What happens when you bring improv out of the theater and into the mess of everyday work and life? With Amanda Austin... comedian, educator, entrepreneur, and former owner of Dallas Comedy House... we explore how trust, presence, and play can transform collaboration, decision-making, and creative growth. From leading workshops inside companies to teaching at SMU and navigating a portfolio career, Amanda shows how choosing your energy can be the most practical skill you own.
We get real about the difference between urgent and important, why your calendar is a craft, and how a short pause can lead to a smarter choice. Amanda unpacks improv’s "yes, and" as a business tool: listen to understand, build on what’s offered, and let silence do some of the work. You’ll hear a spontaneous live improv bit that proves anyone can do this when the room feels safe... and you’ll learn why joy and laughter make lessons stick far longer than bullet points.
If you’ve ever avoided a project until you could do it “well,” this conversation offers a reset. We talk about Ira Glass’s taste gap, the clunky middle where most people quit, and how early learners often make the clearest teachers. Amanda also shares simple state-shifters... music, clothes, tiny rituals... that help you show up with intention. Along the way, we celebrate small adventures, creative detours, and the freedom to pursue what actually brings you alive, whether that’s writing a TV pilot, redesigning a room, or launching a scrappy side podcast.
Press play for practical tools, candid stories, and a warm push to build rather than block. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a creative nudge, and leave a quick review to help others find us.
Amanda's Profile
Amanda's Website
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
Sometimes I'm not, but I I really have to focus on
that every week.
So that's like a technicalthing.
But I think the bigger pictureis, and it comes back to a lot
of the spirit of improv whereyou have to trust the process
and just be okay with what'sgoing to happen.
I do get a lot of stuff thatcomes at me, and some are
definitely some challenges thatin all of the different areas of
(01:18):
business.
I have to kind of ask myself,okay, is this urgent?
Is somebody in trouble?
Um, can we sleep on this?
Can like a good meal and somewater, maybe a class of wine and
like a good night's rest let memake a better decision tomorrow?
Or is there actually somethingreally urgent?
Like the building's on fire orthis human is on fire, and we
need to address this.
(01:39):
Whenever I can take a step backand realize it's gonna be okay
if we wait until tomorrow todeal with this.
And it's not about putting itoff, it's just about letting it
giving it a minute to breathe,which is also something that,
you know, in improv, we alwaystell people you don't have to be
saying words, words, words.
SPEAKER_00 (02:07):
Welcome to another edition of the For the Love of
Creatives podcast.
I am your Connections andCommunity Guy host Dwight, and
on the line with me today is ourother Connections and Community
Guy host, Maddox.
And today we are joined by theamazing Amanda Austin.
SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Hello.
Hi, I'm so glad to be here.
Amanda.
Thank you.
What a treat.
SPEAKER_00 (02:32):
We we're so glad that you could uh could uh grace
us with your presence.
Um you have done a number ofamazing and wonderful and funny
and fun things.
Uh, but uh I would love for youto tell our audience just a
little bit about who you are andwhat you're about.
SPEAKER_03 (02:53):
Sure.
And and how you guys met, howyou guys know each other.
We'd love to share how we cameabout being together for this.
SPEAKER_01 (03:00):
I think that's the most important part is how we
met because it's one of thethings that inspires a lot of
what I do and what you all do.
Uh Dwight and I are in theBusiness Council for the Arts
Leadership Arts Institute cohortfor 25-26, say that three times
fast.
Um, so we are in this cohorttogether where we are learning
more about our arts communityhere in DFW and also working on
(03:23):
projects that are smaller withinthe group to help um other
nonprofits there uh grow theirbusiness side of uh the arts,
which can sometimes be tricky.
So we're getting to tour lots ofdifferent places, learn lots of
things, meet each other, andthat's how we know each other.
So we kicked that off inSeptember, I believe, or August.
Yeah, August, September, andthen we will wrap up in May.
(03:45):
So that's how we know eachother.
And I was very drawn to thatprogram and had been for several
years, and now I just had moreof the bandwidth to take it on
because I've spent most of mylife involved in the arts, one
way or the other.
Um, most recently I owned theDallas Comedy House for uh just
under 12 years.
We closed during COVID because afun thing about business is that
(04:09):
you have to be open to makemoney, and uh that is one of the
driving forces of staying uhopen.
And so we had just done uh quitean expansive remodel on a
location, and so I shut thatdown uh for uh because of COVID
during uh 2020.
But that was kind of my mostrecent uh foray into the arts.
And um I love live theater, Ilove comedy.
(04:31):
Um, now I actually take thosetenets of improvisation and
collaboration, as well as umsome of my education, and teach
companies how to work togethercollaboratively and not
competitively, and how to beinnovative and all while having
fun, because I do believelaughter is an incredible tool
for bringing people together.
And nobody wants to go to somekind of corporate training
(04:53):
workshop that's boring andthey're not gonna remember it.
So I try to make it valuable andfun.
And that's what I spend the bulkof my time doing.
I'm also a realtor, which soundslike it's not creative at all,
but I can tell you you can getreally creative when you're
putting together contracts forreal estate.
Uh, and that's what I um I do,and I teach also at SMU.
I teach a class at the businessschool.
(05:14):
So that's that's who I am andwhat I do now.
I grew up in dance.
So actually, my first love wasin dance and danced
competitively all growing up anddid theater as well.
So I've never been able to getout of the performing arts.
Um, it just I'm so drawn to it,and I do I do believe there's
such a like a great place for itin the world.
(05:36):
So yeah, that's my short bio.
Um, you can ask me what myfavorite color is or my
astrological sign or anythingelse.
It's fine, it's all fair game.
It it's very diverse.
It is.
It's all over the map.
I love that.
It is all over the map, and Isometimes would struggle with
the fact that it was all overthe map because I thought that
that could be confusing topeople.
(05:58):
And now I just lean in becausethese are the things that I'm
interested in, and I pursue themand I try to deliver the best
work I can when I'm doing it andalso have fun.
SPEAKER_00 (06:08):
And that's a beautiful thing.
I I'm a firm believer in thatyou have to just embrace what it
is that you really you're reallyinto, like what really fills
your heart.
SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:20):
Because otherwise, you know, you you're just going
to uh follow the same boringdrab script that everyone
expects.
And yeah, that is just uh no,life's too short.
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
Life's too short to.
