The “yes and” technique is a favorite technique people use in improv.
The idea is that you never stop the momentum. No matter what anyone says – you just say “yes and” and then keep the train going – accepting the premise the other person put forward – no matter how ridiculous it is
The popularity has spilled over into business, brainstorming and other communication classes, but it works well with hard things with yourself as well.
When shit sucks – it’s tempting to start listing out why.
- It’s hot.
- I don’t want to.
- Things aren’t fair.
- It’s too expensive.
- I probably can’t pull it off anyways.
Instead of letting those be final statements – yes-and them.
It’s hot.
Yes and…
I don’t want to…
Yes and…
Things aren’t fair.
Yes and…
It’s too expensive.
Yes and…
I probably can’t pull it off anyways.
Yes and…
Pretty soon you run out of reasons why not to do something and the list of reasons why you shouldn’t bother becomes the stack of reasons why it’s worth doing.
Turn the excuse into the expected.
Do it anyways.
Yes and…
It’s great in theory and will probably work for many different scenarios. However, when dealing with deep sorry and tragedy, such as when a parent is dying, it’s hard to ‘yes, and’ thoughts. I’ve found it requires a lot of journaling and rephrasing and rethinking and not just wearing out the negative.