Episode 118: Sunday Scaries: Three Improv Techniques To Use to Reduce Pre-Work Jitters
There you are on a Sunday night, the night before a new work week ahead. You’re sitting in your room, thinking about all of your upcoming to do’s. Suddenly, your heart starts fluttering with anxiety and your mind starts twisting and turning with fear.
Sundays can be scary for so many people and they use to be terrifying for Erin. Listen in on this episode, to see three techniques that can help you overcome these Sunday scaries, and help reduce those pre-work jitters!
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Connect with Erin Diehl:
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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Episode 118 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Are you a leader or change maker inside of your business organization or corporation? Are you looking for new, innovative ways to drive morale through the roof? Are you looking for fun and exciting icebreakers team building exercises and activities that will foster team growth, friendships, loyalty, and completely transform your organization from the inside out. Have you been searching for a fun and unique way to create change instead of the same old, dry, boring leadership books and ice breakers that aren't actually working? Hi, I'm Erin Diehl, business improv, edutainer, failfluencer, and professional zoombie who is ready to help you improve it. My mission in life is to help you develop teams and leaders through play improv and experiential learning. And this podcast, we will deep dive into professional development team building effective communication, networking, presentation, skills, leadership training, how to think more quickly on your feet and everything in between. We have helped everyone from fortune 500 companies to small mom and pop shops transform their business, their leadership, and their people through play. So grab your chicken hat. We are about to have some fun, welcome to improve it! The podcast.
Erin (01:34):
There you are. It's Sunday night, the night before Monday morning, you're sitting in your apartment. You are thinking about the week ahead, your mind races with all of the things that you have to do. You looked to your laptop. That's sitting over on the couch that you left on Friday evening and did not wanna look at until Monday morning, but it just sits there. And it stares at you with eyeballs burning into your brain. Open me, open me. You don't want to. So instead you go to your phone and you open up the email app. We're inside. You see dozens of emails waiting for your reply. You turn on the television because, oh God, you can't bear to look at that email until the next morning. And the news stares you blankly in the face. As you see headline after headline with more bad news and bad news and bad news and bad news ha you can't get away.
Erin (02:56):
You go on a walk, but all you can think about is your boss, your commute in the morning, your pending travel and overnight that you have in a suburb of Detroit, how are you gonna get it all in? How are you going to make the time to get everything on your to-do list done. Now, instead of going back inside and planning and creating a plan, you just decide to turn back on the television and binge watch your favorite show. Friends. You watch an episode in an episode and another episode, and now it's 11:00 PM. You're tired, but you're like, Ugh, I don't wanna have to deal with tomorrow. So you go on social media to scroll, to laugh, to escape. But instead, all you see is the headline after headline and the news that is being perpetrated from people to you. And it's not actual facts.
Erin (04:01):
It's just information that keeps coming at you and at you. It's a bad idea. Now it's 12:00 AM and you have to get up in six hours. So you start to cry. You lay in bed crying. Let me drink some water. That'll help pull it. Doesn't you don't wanna fall asleep because you don't wanna get up. You literally are scared about the next day. Monday day, day, day just took you on a journey. I took myself on a journey that was actually me reliving my mid twenties <laugh> and to be honest, back then, social media. Wasn't a huge thing. We just had Facebook, Instagram. I don't even think existed, but I took you on a trip. Let me tell you because that I felt some feels, I wonder if you felt some feels with me. I hope I'm a storyteller. Hope this improv training is decent enough to take you on that journey, but I, I felt it.
Erin (05:10):
So I'm hoping you were with me. Sundays can be scary for so many people and they used to be terrifying for me. Now, earlier this week, we launched an episode all about your morning routine, how you can use it to be a more mindful leader and how you can use it to align with your mission and your purpose. I can tell you for free that improvisation helped me overcome a lot of my anxieties and it is my life's calling to use this beautiful art form to help others be them their best selves, personally, professionally. And I wanna give you three techniques that I know can help you overcome those Sunday, scaries, those evenings of pending doom, and it can help reduce those prework jitters. Now, I can tell you this, these three exercises, I'm going to give you these techniques, whatever you wanna call them.