I mean, you've got to do some ofthe boring stuff.
Do we we all need to probablyclean our house every once in a
while, do some laundry, pay ourtaxes.
Um, other than that, though,like we can have fun, like
there's no reason why we can'tbe having more fun.
SPEAKER_03 (06:48):
My my new mantra is to focus on what brings me joy,
people, activities, places.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:56):
Yeah.
We we I love it.
And it doesn't have to be bigthings that can bring you joy,
it can be very little things.
I was just talking to somebodyabout this.
I love to travel a lot.
And they're like, what's yourmost like fun adventure
recently?
And it wasn't a bit, I mean,I've had some really fun trips,
but I was in my hometown a fewweeks ago for a funeral, and I
(07:18):
was with my best friend, and wepulled over, it was on a
Thursday night, into the parkinglot of the Broadway Square Mall
in Tyler, Texas, because theyhad a pop-up carnival and we
were in funeral clothes, and wejust like got out, parked the
car, bought tickets, and justhopped on a bunch of rides.
And to me, like that's really Imean, we just did, I mean, I was
(07:38):
in high heels and found somesneakers in the car.
She's wearing a dress.
I mean, we are not dressed to goto a mall parking lot carnival.
But to me, like those fun, likejoyful adventures are actually
what it's all about.
Well, yeah.
I mean, they were scary as hell.
Let me tell you something.
Those rides were hanging on by athread.
There was a 16-year-oldcontrolling it saying, You're
gonna be fine.
(07:59):
But we did it and we had thevideos to prove it, and we made
it out.
But you know, it's fun.
Like it's might as well.
SPEAKER_00 (08:05):
Love that.
So I I'm really curious whatit's like going into spaces
where you are introducing peopleto uh just the concept of
embracing what it is to be real,to be a full, complete person,
where they're um maybe used tofollowing uh something safe and
(08:28):
standard and just you knowgenerally trying to stay in
their lane and not uh not upsetpeople.
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
Oh wow.
That's a great question.
You know, you usually see uh twodifferent types of people in
those rooms, the people that arethey've they've been wanting to
try something new and they'vebeen wanting to get outside of
their comfort zone, and thenthey see this as an actual
opportunity, or they're at workand they're being paid and told
(08:56):
or voluntold to be there, andthey're just like so excited,
and then they they go in andthey are all in.
Then there's also this group ofpeople, let me put my coffee
down because I did the littlereenactment, and they're sitting
in the back of the room withtheir arms shrugged, or they're
on their phone and they're notpaying attention at all because
they either think I'm too goodfor this.
(09:19):
I also think sometimes they'reterrified of it because people
get people get really nervous ifthey think they're gonna be to
crush something.
Like they want to be able to dosomething really well.
And the thought of doingsomething where you have to be
present in the moment, there isno script, can be quite
terrifying to people.
So um, that's always my goal isto win those people over.
SPEAKER_03 (09:39):
And if I don't, it's fine, but I would vote that it's
more terrified than the other.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
It probably is.
Yeah, it really is.
And like even, you know, you allwere talking about hey, we don't
have a plan for the I mean, youhave a plan for the podcast, but
you don't have a list of 27questions that you have to get
through with every guest.
And that can sound terrifying topeople.
Then I would just argue, like,what's the worst that's gonna
happen?
Or alternatively, what's thebest that could happen?
unknown (10:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
I mean, the best that can happen is that we have
a hell of a lot of fun duringthis time together and we learn
more, and that's it.
That's the best that can happen.
SPEAKER_03 (10:16):
You know, Amanda, it's interesting that you say
that because we have we'vecompleted something like oh low
50s now conversations for thispodcast.
Episode number 51 drops thiscoming Monday.
Okay.
And there has only been oneperson that agreed to be on the
(10:37):
podcast and then reached out inadvance wanting to know if I
could send them all of thequestions.
And I said no.
That would uh kill the wholespirit of the podcast.
First of all, I don't have anyquestions formulated, and I
won't have questions formulated.
(10:57):
But second of all, if I sentthem to you and you worked out
all these answers, now it's justa scripted who wants to listen
to that?
SPEAKER_01 (11:05):
No, that no you know, there's probably a time
and space for that, but not forthis.
Not for not for the entirepurpose of this podcast.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (11:17):
The spontaneity is what makes this special.
You know, you don't know you'regonna get asked that question,
then all of a sudden you'rereally drilling down and
thinking, or the the spontaneousstuff that comes out of people's
mouths.
Oh my gosh.
I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01 (11:32):
I can't imagine.
Well, I'm glad that you didn'tsend me any questions.
I didn't even look, I actuallydidn't even look for any
questions.
I would prefer for there to notbe any, um, and let's just roll
with it and see what happens.
SPEAKER_00 (11:44):
Yeah, well, along those lines, uh a burning
question for me with someone asuh multifaceted as as you are
and having to uh have to pivotso many times and just deal with
what comes.
What is it that you've had tolean into in order to be
(12:05):
prepared for each nextchallenge?
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
Well, a couple of things.
I'll say what's coming to mindnow, and then there might be
something that comes to mind inuh uh you know a few more
minutes.
Yeah tactically speaking, yougotta be really good at your
calendar.
Like you have to know, you haveto, and I have a couple of
calendars, and so I've had tomerge them all.
And that sounds so silly.
If you are juggling a lot ofdifferent things and have, you
(12:33):
know, what's some I guess calllike a portfolio career, you
gotta know who you gotta betalking to, where you gotta be,
what you know, you you've gottaknow.
And so I have to be really goodwith my calendar, and sometimes
I'm not, but I I really have tofocus on that every week.
So that's like a technicalthing.
But I think the bigger pictureis, and it comes back to a lot
of the spirit of improv whereyou have to trust the process
(12:55):
and just be okay with what'sgonna happen.
I do get a lot of stuff thatcomes at me, and some are
definitely some challenges thatin all of the different areas of
business, I have to kind of askmyself, okay, is this urgent?
Is somebody in trouble?
Um, can we sleep on this?
Can like a good meal and somewater, maybe a class of wine and
(13:15):
like a good night's rest let memake a better decision tomorrow?
Or is there actually somethingreally urgent?
Like the building's on fire orthis human is on fire, and we
need to address this.
Whenever I can take a step backand realize it's gonna be okay
if we wait until tomorrow todeal with this.
