80% of Success Is Showing Up: What Improv Taught Me About Commitment
It’s easy to be lazy, procrastinate, and conjure up excuses, right? Comedian and director Woody Allen said it best: “80% of success is showing up.”
It’s true.
Love your parents? Visit them. Need to write? Sit down and write. Need to exercise? Go to the gym or start taking walks. A big part of showing up is creating rituals or habits that trigger the behaviors you want — from putting it on the calendar to preparing a process ahead of time. Do what’s necessary to launch a consistent mechanism that carries those desired behaviors through, even on the days you don’t feel like it.
The same holds true with improv training
If you desire to reap the benefits of the art, you’ve got to show up and do the work. Yeah, if you take it seriously, it is work. However, it’s fun work.
You can’t show up once a month and expect to become well-versed in the many principles of improv. You have to get up there every week and practice the principles. You have to take it seriously.
Watch the students who show up every week, scale down their ego, adhere to notes, and reflect on their work. It shows… every time they take the stage.
There is no amount of funny that replaces dedication.
Confidence isn’t the reward for perfection
Dedication provides a chance to grow and gives you opportunities to learn from your mistakes. Effective improvisers don’t step onto the stage and immediately become confident performers. Arriving there requires mistakes of all kinds, and getting past those mistakes starts with discipline and dedication.
Remember: confidence is not the result of perfection. It’s the result of being comfortable with our flaws and flubs.
What this looks like outside of class
If you think about it, every day is “show time” in our relationships, jobs, and careers. Those who take shortcuts or skip the details of their own path tend to have a harder time getting the results they want. The people who consistently show up… to the gym, to the page, to the hard conversation… are the ones who improve. Improv is no different. It just happens to make the lesson obvious, fast, and a little bit funnier along the way.
Come show up with us
Make this the season you commit to something new. Join us for a Live Drop-In Class every Wednesday, 6–8 pm, or an Online Zoom Class every Tuesday, 6–7:30 pm, right here in North Scottsdale.
Joe Hammer is the founder and director of The Outcasters Improv Training Center in Scottsdale, where he's spent years helping everyday people build real confidence through drop-in improv classes, workshops, and shows. No experience or performing background is required. Joe brings that same interactive approach to corporate and team-building training, and shares individual coaching and speaking work at YourImprovCoach.com. Come enjoy the magic of improv for yourself at a Wednesday drop-in class. We look forward to meeting you!