Erin (06:24):
They are tried and true. I have done them myself, and I know that they work. So take today's episode, come back, pause, write down notes from remember these three techniques, because they're going to help you come Sunday evening, come next week. You can play this episode every Sunday for the rest of your life, if you want. And fast forward through that first part, because if it gives you anxiety to listen to that, get to the goods and here's the goods I'm getting to 'em in two seconds, but I just want you to really lean into this mindset that we can choose our own narrative. It doesn't have to be this way. And if Sunday nights literally create panic, these improv techniques can help, but we might need to look at a new career path or change jobs just saying, gonna give you techniques, but also your work should not cause that much anxiety.
Erin (07:29):
So these techniques are going to help you at whatever anxiety level you're feeling. Know that if you really do have anxiety, these aren't going to cure it. I am not a psychologist. I am not a psychiatrist, but I am an expert improviser and I have a PhD, a pretty huge, I'm a pretty huge deal. If you didn't know that. And I don't really have a real PhD, but I have a PhD in being a huge deal here, but I want you to take these three techniques and implement them. So without further ado, let's get to them. Number one, the very first technique is an activity that we do in improv training. It's something that we've used in many of our workshops, and it's an improv game called new choice. I've talked about this on the show before, but here's how I want us to use it in context of rid ourselves of anxiety, getting out those pre-work jitters.
Erin (08:32):
So let's say it's Sunday night and you are just thinking about that day, that next day. So I'll use my, my Monday as an example. So I knew today I was going to have to get up. I was going to need to get my morning routine in. I was gonna have to get a lot done because I'm traveling later this week for some workshops. And I knew I was gonna record this show. I also wrote and recorded another show today. So these were the things I was thinking about last night. Now I'm gonna be real with you. My voice has not been great. I have been getting sick a lot lately. So last night as I'm sitting here thinking about today, I'm thinking, oh God, I hope my voice holds up for this episodes. I hope I'm able to talk clearly. I hope that I'm giving my improvement pee, what they need.
Erin (09:25):
So sort of going down this rabbit hole of, oh gosh, I hope I'm well, I hope I'm well, this activity, new choice is a space for you to choose again. So the game itself is you're in an improv scene and a director off stage yell's new choice, and you have to change the choice that you've made in that scene automatically. And you have to take that new choice and implement it to the scene and allow the scene to continue. So if I were on stage and I was improvising with a partner and I said, I'm going to the beach today. And the director to the side, yells new choice, I'd have to change the location. So I would say I'm going to the ice skating park today, and then I'd have to continue the scene as if I'm going to the ice skating park instead of the beach.
Erin (10:14):
How I want you to use new choice in context for you is I want you to choose again. So I am thinking last night about what I have to do today. Oh my gosh, is my voice going to hold up? Am I going to be okay to do these podcast episodes? I hope I'm okay to travel and have a voice for my workshops this week. So instead of allowing those thoughts to be the first thought in my mind and the thoughts that I'm leading with, I'm going to choose again. And I'm going to choose a more positive loving thought instead. So I'm gonna say to myself tomorrow, I am going to wake up. I'm going to feel refreshed. I am going to have tons of energy and I'm gonna be able to pour that energy into the podcast. Give it to the people who listen to this show.
Erin (11:05):
Our amazing improve at peeps. I am going to travel on Tuesday and I'm going to have the most amazing time with my team. We are going to change the lives of people in that workshop. They're gonna feel our energy and be able to network and communicate and connect with each other in a different way. And we're gonna spread laughter levity and positivity instead of, oh my gosh, I hope I get to this workshop and I have a voice. Oh my gosh. I hope that my flight isn't delayed. Oh my gosh. I hope that I'm not gonna be so tired from this early morning. Wake up call. So new choice is something that you can do easily on your own. You don't need a scene partner. You don't need to be performing. You can do it within the context of your own mind. You can say it out loud, or you can think it inwardly.