And it's not about putting itoff.
It's just about letting it,giving it a minute to breathe,
(13:35):
which is also something that,you know, in improv, we always
tell people you don't have to besaying words, words, words,
words, words the entire time inan improv show.
There can be a little bit oftime to breathe.
So I've tried to, you know,remember that and also ask
myself, what's the worst that'sgonna happen?
Am I gonna remember this in twoweeks, two months, two years, 20
years?
And when you look at that overlike the span of your lifetime,
(13:59):
some of the big challenges thatcome your way can shape you
forever.
And then some of them you willcompletely forget about next
week and be like, oh dang, Ididn't I forgot that even
happened.
SPEAKER_03 (14:09):
So you're you're describing the difference
between urgency and importance.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Yeah.
And you have to know, and youyou have to know, and you have
to be able to like silo it outand be okay with it.
Um because there's really not, Imean, I used to say this a lot
when I'm in the comedy club,like we're not we're not curing
cancer, right?
Or we're not ER surgeons.
So unless the the comedyemergencies that would come up
(14:38):
were typically something withthe facility, the alarm has gone
off, you know, or there was anissue.
I mean, those are those arethings that need to be addressed
right now.
Other than that, I think we'regonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
There you go.
Yeah, it's I think that peopleneed to have their um
perspective reset sometimes.
Um I've part of my past involvesworking for a facility that's
not on many maps.
And some of the things that wehad to deal with um could have
(15:12):
well, the mission had to do withbeing prepared in the event of a
nuclear exchange.
So I I know what an emergencyis.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
And yours is very different.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:23):
Uh if somebody tells a really bad dick joke, that's
not an emergency.
That's just sad for them, youknow.
SPEAKER_03 (15:28):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
We'll get we'll we'll get through it.
SPEAKER_03 (15:30):
So I have an idea, something that we've never done
on the podcast before becausethis never presented itself.
Okay.
But I'm wondering if you wouldbe uh for if I just spat it off
a topic and punched a timer,could you riff on that topic for
one minute?
(15:51):
Could you give us a littleimprov?
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
Well, I could, yes.
Improv is better uh shared withpeople.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
Ooh.
SPEAKER_01 (16:00):
So I would um say it would be really fun if we all
did it together.
Because otherwise, I would justbe kind of doing a monologue,
which would be fine.
I think it would be finer if thetwo of you joined me and we just
did a little improv scene.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
I'm feeling that terror right now.
Challenge accepted.
SPEAKER_01 (16:18):
Okay, okay.
I mean, that's what we talkedabout at the beginning.
And I'm sitting here going, ohshit.
Okay, but here's the thingbeginner's luck, first of all.
Also, remember the people wetalked about that were in the
back of the room that wereterrified.
Guess what?
I haven't lost anybody once inan improv workshop, and I've
done it for 20 years.
So, um, and you're sitting therein the comfort of a place that
you know well.
So Dwight's like, yeah, let's doit.
SPEAKER_00 (16:40):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (16:41):
Okay, well, we probably need a little more than
a minute than if we do, we do.
SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
What we could do is think about we could just do a
little improv scene together.
Why not?
SPEAKER_03 (16:52):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
I mean, remember that if if you don't know the
rule in improv, the number onerule in improv is yes and.
And yes means I've heard whatyou have to say, and and means
I'm gonna build on it.
So you don't have to agree withwhatever is being thrown out,
but um, we just have to build,just be okay with it.
It's uh it's all right that it'sand somebody has an idea, it's
(17:16):
not gonna hurt anybody.
So we could just to make it alittle bit more narrowed down,
give ourselves a scenario thatwe're in, and then we can play
these actors that are in thisscenario, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (17:26):
We will follow your lead.
SPEAKER_01 (17:28):
Okay.
Then I'm gonna ask for asuggestion here.
Um, I haven't done improvvirtually, and it's been
probably a year since I've doneimprov virtually, so this is
gonna be really fun.
Okay.
How about um a reason that threepeople might be celebrating
something?
What's a reason that we could becelebrating something?
It could be a a marriage, adivorce, a birthday, um.
(17:51):
A brisk.
Okay, we're celebrating a brisk.
All right.
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
I don't even know what a brisk is.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Well, we could okay, so we can do a couple things
here with this.
You can not know what a briskis, and we can just go with it,
and just whatever you say isgonna work, and it's gonna be
really fun, um, which is what Iwould prefer.
Okay.
Okay.
I would prefer that you don'tknow and that we just go with
(18:18):
it, and that we're all at thisbrisk.
This is what happens when youpitch an idea and I turn it back
on you.
Yep.
I see that.
SPEAKER_03 (18:31):
I get tongue-tied, so don't be surprised if I just
sit here with this dumb look onmy face.
SPEAKER_01 (18:36):
Totally fine.
All right, you want to start?
Let's do it.
And then whenever it feels likeit's coming to an end, I'll just
call scene.
How does that sound?
I'll say and scene.
All right.
You guys, thank you so much forcoming.
I know this is so last minute,and I know like carpool and just
getting everybody and the kidsand the family here.
I just really appreciate youbeing here.
SPEAKER_00 (18:54):
Oh, well, we quit wouldn't miss it for the world.
I've heard so many great thingsabout how these things go down.
SPEAKER_03 (19:00):
Yeah, I wouldn't miss it for the world because I
I don't even know what it is.
I don't know how it's gonna godown.
SPEAKER_01 (19:07):
I think you know how it's gonna go down.
I think you're just playing shyand acting like you don't know.
Man, but yeah, you do that allthe time.
Remember that one time we werein college?
How you acted like you did notknow what somebody's 21st
birthday party celebration was,and then you show up with showed
up with two bottles of champagneand you were ready to go.
SPEAKER_03 (19:28):
Well, you know, champagne works for just about
anything.
It probably works for a brisk.
SPEAKER_00 (19:33):
I don't know.
I I think you need a rathersteady hand when it comes to
cutting around there.
SPEAKER_01 (19:38):
You might, you might.
I'm just saying for us in thebackground, we could definitely
be drinking some champagne,right?
SPEAKER_03 (19:45):
Yeah, but chilled champagne because you know you
want to be brisk.
SPEAKER_01 (19:50):
You do, and I also appreciate that you all dressed
for the occasion in briskclothes as well.
