One of the cornerstones of improv is "Yes, and..." Basically, ideas presented in a scene are accepted for what they are and built upon. If someone in the scene intimates that everyone is on a dairy farmer, they're now on a dairy farm and hey! we're milking cows!
It wouldn't further the scene if some malcontent was like, "No we're not! Farms are stupid!"
And yet, it seems, in my daily life, I tend to do a lot 'No, and... now I'm going to go pout like a big baby!"
It certainly doesn't further my life. It makes me a whole lot of unhappy, and I'm sure that there's a study somewhere that says I'm willfully murdering my own endorphins.
One of the books I've been reading posits that there are two kinds of people in the world: people who see problems and people who see challenges.
A lot of us have jobs that train us to identify problems. And it's pretty likely to cause us to be unhappy.
As a manager, it's my job to stand back from a situation and size it up--to figure out how to make things run more smoothly, and hopefully stop problems before they come up.
Unfortunately, it means I am really good at identifying what is wrong.
This isn't the kind of outlook I want to have. I want to retain my ability to recognize problems for what they are, but use that to find the opportunity that results from it.
So, business is a little slow right now. It's winter and we're coming off the holidays, and people perceive themselves as having a little less disposable income than usual.
For me, this translates into less hours at work and a smaller paycheck. This could be a problem.
Or it could be an opportunity.
'Yes, I have a smaller paycheck, and... I can eat more meals at home, improving my cooking skills, and making me feel better physically!'
That's how it's done.
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