I read an article once about problem solving and decision-making during emergency or crisis situations.

This article argued that common and formal decision making processes are not necessarily useful when decisions need to be made quickly. It talked about how rescue workers and firefighters most often use the first workable solution they find.

Not the best solution, not the most elegant solution, not the most cost effective solution, but the first workable solution.

How aptly this advice applies to improvisation.

(Now, I can see how some of you might think from this and my previous post that I’m saying that improvising is life-threatening. Not at all, but improvising certainly requires rapid problem definition and speedy decision-making. Those are the fun parts!)

One of the reasons I study improvisation and teach it to others is for the flexibility and confidence I gain in other areas of my life. Through improvising, I’ve learned I can trust my intuition. I can, as my mentor Rhiannon says, listen for “instructions” — a voice, an impulse or an  instinct that helps me decide. Moments can be fraught or freeing, but they are always fleeting. Why take time agonizing over a decision and then take up more time agonizing over how you made the decision?

I’ve learned by improvising that you can make workable decisions quickly (and the more I practice improvising, the better my decisions get).

More Bloggity Goodness

• Working with the Broken Pieces