Erin (11:53):
This is something that will change the game for you. I'm gonna tell you why the more positive thoughts that you allow yourself to think, the more joy that you bring into your own mind, our thoughts affect our actions. All right. So if you allow yourself to think in a more positive way, you're going to attract that into your day. So if Sunday night, all you're thinking about is doom and gloom, and you're filling your mind with noise from media, social television, whatever it is. And you're not allowing yourself to input positivity. All you're gonna give out the next day is negativity, doom and gloom, because that's all allowing you are allowing into your brain. So new choice allows us to think differently. It a gives us the opportunity to think again, to choose again and to choose a more loving, positive thought. That is not only going to bring joy to ourselves and our own inner being.
Erin (13:04):
We're gonna allow that joy to seep outwardly. And when you place joy outwardly to the world, that's what you are going to attract back. It's a magnet, it's a magnetic force. So this game I have sort of modified it for you from the stage and placed it into context for you for your Sunday NATS. So new choice is the very first improv technique that I want you to write down, to take away and to use immediately. Number two, this is an awesome game called call the shots. All right. Now, a lot of times, when you think about improv, you think about multiple people. You need to have another player. You need to have a scene partner. And that is very much true for a lot of techniques that exist with an improv. You can also do improv alone and improv is really just making things up on the spot.
Erin (14:09):
Every conversation you have every single day is improv. Just think of it like that. You already are an improviser, but you are going to take the context that I'm giving you right now and apply it to yourself. We're talking about solo improvisation right now. And this activity called the shots is one that will help you. And it's actually going to get you playing with your own mind. Okay? So here's how it works. I want you to find a ball like a tennis ball. Maybe you have a pet and that pet has a ball, any ball that you can throw against a wall and it will bounce back to you. So take that ball, throw it against the wall. And when it comes back to you, I want you to say out loud, the very first thing that will go right in your day, you're gonna call the shots of your day.
Erin (15:08):
So let me start off with my day tomorrow. I'm gonna pretend that well, I'll say it's evening right now. And I am gonna get up tomorrow and start my day. So throwing my hypothetical ball against the wall and it comes back to me and you really do want like a real ball here, cuz it's just more fun. Props are fun, but I'm just not, I don't wanna give you that con that sound effect. Okay. Improve it peeps. So I throw the ball comes back to me. I'm going to say the first thing that will go right in my day tomorrow. So number one, I will wake up on time with my alarm, throw the ball. I'll get up. I will have my Uber ready for me to go to the airport, throw the ball. Here it is. I'm at the airport. My flight is on time and I get a fantastic seat because I'm flying the friendly skies with Southwest, throw the ball, get it back.
Erin (16:02):
My flight arrives on time and Nashville. I get out, I get our rental car and meet the team. Here we go. Throw the ball, throw it back. We go to our hotel. We get to check in early and we get to spend some quality time together, throw the ball. It comes back. You see what I'm doing here? I am envisioning and manifesting the tomorrow that I want. I am showing the world what I want to receive back in this process. I'm getting a great arm workout. Cause I'm throwing this ball, right? But I'm also willing the day to go the way that I want it. I am calling the shots. What does that do for us psychologically? Number one, you've heard of envisioning, right? You've heard of manifesting. You were also improvising in this moment because you're making it up as you go along. But you are really calling the shots on how your day is going to go by saying it out loud.
Erin (17:06):
You're telling the universe what you want to happen. And you're also telling yourself because sometimes when we don't have an idea of how we want things to go, the universe just allows it to happen for us. But when we make a plan and when we know how we want it to look, to feel where we wanna smell, what we wanna do, where we wanna go, that's where we get back. So calling the shots is a really awesome vision setting technique. It's also an improv game that if we were to put it in context for the stage, we could create scenes by throwing the ball, getting it back and we could have conversations with certain characters. So that's how that game is used. As a solo improv tool for the stage is we throw the ball and we create lines of dialogue with hypothetical characters. And it just allows us to dream, to, to improvise, to play.
Erin (18:11):
Pretend really that's what improv really is, is playing pretend. So I want you to call the shots, set your day up for success and allow yourself to envision the tomorrow that you want on Sunday evening, you could do this for every single day of the week, if you wanted to. But if Sunday night is really the night where you start to feel frantic and you start to panic and you get that anxiety and that armpit sweat creep in. I really want you to try calling the shots for yourself and see what it does for you. Number three. So we're going right now from a lower risk activity to a higher risk activity, which funny enough is how our workshops are set up. We go from a low risk improv activity to by the end, we've got to do it all kinds of crazy stuff because we've warmed you up to it.
