I’ve spent the last few weeks (okay, months) working on my web site redesign. I haven’t linked to it here, cuz it isn’t finished. I keep getting Stuck.

At first I thought the culprits were picking just the right colors and crafting the perfect design and figuring out what to write and making the bells and whistles work. And yes those are parts of the Stuck, but not the root of it.

The root of the Stuck is it’s scary.

It’s scary because I have to figure out (and tell other people!) what I’m doing.

Why have a web site? What’s its purpose? What’s my purpose? What’s my vision?  Just what (insert spinsterish inner critic voice here) am I trying to accomplish? (Thank goodness, I didn’t ask myself these questions before starting this blog!)

Working on my web site forces me to think about my music, my art, my music as art (huh?), my purpose, my goals, my plan. Ugh, I haven’t figured all of that out yet.

Sarah, meet Stuck.

…

Stuck, meet my friend, Improvisation.

So … once I realized I was dealing with Stuck, I asked myself … “When I get stuck in an improv, what do I do?”

• Get quiet and listen
• Remain calm and take the time I need
• Try out different ideas
• Trust my intuition and instincts
• Say the thing I’m thinking (even if it doesn’t connect/make sense)
• Start – sometimes it’s okay to find the destination along the way
• Keep it simple

…

I’m happy to report that I’m less Stuck. I asked my questions and I have an answer.

I’m going to the change the world by singing.

Okay, so I haven’t figured out how I’m going to do it just yet. And, I don’t know how far reaching or to what scale the changes will be. I do know it has a lot to do with vocal improvisation, teaching, sharing what I’m learning, connecting and creating communities. That’s more than enough to start.

The biggest challenge when I improvise is how to create structure without creating limits. How do you choose guidelines that will help you without creating blockades for other ideas?

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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).