In Keith Johnstone’s book Impro, he describes a situation where there is a circle of actors improvising in verse. As the circle goes around to one of the actors, he comes up with some incredible rhyme that has the actors gasping and the audience in hysterics.

When the circle comes back around to that same actor, he might be feeling pressure - the pressure that he’s putting on himself to be the same person who just came up with that amazing rhyme a moment ago.

Putting pressure on oneself like that is rarely the right way to come up with something great. The first time, he was relaxed and willing to say the first thing that came into his head - willing to flow.

The only way that he has a chance to invent something as stunning again is to feel comfortable with inventing something ordinary - to be just another human, an ordinary guy.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Ordinary Guy: Episode 458)

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