Yes, and...

Mission for a Rainy Day:

I charge you, dear reader, with making a conscious and concerted effort today to saying "yes, and..." as often as possible, in every situation that you can. "Yes, and..." is one of the fundamental principles of Improvisational Comedy (think "Second City" and "Whose Line Is It Anyway"), and it is shorthand for the practice of Agreement on stage.

Improv is theater without a script, where the lines, scenes, stories and situations invented in the moment by the actors on stage.  While technically everything is permissible on stage, there are some commonly understood rules of engagement for the actors - the first of which is Agreement.

When building something together on stage, saying, "no," effectively kills the scene - this is called 'blocking'.  For example:

"Hey Fred - let's go to the Mall and fill out get you to fill out that job application at The Gap."

"No.  We should go to the Grand Canyon."

.....>crickets<.....

You can see how the story dies with the blocking of the initial idea.  Let's replay but remove the blocking:

"Hey Fred - let's go to the Mall and fill out get you to fill out that job application at The Gap."

"Sure!  And then I can avert my eyes while you shoplift clothes."

Clearly, the second version will make for a much more interesting scene and story. 

This works in real life as well.  When a friend, colleague, partner, child suggests something to you today, before answering out of instinct, take an extra beat, review when you were about to say, and then make sure your answer agrees with and adds something to the suggestion.

This does not mean you should let, say, a child do whatever she wants.  Rather, find a way to agree with the spirit of the request without allowing something inappropriate.  If your daughter asks to jump off a bridge, say "Yes! And let's land in a lake of pudding."  You can then jump off the couch and initiate a fun imagination game with her.


So - go out there, take an extra moment, and try to agree with as many things as possible today.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised with where this approach takes you.

For a fantastic introduction to Improv, I suggest Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation - Great stuff.