Erin (19:10):
So if you were to start with just one of these techniques, you would definitely wanna start with new choice and then you could get into call the shots. And then the third one is called the phone call. So here's how this works. All right. I want you to think about two to three people that you will interact with the next day. All right. Two to three people. So it could be a direct report. It could be a senior leader, it could be a vendor, it could be a client. And I want you to think about what the context of that conversation will be like, especially if it's a tough conversation and I want you to identify those people and then have a one sided phone call with them out loud. Now you've heard me talk a lot on this show about my son, Jackson. He's turning three very soon.
Erin (20:06):
And by the time this episode airs, he might be three. So I watch this kid make, pretend phone calls all day long. We love sushi. So he'll get out his pretend phone and he'll order sushi. Okay, I'm gonna call SU I'd like to place an order and he'll order all the things that we get at sushi with his put, pretend phone, and then I'll watch him put it in his pocket and then pull it out and try to text like we do. And it's like, so just gross at how much he watches us on our phone. So that's my own problem. However, this is something a three year old can do do. And it's something that you can do in the privacy of your own space. And it's something that is going to calm you and give you less anxiety. So have you've ever been in a situation where you've had a conversation and you're like, man, I would've said this.
Erin (21:05):
If I would've had that in my mind that time and that conversation, if I could go back in time and tell Susan this, I would say, this is what this activity does for you. It allows you to think about how you want those conversations to go. And then it allows you to have those one sided conversations. So I'm gonna do some improv here for you. I'm gonna think about my day tomorrow. And I'm again going to Nashville tomorrow with my team. So I actually won't be on the phone. I'll be in person, but I'm gonna pretend for the context of this, that I'm on a phone call with Christie, our director of talent. And so it might look something like this. Hey Chris, I I'm holding a pretend phone right now. Just so you know in improv, it's not the two fingers. It's not your, your pinky in your thumb.
Erin (21:58):
You actually have to pretend like you're holding a real phone. So my hand's cued around the phone while I'm doing this. Just giving you context in my object work. Here we go. I'm back. Hey Christy. I'm so happy. We're in Nashville. It's been forever. Since I've been here, let's get some work done really quick. I actually spent like the whole plane ride working on my new keynote <laugh> but let's get some work done for about an hour and a half here at the hotel. And then let's go grab lunch somewhere really fun. And maybe we can go to one of my favorite shops in Nashville. I'm so excited for this workshop on Wednesday. I know we're gonna crush it. And then we can go over the notes at lunch and talk about how we wanna show up and how we wanna make sure that the team feels seen, heard, valued all those things.
Erin (22:46):
But I'm so thrilled that we have this opportunity to be here together and share the laughter levity positivity with the world, boom, click. And then I might have another phone call with Blake who is another improviser lead facilit or co-facilitator that we have. And he was on the show recently, but he's meeting us in Nashville tomorrow. So I would have a conversation with him and just talk through what we wanna do in Nashville and how we wanna show up for the team that we're training on Wednesday. So think about how you can identify two to three people in your life and have these conversations. What this does. I'm just gonna be real with you even just talking that throughout loud, that scenario got me excited. I was thinking about Christine and I love food, right? We love to go to new places and we love to find a really eclectic restaurant, something we couldn't have where we live and eat a really great meal in this setting that we've not been in before.
Erin (23:49):
We like to explore the town. Usually we go for a run. Blake has actually, I've never traveled with Blake. So when I think about that phone call with Blake, I'm getting a little excited. He's such a fantastic guy, brings so much joy to my life. He lives in Charlotte. And so typically I would see him when I would fly into Charlotte. So I, I get excited thinking about spending some time in Nashville with Blake and Christie and just all the things. So that phone call right there relieved some of the anxiety that I had about traveling. I'm not a huge fan of turbulence on planes. So it just kind of went right over that and led me into how excited I am to be in a cool city with my team and get to not only enjoy their company, but get to be able to really do what we love in a new city.
