How Doing Improv Improved My Business Self

I started reading ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron on Sep 11th, 2016. Due to the book, I started the practice of ‘Morning Pages’ which are one of the major tools she recommends in order to unblock your creativity and start un-smudging yourself to reveal who you truly are.

The Morning Pages

I have been doing morning pages consistently for the past month and a half. Basically, they are 3 pages of long-hand stream of consciousness writing in the morning as soon as you wake up. It helps remove all the dredge inside your mind and move on from it to more creative and authentic work.

Due to the practice of morning pages, I have been learning more and more about myself. One major revelation that I have had is that I love to perform. This has been a revelation of astronomical proportions to me, because in the past, I have actually shied away from performance, as I believed it to be a waste of time, and a nuisance. In fact, these thoughts were not mine, but thoughts transmitted to me through my parents who believed it to be so.

I Want To Be A Goof

They always wanted me to become a doctor, and become more serious. I always wanted to be a goof, be silly, and do creative work. In order to be a good daughter, I have had to let go of so many parts of myself which were silly, goofy, and interested in creative works, like writing, painting, performing, acting, and more.

In Chiang Mai, I discovered a great improv group that I joined as soon as I learned that I love to perform. I didn’t want to waste any more time on staying away from something that obviously spoke so deeply to my soul. My soul wanted this, and I wanted to take care of myself and give myself exactly what I want and need.
The first day of the workshop was on a Saturday. I woke up on that Saturday, feeling miserable. Wanting to cancel, and wanting to die, I didn’t want to go. I was so afraid of doing something stupid, or embarrassing myself.

Courage Is Keeping On Keeping On

I kept on telling myself as I walked to the workshop that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the determination to walk through the fear, to the other side. That’s what I was going to do. I was going to feel the fear, and do it anyway. I was terrified. Even the teacher who was leading the workshop told me after that she could see the fear in my body and face initially. But as time as went on, and we did more and more warm-up exercises, I got more comfortable and at the end of the 2 hours, I was ecstatic.

I had passed a major hurdle. All I had to do was keep on going to improv every Saturday from 4-6pm and I will keep on challenging myself and keep on performing in the way I wanted to. I like making people laugh and I like performing in front of a crowd. Improv appeals to me as it works in both of the aspects above.
Improv was an exercise in taking a risk with myself and my self-image. I did something the old Boom Shikha would never have undertaken. She would have wanted to really, really badly deep down inside, but she wouldn’t have had the courage to do it.

I Can Do Anything Even Improv

But I’m a different person now. I have the courage, and I know who I am. I know I can do this and anything else I put my mind to.

This courage comes to me, because I have already done myriad number of things this year. I have taken more risks this year than any other year of my life: I have already quit my job, started an online business, moved to Chiang Mai, become a digital nomad, ridden a motorbike on the streets of Chiang Mai, and now done Improv.

I know now that I can do anything I want to do. There are no limits in my mind anymore. I am limitless.

Everything Is Connected

This belief helps me become stronger and better in my business. Improv isn’t just about improv and performance. Improv is about changing myself to become better as a person overall. This change has made me a better business person, a better daughter, a better lover, a better sister, and a better friend.

Everything is interconnected. Everything matters. Nothing is done in a vacuum. We are all doing everything we can right now.

What risk can you take in your own life that will push you over the edge into that limitless life that you dream of having? Is there anything you can do in this moment, a little baby step that you can take that would change your life indubitably?

Remember, greatness happens little by little. No one was born great. But they became great because they kept at it every single day doing a little bit more. I want all of us reading this message to become those little doers. Do something, anything, little every day. To become that person that you aspire to be. Keep on growing and keep on learning.

Share with me that one little risk that you are planning to take. I would love to share in this glorious journey with you.