the “Sign Up” form in the right column of this page now!

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A Ding Moment is an unexpected change that you initiate that changes the game, forces creativity, and helps you move in a new direction. They are powerful ways to build a business or achieve personal goals.

They’re not always easy to create, but here are 10 techniques you can use to get started:

1)      Simplify for Others

Everybody wants their own life to be simpler (easier, less stressful etc.). Instead of wondering what you can do to make your own life simpler, ask, “What can I do – in my current business or career or in a new endeavor – to make other people’s lives simpler?” A small innovation that simplifies something for others can be a very powerful Ding.

2)      Increase Complexity for Yourself

Complexity sucks. However, if you want to innovate and create a new “Ding!,” you’ll most likely have to be willing to let your own life get more complex for a while. Figure out a strategic way to make your life more complicated that either a) adds value to others or b) moves you towards your goals, and you’ll be well rewarded.

3)      Force Yourself to Do More with Less

Yes, you are probably already being asked and forced to do more and more with less and less. However, those are not strategic decisions you are making for yourself. To create your own Ding! moments, lead the charge by asking and challenging yourself to do more with less money, energy, time, or resources. With an open mind and creativity you can force innovation that separates you from the pack.

4)      Combine Two Unrelated Things

Instead of compartmentalizing your life, ask yourself how you can combine two elements of your life (or business, industry, job, etc) to create something new. For example, Zumba was a combination of an aerobics class and salsa dancing. Now it’s a HUGE industry.

5)      Model Success from a Completely Unrelated Area

When trying to achieve a goal it is understandable to look at others who have achieved success in the same area. This is a smart way to learn from others. However, if you do only this you are limiting yourself to being a follower, which makes it very hard to innovate and create Ding moments.  Instead, study success from completely unrelated areas and see what inspiration and lessons you can you’ll from there.

6)      Get Scared

You may already know what you need to do to create a Ding moment for yourself; you just may be afraid of doing it. Take a look at what you’re currently afraid of – that may be the very thing you should force yourself to do.

7)      Get Stupid

My friend and fellow speaker Robert Bradford runs strategic planning sessions with CEOs, and he likes to ask them, “what’s the stupidest thing we can do right now?” I love this question because it

1. Opens up your creative and playful side (where creativity lies)
2. Gets you thinking about options that no one else is thinking about.

You usually won’t do exactly what the stupid idea is, but it will get you thinking down some new and interesting paths.

8)      Erase and Start Over

Current success is great, but it can also be your biggest enemy. If you are unwilling to let go of what you have, you can get yourself trapped in an ever-shrinking box. For a time, let go of everything you have achieved and created to this point and let yourself think with a blank slate.

9)      Raise Your Bar

Stop playing small! You don’t need to have giant, world-changing dreams, but try setting higher standards for yourself and see how that forces you to innovate and create Dings to make it happen.

10)  Do What You Know You, “Can Not Do”

There is probably at least one thing about which you have said to yourself, “I could never do that.” (I have heard many people say that to me – often, right before a corporate improv workshop, only to have them 2-3 hours later say, “wow, I could do that, and I just did!) Starting small is fine – take a class, run a test, etc. By smacking your own limitations in the face you’ll be on your way to creating an awesome Ding!

For more information on creating Ding Moments, check out the “Be a Ding Maker” Page now!

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Things will go wrong. Anyone can do well when everything goes exactly as planned. The real test of you and your organization is how well you deal with the unexpected (“Ding!”) when they happen – because they will! The following 9 ideas will show you how to not only react to the Dings of life, but also how to find opportunities within them and to be a leader of change, not just a victim of it.

Reacting to Dings!

When Ding Happens, do you make stupid mistakes, do you get paralyzed, or do you react in a way that keep you on track?

1)      Focus on What You Can Control, Let Go of the Rest. Putting time and energy on things you can’t control is like standing in a storm, yelling at the wind to stop. It accomplished nothing and just tires you out. Great improvisers put their attention on one thing: what they can do right here, right now, only with what they have.

2)      Have Fun. Having fun, laughing, and staying positive reduces stress, increases creativity, and makes you more able to stay calm and take logical action. Find a way to stay up, even when things are down.

3)      Be Willing to Fail. Failure isn’t ok; it usually has serious consequences. However, focusing on the fear of failure achieves nothing but taking our focus off of the only things that matter: the activities that ensure we won’t fail!

Taking Advantage of Dings!

Every Ding has an opportunity hidden inside of it. If you want to move from merely putting out fires to truly making progress, then use these three techniques to starting finding those opportunities.

4)      Improve the Status Quo. When Ding Happens, your first response may be to try to get back to where you were before things went haywire. However, that just keeps you at the “treading water” place. To take advantage of Dings, start asking yourself, “How can I get to a place that is better than where I was before?”

5)      Act with Gusto. Great improvisation is about taking action; improv comedy is not a tentative person’s art form. Don’t do something foolish (like gambling away your savings) but don’t let opportunities pass you by because you are afraid to take action.

6)      Say, “Yes, And!” Simply put, when Ding Happens, stop saying “yes, but” and start saying “Yes, And!” A principle so important I wrote a whole book on it: “Say ‘Yes, And!’”

Creating Your Own Dings!

If you want to be a leader in your industry or organization, or if you simply want to break out of a rut, get past a plateau, or achieve a goal you have been struggling with, then you may need to start creating some Dings of your own.

7)      Add Constraints. Constraints are generally seen as a bad thing. However, adding constraints (trying to do things with less time, money, energy, etc) is one of the best ways to increase creativity and force productivity.

8)      Increase Complexity. I know, I know: We all want our lives to be simpler, not more complex. But the simplicity you seek may very well be on the other side of greater complexity. For example, if you want to make more money, you may need more education. More education means spending money, juggling schedules, filling out applications, and adding more work to a full calendar. That’s more complex. And yet, beyond that complexity are the results you want…

9)      Apply Creativity. Creativity is a big topic. In this context, it comes down to doing one of two things: doing something that hasn’t been done before, or doing something that has been done before in a different way. Start asking yourself, “what if?” “Why not?” and “what I am afraid of doing?” Those questions will open your creative mind and help you become a Ding Maker!

There you have it. Let me know your thoughts, and let me know which ideas you would like me to explore further.

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P.S. Remember, this is all for a new keynote. If you have an event coming up and would like to talk about bringing this new keynote to your group, give me a call – 484-366-1793 - or send me an email now!

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(Note: the video starts out wobbly for some reason, but then straightens out)

The theme of the night was “Whose Cliche is it Anyway?” All the participants were given 8 “motivational cliches” and we each had to weave those into our own motivational speech.

I decided to perform mine improv comedy style.

(Note: If you like this video and plan meetings, or know someone who plans meetings, then check out my speaking info. This game is a variation of what I open my presentations with…)

For the record, the eight cliches are:

• Sell the sizzle, not the steak
• Think outside the box
• Check up from the neck up
• We become what we think about
• Awaken the giant within
• You¹ve got to be hungry
• Build a bigger pie
• Think and grow rich

Enjoy!

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