Erin (24:35):
We've never done a workshop in Nashville before. So right there that gave me less anxiety about travel and it gave me excitement. It allowed me to think and envision what our time together is going to be like. So I want you to try this. I really, really want you to try this. You can do it in your car. You could do it in the shower. You can even ask a partner or a spouse. And let me say this. If the conversation that you're having is a hard conversation because we do have to have those very tough one-on-one conversations with people do this, do it two or three times. It allows you to get the thoughts out of your head and say them out loud. So when that actual conversation happens, you know what you wanna say, you're not fumbling over your words. You have direct bullet points and your mind is at ease.
Erin (25:32):
You're not letting anxiety take over. So you're more present. And in the moment, and with your seen partner, AKA the person in your real life that you're having this phone call with. So when it's Sunday night, you are sweating profusely from your armpits. You've binge watched friends for the fifth time and you cannot get to sleep. I want you to try anyone or all three of these techniques. I promise you that they will help you. And they will relieve some of those pre-work jitters that cause us to show up inauthentically and to not be the best versions of ourselves. So just a recap. Here are your three techniques. Number one, new choice, change your negative thoughts and change it to a more positive, loving thought. Number two, call the shots, take a ball, throw it against a wall and envision the day that you want.
Erin (26:41):
And number three, the phone call. I want you to think about two to three people that you're gonna have conversations with the next day and have pretend phone calls with them because it's really going to get you thinking positively. It's going to get you motivated and it's gonna take the anxiety and it's gonna say, move over sister, give it a swift kick to the eyeball and give you the confidence that you need to step into that Monday. Like the powerful person that you are. So here's your homework. You know, I like to give you this tangible. I want you to start with the least risk out of all three of these techniques, new choice. And I want you to start today and make a commitment to change your negative thoughts, to positive thoughts. Forgive yourself in the moment, because we're gonna think 'em, you're gonna probably have 100 of these after you hang up this podcast, all right, you are going to have to tell yourself it's okay for thinking them and then allow yourself to choose a more positive loving thought instead.
Erin (27:50):
That is your homework, new choice, new choice. I wanna give you this as well as a, as a call to action. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'm just gonna be rolling with you. I've been sick a lot. I've had a viral infection I had COVID and it has just really made me think about the importance of how we show up, how lucky we are to be healthy on a normal day to day. And just go about our days that sometimes may seem, seem trivial and annoying and mundane and frustrating. But the choice that we get to make every single day is how we show up. Cause when we are healthy and in a state of, of where we are equilibrium as is for lack of a better word, I'm trying to say, here is when we are at a state where we're healthy, we're able to get out of bed.
Erin (28:58):
We're able to live and give and receive that's a good day. So I want you to start measuring your success, not by the dollars in your bank account, not by the number of followers that you have, not by the things that you attract and have in your life, but by how much freaking fun you are having, because that right there is gonna take that anxiety and say, move over, give it a swift elbow to the eye. And it's going to allow you to really focus on fun and joy and laughter and levity and positivity. So on top of choosing again, I want you to start measuring your success on a one to 10 scale every day, how much fun have I had today? One being lowest 10 being the highest. And I want you to be an eight or an above on the days that you feel good.
Erin (30:14):
I really, really want us to think about this and I'm gonna keep diving into it as weeks go on. And I create these solo shows for you because that's how I wanna show up. My success is determined and how much fun I'm having. Because when you have fun, that radiates off of you and onto others. And then those Sunday scaries don't stand a chance. They gotta go Baba. So I'm gonna leave you with that. My beautiful, beautiful improve it. Peeps. You know what I'm gonna say? I want you to keep failing. I want you to keep improving because the world needs that very special, special. It that only you can bring, I'll see you next week. Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to improve it. I am so happy you were along for the ride. If you enjoyed this show, head on over to iTunes to leave us a five star review and subscribe to this show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today, show and you've improved it even just a little bit, please take a screenshot and tag me at keeping it real deal on Instagram and share it in your stories. I'll see you next week, but I wanna leave you with this thought, what did you improve today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I am rooting for you and the world needs that special. It that only you can bring see you next time.