So you really just like doubledown on we're gonna have like a
brisk drink, and we have theselike brisk, you know, some coats
to keep us nice and warm at thisbrisk.
I didn't realize it was gonna bethat itchy, though.
SPEAKER_03 (20:07):
It's really itchy.
SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
Well, that's also what they might be saying too
during the brisk.
SPEAKER_03 (20:13):
I'm just glad I didn't wear brisk underwear.
SPEAKER_01 (20:18):
Well, as a spectator, um, it's okay for you
to be wearing underwear during abrisk.
SPEAKER_00 (20:29):
But it's probably not so great that it's this cold
during that kind of a thing.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
Yeah, that can uh be trivial.
That's why I've got ittemperature controlled inside.
I don't know if you noticed Ihad uh some heaters brought in
just to kind of keep things niceand neutral and warm here.
SPEAKER_03 (20:43):
I wonder if I'm concerned that's gonna make the
itching worse.
SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
Well.
For you it might, you know, butfor you but for you know the
brisky, they need it to be niceand and warm.
It can't be too cold.
SPEAKER_03 (20:57):
Was the the the the brisky were they married to a
brisket at some point in theirlife?
SPEAKER_01 (21:04):
It's so funny that you ask.
People say that a lot.
Um little too young for formarriage.
A little too young for marriage.
If they were though, a brisketwould be a good choice.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
It would be an excellent choice.
SPEAKER_01 (21:19):
Yeah.
So can I guess interest you guysin any um uh of the order's
here?
I've got these little like uh uhlittle uh weenies, little beanie
weenies that uh I have uh tochoose from.
I also have uh pigs in ablanket.
SPEAKER_03 (21:35):
Uh and then we're just gonna ask, are there any
pigs in a blanket?
SPEAKER_01 (21:38):
There are.
And then I do have a hot dogtruck that's gonna be here a
little bit later.
So um we'll call scene there.
Dwight, are you okay?
You need a moment?
SPEAKER_00 (21:51):
I'm okay.
He's crying.
You yeah, you you warned usabout the dangers of a bad dick
joke, but oh man, we were wewere right there in it.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
We were right there in it.
Maddox, how are you feeling?
SPEAKER_03 (22:04):
Yeah, no, that was that was fun.
I I'm cracking up at him becauseI know him well enough to know
that he's tears are streamingdown his face over there.
SPEAKER_01 (22:12):
Yeah, when he was doing this, like I was like,
he's such a good quiet laugher.
Like, how polite, because it Icouldn't hear the sound coming
through, but I I he wasn'tmuted, so I knew with this he
was trying to, he was a littleof a climped.
SPEAKER_03 (22:25):
So a climped, yes, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
Dwight, would you like to tell Maddox what a brisk
is?
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
Um, I I would like to know if Maddox, you have a uh
a guess as to what it is at thispoint.
SPEAKER_03 (22:40):
I I have no idea, no guess whatsoever.
If it's not the spouse of abrisket, I'm lost.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
Okay.
Well, so it's it's um somethingthat's it's going to be done for
for little um male children forum yeah, uh it's uh it's like a
circumcision ceremony.
SPEAKER_03 (23:03):
Oh my gosh, I was just getting ready.
That this has got to be thecelebration of getting losing
your foreskin.
Oh my god.
It is, yeah.
And they named it brisk.
I guess that's better than hack.
SPEAKER_01 (23:16):
Totally, totally.
Um also can I just say this,Dwight?
I will get that suggestion a lotto get because a lot of times
when you're trying to do a sceneand if I'm doing like corporate
work or whatever, you don't wantto just start out in the middle
of with no inspiration.
So I'll get differentsuggestions to take it from
everything that's possible downto here.
(23:37):
And the the the ask of what is areason that people might be
celebrating is something that Iask a lot.
I don't know that I've ever hadanybody say a brisk ever.
So you got me really good.
Um, because I was like, we'regonna have to do this here on
this recording because I don't II I can't remember when somebody
has said that.
SPEAKER_00 (23:56):
So I love that.
SPEAKER_03 (23:59):
You stumped me.
It was obscure.
I had no idea.
SPEAKER_00 (24:02):
Well, you you don't want to see all of the things
that might be swimming around inhere.
It's it can be a little weird.
SPEAKER_01 (24:10):
Isn't that the same for all of us, though?
SPEAKER_00 (24:12):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
You know, that was great.
I I hope that our listenersenjoyed that as much as we did.
SPEAKER_01 (24:20):
So that's what happens if you ask me to just
riff for a minute.
We're gonna talk about a briskfor three minutes.
SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
So it's a beautiful thing.
Yeah, I I gotta say, it it mustbe a delight to go into those
rooms where you never know justhow stuffed the shirts might be.
And I I'll bet that you can justget everybody to open up.
SPEAKER_01 (24:45):
That's the goal.
You know, when I do my work,like if it's a workshop, I like
to have three to four hoursminimum with the group because
if I go in for 20 minutes, Imean, I've had people say, Can
you come do something for 20minutes?
And you know, my question is,what are you wanting to get out
of that?
Are you trying to fill the time?
Or do you just want me to comein and be funny?
Because that's not going toreally move people to action.
(25:07):
If you really want to see thework, it takes a little bit of
time to warm up to the idea thatthere are some tenets in
improvisation that are paramountto success in the real world,
regardless of what professionyou are in.
And I would argue when peoplesay, I can't, I get this all the
time.
People say, I can never doimprov.
I can never do it.
Well, first of all, we just didit.
unknown (25:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
Okay.
We did it under the guise of weare doing improv.
Second of all, most of ourconversations in life are not
planned.
Like we're not showing up everyday.
This is improv.
Yeah, like you're not walking insaying, okay, let me read um
what I'm gonna say.
Hello, good morning.
I'd like 2x, please, with Imean, that's not how life is.
Right.
(25:48):
We're all improvising all of thetime.
SPEAKER_03 (25:51):
Yes, absolutely.
I never really thought of itlike that, but yes.
SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
I mean, think about when's the last time you read a
conversation.
SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Kill me, please.
Right.
Just put me out of my misery.
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
Yeah, so we're all improvising, and I think people
get nervous when they think thatit needs to be funny.
And so I'm not teaching peoplein the context of what I do now.
I don't teach people to befunny, I teach them the rules of
improvisation and how thesetenets help them be better
innovators, collaborators, youknow, and and team players.
(26:28):
It is funny because I put youthrough some fun theater
exercises to show you how it canwork and then teach you how this
could actually work in business.
So it is funny because you'redoing fun games and you're
you're laughing with each other,not at each other.
And so it's always funny.
It's not about teaching peopleto be funny.
(26:49):
Even when we had an improvschool, we weren't teaching
people to be funny, we wereteaching them to make a higher
percentage choice.
So taking a choice here overhere is actually will end up
being funnier on stage, and youhave to just kind of learn that
over years and years.
SPEAKER_00 (27:06):
Yeah, no, I uh I I can't help but take in what
you're saying as just an entrypoint for uh embracing some
other um some other conceptsthat you might come by by way of
um church or or school, youknow, different philosophies,
(27:27):
different ways of being.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
You know, it's just another another entry point to
be able to embrace thoseconcepts because there's a lot
about tolerance and uh justabout um accepting what is, uh
being uh in control of thethings that you can control and
(27:55):
letting go of the rest.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
You gotta let go of a lot of it in improv.
So and in life.
I mean, we can't I mean, we canreally only control ourselves,
and even that we can't controlall of it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
So Yeah, that this is I'm I'm actually like having
a shift.
I'm like thinking, wow, youknow, I'm I'm envisioning this
meme that says life is an improvbecause I never really thought
of it like that, but we don'tknow that we rehearse.
You know, when I have to have adifficult conversation with
somebody, I rehearse in my mind,but when I actually get there,
(28:30):
it's complete improv because Imay not say a word that I
rehearsed.
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
It's literally that is the debrief I do with an
exercise, what you just said.
It's exactly right.
You how many times have youplanned a conversation?
You are driving somewhere oryou're driving home or you're
about to get on a call in 20minutes, and you're like, I'm
gonna give them the biz.
I got this thing to say, or boy,here are my seven talking
points, and I've got them righthere, and I have practiced this
(28:56):
over and over again.
It doesn't matter how much youpractice, there's another person
on the other side of thatconversation who's probably also
been practicing if they know theconversation's coming, if it's a
surprise, they don't.
You cannot, you can practice,practice, practice, but if
there's somebody else in thisequation, which in life with all
of our conversations, there is,it's not gonna go as planned.
(29:19):
It may go way better, it may goworse, it just may go different.
And improv is teaching you abouthow to be present and listen to
what they have to say and notlisten to respond, listen to
understand.
Because when you listen tounderstand, there's this
incredible willingness tochange.
And so I could be super pissedat Dwight and have this whole
thing prepared that I need totell him.
(29:40):
And I'm gonna say, when I seeyou in December at that class
day, boy, am I gonna say this,this, this, this.
And then you show up with thatwonderful smile on your face and
you start talking to me, and I'mlike, oh, that's not what I was
gonna say.
Okay, hang on, I'm gonna change,you know, because there's
somebody on the other side.
And regardless if they'veplanned it or not, there's more
than one person in thatequation.
And you've got to be able to bepresent and not worried about
(30:02):
what you're saying, listening towhat they want to say.
SPEAKER_03 (30:06):
You're you're describing an energetic thing.
Oh, yeah.
You can walk up and see them,and they're it just be right
there.
No one's even spoken yet, andjust the energy that you feel
coming off of them cancompletely alter what you
thought you were gonna say.
SPEAKER_01 (30:21):
Oh my gosh.
My brother that um we haveperformed forever together.
We just started taking classestogether, you know, almost 20
years ago.
And um obviously we know eachother well.
We've kind of known each othersince we were born, and we're
close, and we still don't knowwhat each other will say if
we're performing together.
We might have an idea, but it'syou can know someone that well
(30:41):
and still not know.
And he, I say that all of that,because he has a saying that he
would say to me all the time andstill does, and that energy is a
choice, and so that shift inenergy on stage in the green
room before you go on, beforeyou come into a podcast, before
you walk into a meeting, or youjust show up to Wendy's to order
(31:02):
some spicy chicken nuggets,whatever that is, like that is
all a choice that you're making.
Even when life is really sucky,we still have that choice to to
think about the energy thatwe're bringing.
SPEAKER_03 (31:13):
You're you're bumping into our our one of our
minor commote components rightnow, which is about becoming
yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, you get to the magicalsegue.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
And you do.
You do.
Um it's you know, I love, youknow, I said dance is my kind of
my first love, and of course Ilove the theater and comedy
specifically.
Um, I also really love music.
I can't uh carry a tune in abucket.
So uh I always say, if I couldsing, you would know me.
You just you wouldn't, you wouldknow of me, you just wouldn't
(31:48):
know me because I would try tobe famous if I could sing, but I
cannot sing, but I will sing andI will listen to music all the
time.
Because when I go on a morningwalk, I mean, and there's so
much I will listen to almostanything, but like that can
change anything.
Think about like when you put ona song for just 20 seconds, that
shift, like that you're becominga different person.
(32:09):
And it's a not entirely, butlike it can really shift the
energy, just like a little bitof music, or what is the thing
or the things that you're doingto get your energy and get your
like head and your heart andyour soul in the right place
before you show up that day.
SPEAKER_03 (32:22):
I think there's a lot of life that does that.
I think that our clothing doesthat.
Yes.
I I think that you can put on apair of sneakers and you walk
one way, or you can put on apair of high heels and you walk
a totally different way.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
Yes.
Some of that's out of necessity,though.
SPEAKER_03 (32:42):
Sure.
Some of it, but more of it isthat it's just evoking a
different energy from within.
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
It is, it is.
I wish I wish high heels weremore comfortable because I walk
and talk and carry myself sodifferently when I'm presenting
and I'm in a tall ass pair ofhigh heels.
Um, my favorite thing though isto take those off and go put the
tennis shoes on afterwards.
But it is, you're right.
Even the way that we show up,and when I work from home, I
(33:14):
joke that I'm kind of like in abusiness mullet.
So I'll wear somethingprofessional on the top, but
then it looks like Adam Sandleron the bottom, like oversized
basketball shorts or bigsweatpants.
And that's fine and comfortable,but there's something to be said
about actually like putting onsomething that's expressive in
the way that like it representswho you are when you show up
too.
SPEAKER_03 (33:35):
Yes.
We're we're both very much aboutthat.
We we are we when we go out,we're not always dressed up, but
we're dressed, you know, some ofwhich is really artsy fartsy
stuff that we found in thriftshops.
Love that.
SPEAKER_02 (33:49):
I love that.
SPEAKER_03 (33:50):
But it's about expressing who we are.
You know, I got up one morninglast week.
Oh, it was we were on our way tocreative mornings, so it was an
early, oh, and I got decked out.
I good for you, head to toe.
I had on a hat, I had onjewelry, I did it all.
And it was just because that waswhat I was feeling when I got
(34:12):
out of bed that morning.
SPEAKER_01 (34:13):
Good.
I love that.
Dwight's always dressed, I feellike, to the nine.
You always are just having sopulled together.
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
So oh, thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (34:22):
No pressure when I see you again in December.
Right.
Please come dressed as aChristmas tree.
No.
Uh you're right.
Like it's there's so many likelittle choices that we can make
throughout the day, and we'renot always going to crush it
100%.
All of that energy, you know, asa choice is not just, you know,
it's your energy, it's your,it's, you know, the smiling, the
(34:44):
being more positive.
It's the way that you dress, theway like have you have you
bathed recently, you know?
Um, you know, the little thingslike that can actually like have
a big impact on the way youshould be.
SPEAKER_03 (34:53):
It's amazing what a good bath can do for somebody's
energy.
SPEAKER_01 (34:56):
And for somebody else's energy if they're in the
same room with you.
Sure.
I would argue sometimes thebaths and the showers are not
just for me, but for others.
Uh, you know, that and a goodbreath mint.
Oh, by the way, never turned outa breath mint.
That's a rule somebody told me along time ago.
If someone offers you a mint, itprobably means you might need
it.
SPEAKER_03 (35:16):
Yeah, I had a friend, a co-worker one time,
this has been nearly 40 yearsago, say to me one day, I've
I've been meaning to tell youfor the last couple of weeks
you've had bad breath.
And I was like, Some fuckingfriend you are, let me go around
with bad breath for two weeks.
Oh my god.
I chewed her.
SPEAKER_01 (35:37):
Oh, I would have too.
I would have too.
Oh gosh.
I get nervous about that.
I'm always have a big old tin ofaltoids on me just because.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:46):
I I carry a little packet of tic-tacks.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
Something that will freshen the breath.
SPEAKER_01 (35:51):
Freshen it up.
Look where we got now.
This is what happens when youdon't have a list of questions.
You start talking about yourpreferred breath mints on a
podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
Well, these are some essential life tips.
I mean they are.
If there's someone that's onlybeen listening to whatever they
could find on the internet inthe basement because no one
would talk to them, you know,this might be the clue that they
needed.
SPEAKER_03 (36:14):
That is exactly.
I'd I'd love to tiptoe a littlebit more into the becoming
conversation.
Sure.
I know that you had um thecomedy improv that you had to
close down during the pandemic.
SPEAKER_01 (36:28):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (36:29):
And so, you know, that hadn't been that long ago.
There's there's been an aspectof, okay, gotta become somebody
different now.
And that may be what you didfrom the closing to here, but
then there's the okay, what'snext?
And who do I need to become?
And when I I guess I'm this isnot a common conversation I'm
(36:52):
finding.
So when I ask this, nine timesout of ten, people, it's like
they're a little kid, andsomebody said, Who do you want
to how what do you want to bewhen you grow up?
I want to be a fireman.
I'm not talking about what doyou want to be?
I'm talking about who you wantto be.
So it's one is an internalthing.
Who is an internal?
And what is an external?
(37:14):
I want to be a fireman, I wantto be an astronaut, I want to be
an artist, I want to be, youknow.
So that my question is the who?
Who do you have to become?
If you said, oh, I want tobecome, you know, an astronaut,
who would you need to become inorder to be an astronaut?
SPEAKER_01 (37:33):
All right, so wonderful question.
I've stopped trying to worryabout what I want to be when I
grow up because I don't know.
I mean, I'm I'm still figuringit out.
I'm still growing up.
I'll never completely grow up.
I don't know if any of us reallywill, we'll will listen to that
East Texas accent.
(37:53):
I think what's important to me,I was talking to my best friend
about this, is that I I alwayswant to be the person that shows
up for the people that areimportant in my life and that I
am loyal and that I have fun inalmost anything that I do.
And I don't really commit tosomething unless I know I can
(38:13):
commit to it.
And that's a that's a part ofwho I am, as opposed to what
that ends up being, becausethere, you know, I've got this
like portfolio of things I'mdoing.
I don't know if I'm gonna bedoing all of those in two years,
10 years, or two months.
I don't know.
It's all about me feeling likeI'm in line with what I should
be doing.
It also needs to have some kindof element of creativity where I
(38:35):
can express myself creatively,even though it may sound like
it's not.
How can I bring my unique valueproposition and my point of view
to those things?
So that's who I want to be.
I want to be the person who'salways doing something that has
that is inspired by somethingcreative, whether or not it may
not look creative, and that I amdoing it in a way that honors
(38:58):
the people that I am serving,whether it's an organization or
a company or a nonprofit, orit's a dinner party on a Tuesday
night.
And um, that I'm like a reliableand loyal person in people's
lives.
That's also a hell of a lot offun.
SPEAKER_03 (39:13):
What great answers! And you like really got my
question.
You know, I've learned that toget good answers, you have to
ask good questions.
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
You asked a great question and you framed it so
well, too.
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
Thank you.
You said something in there thatI want to backtrack to because I
think it's similar to thingsthat get said a lot, but I want
to call out the distinction forthose that maybe didn't catch
it.
You said I I only want to committo things that I know I can
truly commit to.
And what I hear more often thannot is I'll only commit to
(39:44):
things that I know that I can dowell.
And I think there's a there'ssomething about that that I I
would love your take on that.
I personally think I only committo things I know that I can do
well is a limitation.
It's like I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (40:05):
How do you know if you can do it well if you don't
exactly you can't do anythingwell from the beginning?
SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
No, that's right.
SPEAKER_01 (40:13):
Michael Jordan did not come out of the womb, slam
dunk and making three-pointers.
People, I mean, think aboutanybody.
SPEAKER_03 (40:20):
I feel really sorry for his mom.
SPEAKER_01 (40:22):
For his mom, right?
That's a whole nother improvscene we could do.
Um anybody who is really greatat something or thinks they can
even do something well, theydidn't do it well to begin with.
They were bad at it.
Now, there are some people thatokay, I use sports as an analogy
a lot because people are canresonate with that oftentimes
(40:43):
when I'm talking about the artsand sports, which is an
interesting combination.
But anybody.
That you see in anything thatthey do well, they might have
been more inclined.
Maybe Michael Jordan is a littlebit more athletic than somebody
else.
But he didn't know how to dothis.
You don't know if you're goingto do it well until you try.
I actually like the clunkinessof it all.
I like the having the trainingwheels on and having to finish
(41:06):
it.
And in fact, there's this quote,I'm looking at it because it
sits on the other side of mydesk, uh, and it's really long,
but it's a quote from Ira Glass,who is the host of this American
Life podcast and many otherthings.
And he, I'll summarize it.
And it's really about thecreative world, but I like to
tell people about it's reallywith anything, that when you
start something new, you havethis really good idea of what it
(41:30):
should be.
Like you have your taste and youknow it should be like this, but
you're down here and you knowyou want to be here.
And a lot of people stop beforethey get here because let's say,
for example, you're learning toplay the violin and you know you
should sound like this, and thatyou know it could be this
because you've heard people playthe violin well, and you're
(41:50):
really bad at it.
And so you keep trying, and ifyou stop before you get there,
that's what happens.
But what you need to remember islike the progress is not going
to be linear, and as youcontinue to get better, your
valley after, I don't know, twoweeks, two months, two years is
still so much better than thepeak when you started.
And it will eventually, you'llget to this part.
(42:10):
So saying that you can't committo something because you don't
know if you you're because youwon't be good at it, like, I
don't know.
Like, what's the if if it's notinteresting to you, then I would
say don't commit, don't committo trying it and learning
something new.
But if it's something that'sinteresting to you, how cool is
it to get through all of thisand then get out on the other
side?
And then when you're up herewhere you think you should be,
(42:32):
that's like the new startingpoint.
So that that's here, and thenyou get to keep going like this.
SPEAKER_00 (42:37):
Yeah, you know, I can once again it's a choice.
SPEAKER_03 (42:40):
It is a choice, it is a choice, and and I can see
maybe looking at it anddeciding, you know, I'm not
willing to put that effortforward.
Yeah, you know, but I I mean,I've thought for a lot of my
life that um if I wanted to havea singing voice, I I've sang on
and off in choirs.
I don't have a solo voice, butif I had wanted that, do I think
(43:03):
I could have done that with thehelp of a voice coach?
Sure.
Absolutely.
But I chose not to invest mytime and energy in that.
I found other things that calledto me more than that.
Um, I'm currently painting andit's nowhere where I'd like for
it to be.
SPEAKER_01 (43:22):
But do you love it?
I do.
SPEAKER_03 (43:24):
I'm happy to do that.
Then keep doing it.
Then keep doing it.
It's frustrating.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
You know, it's it's also frustrating.
But I'm not sure if you'reexperiencing that that thing
where the your your valley isdefinitely above where your peak
was at the beginning of thesummer.
SPEAKER_03 (43:40):
But do I think that at some point I will be really
good at it?
I do.
SPEAKER_01 (43:47):
But I don't think I didn't think I would start out
that way.
But you're keep but you'recontinuing to pursue it because
it's you love it.
SPEAKER_03 (43:55):
It just it it feeds me.
It's um when I paint the wholerest of the world, it goes away.
SPEAKER_01 (44:03):
Then you should keep everything goes away.
SPEAKER_03 (44:06):
It's like it it is just literally me, the brush,
the paints, and the surface.
I love it.
All that exists while I'msitting there with brush in hand
or with whatever tool in hand,everything else goes away.
And how many things in life dowe have where everything goes
away?
SPEAKER_01 (44:23):
So when it starts not going away and becomes a
chore, then maybe it's not thething anymore.
Or maybe you step back from it,but that's okay.
Like, that is okay.
It's also I I love to read, butI used to be so hell-bent on
finishing a book if I startedit.
And sometimes I'll pick a book,a couple book, and be like, this
is awful.
I'm not like this book.
(44:44):
Or like the book club assignmentfor the month was some book and
I'm 40 pages in and have to keeprereading it because I just
don't like it.
And it's not that it's a badbook, I just don't like it.
And so there's no reason for meto continue.
And so I think that when peoplesay, like to your point, that
they're answering the questionof, I don't want to do it unless
I'm gonna do it really well.
(45:04):
I mean, if it's something new,how do you know it?
I mean, I for the LeadershipArts Institute, I asked to be on
a committee that I reallyappreciated the art form, it's
dance.
I don't know enough aboutputting together a uh donor and
stewardship program, is whichwhich is what we're doing.
To me, that was interesting totry and learn that.
(45:27):
And also I liked theorganization.
And it would have been easierfor me to sign up for a theater
company because I know how torun the business of a theater
company.
And I chose this because it wasinteresting to me and I I wanted
to learn more about it, and butI'm not good at it.
I don't know.
I mean, I'm I'm learning.
I don't know.
I think there's just it'screating that wrinkle in your
(45:47):
brain when you're learning.
SPEAKER_03 (45:49):
And it's painful sometimes.
Yeah.
It's it's we want to be good.
It's like, yeah, would I love tojust sit down and paint a
masterpiece?
I would love to, but somethingtells me that if it was easy, it
wouldn't be nearly asgratifying.
SPEAKER_01 (46:04):
No, all the easy stuff is it's the low-hanging
fruit.
This, you know, the stuff that'sworth it is you got to sink your
teeth into it.
SPEAKER_03 (46:11):
I was um a beauty professional for 40 years.
And I never ever stoppedlearning and growing.
You know, every time I wouldexperience burnout, I would go
back to the drawing board andput myself in classes to stretch
myself and learn new techniquesand things that I had never done
before.
And it was the way that I wouldinfuse me and the whole business
(46:35):
with fresh energy again.
You have to.
SPEAKER_00 (46:41):
Yeah, there's there's something to be said
about bringing all of thoseother things, those other
mountains that you've climbed.
You know, there's uh there arethose that m maybe have been
steeped in the that world of uhgetting collecting all of the
donors and and getting people toum to go all in to support a
(47:05):
cause that they that they love.
But uh if they are only havethose enthusiastic people that
are at the center of it, thenthey they can't appeal to those
other groups that might beadjacent or those other people
that just don't have anawareness.
You know, they don't they don'tknow that they they can
contribute to something likethat.
(47:25):
They have no idea that it's evenout there.
And what a gift it is to bringall of the things that have made
you who you are to make it sothat you can infuse your gifts
into a recipe that uh wasmissing, was devoid of of all
the things that are in yourwheelhouse.
SPEAKER_01 (47:46):
Right.
And that's all of us, right?
It's also what you said, Dwight,is very similar to this quote,
and I'm gonna get it a littlebit wrong, and I can't remember
who said it.
And it goes something like this,where there are just so many
more people out there that youare meant to know and love that
you have have not walked intoyour life yet.
And so it's that idea of likelearning new things and trying
(48:09):
new things, like you don't knowuntil you try.
It's the same thing with Ihaven't you haven't met
everybody.
You haven't met everybody you'regonna know.
I mean, you're gonna meet peoplethat are gonna become really big
parts of your life, and you'renot gonna meet them for days,
weeks, months, years.
And how cool is that to knowthat that is a that is something
that is a potential if you justkeep showing up in life, you
know, being true to yourself.
SPEAKER_03 (48:29):
I have such huge opportunities are all around us.
You know, I I for a long timenow have believed that we teach
what we most need to learn.
And there is like definitely apart of me that thinks it would
be fun, even though I don't atthis point have a lot of skill,
I think it would be a lot of funto teach art.
(48:52):
Do it.
We went to um an art walk thispast weekend, uh-huh.
And I walked up to a booth wherethere was a young woman who has
was doing collage.
And she mentioned that she hadonly been doing it for three
months.
Well, I was just kind of blownaway.
(49:12):
Not that her art was, you know,necessarily super exciting or
anything, but that in she'd onlybeen doing it for three months,
and she'd set up a table and hadall of her stuff and was
showing.
She was putting herself outthere, putting her art out
there, and she's only been doingit for three months.
She had created little packagesthat she was selling that were
(49:34):
little pre-made packages forcollage so somebody could take
that package open and just useit to collage.
And she had a board up where shehad a glue stick and some cut-up
pieces of paper where she wasasking people that walked up to
the booth if they would like tocollage pick a piece and collage
(49:55):
it onto the board, which Ithought was really, really cool.
But it was a glue stick and someclippings.
And I said, Is glue stick theway you collage your your
artwork?
And she said, Yes.
And I said, would you be open toanother an alternative?
And she said, Absolutely.
(50:16):
And so I shared with her what Iknow about a couple of different
acrylic mediums that um it'sjust a whole totally different
process.
And I told her why why it wouldbe good, you know, and gave her
some tips on how to do it.
But it was so cool to be in theearly stages of my own art and
to see somebody that's justgotten started and to know that
(50:37):
I already had something worthyof sharing.
And she was just soaking it uplike a sponge, going, Oh my god,
I love what you're telling me.
I can't wait to try this, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (50:47):
And I think it's the people who are earlier in
sometimes.
I mean, like with that, thathave it, they're gonna look at
it from a different way, right?
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (50:56):
There's something to be said about hiring an expert
um and having somebody who'sdone it for years, but also like
it doesn't mean that you can'tteach something.
Cool.
There's always somebody that'sknows less than I do.
Yeah, and there's alwayssomebody who knows more.
SPEAKER_00 (51:11):
Yeah, and I and I would say that the the mark of
someone that's really skilledwhen it comes to teaching
anything is uh as a master, ifthey can find if they can find
someone who maybe is justlearning.
You know, they're they're justthey're just cementing the
skill.
(51:31):
They've been closer to themistakes.
They they're more of a a peer tothose who are coming along.
They have the recent memory ofwhat it was to struggle and they
can relate it in a way thatmakes sense.
Yeah.
Then your most skilled teacheris going to leverage those who
have just learned.
SPEAKER_03 (51:51):
Yeah, that's a great, that's great.
You know, I hadn't reallythought about it, but I'm in
several f artist Facebookgroups.
People are always postingdilemmas with their art, you
know, or questions, or I don'tunderstand how this works, or
what do I need to be able to dothis?
And I find myself drawn and youknow, piping it.
(52:12):
I'm not really posting anythingright now, but I'm commenting on
other people's posts because II'll go, oh, I know the answer
to that.
Or it's great.
I tried something that reallyworked really, really well.
Let me tell you what what I did.
And um, that's fun to me.
SPEAKER_01 (52:29):
Also, those people aren't gonna check your
credentials.
The fact that you took the timeto do that, you're not trying to
screw them over.
I mean, like you'reintentionally in this group,
they're gonna listen to you,like, oh great, this guy's got
something to offer.
This is great.
Nobody's gonna go double checkand see like where your last
gallery opening was, or what Imean, like what if you have a
MFA from somewhere.
Nobody's looking at that.
SPEAKER_03 (52:50):
They don't care.
All they want is the answer orthe to this, it's to solve the
problem that they were upagainst or the resource that
they were looking for.
unknown (52:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (52:59):
Yeah.
Oh, I love that.
I think you should keep I shouldyou should keep doing art and
you should start teaching art.
I'll take a class.
SPEAKER_03 (53:05):
I'm I'm considering it.
I'm not sure what that's gonnalook like, but I'm also kind of
thinking about something thatlooks a little bit like art
therapy, except it would be morelike art coaching, because I'm a
coach, not a therapist.
Big difference.
SPEAKER_01 (53:19):
So it's good that you know that too.
SPEAKER_03 (53:22):
Yeah, yeah, yes, it is.
Uh Amanda, what's next for you?
SPEAKER_01 (53:28):
Well, I did get a roasted chicken at the store
last night, so I'm probablygonna eat that for lunch.
Um, so specifically that and alittle bag salad, you know, try
to keep it light beforeThanksgiving.
So that's specifically what isnext.
SPEAKER_03 (53:42):
You are too funny.
SPEAKER_01 (53:43):
Um, sorry, that was easy.
That was an easy one.
Uh you know, um, I'm gonna keepkind of trucking along with what
I'm doing.
I love the speaking and thetraining that I'm doing.
Um, I'm starting to work on alittle writing project with a
couple of people that I justadore, and uh I think it's gonna
(54:04):
be really fun.
So hopefully something will uhcome to fruition.
We're gonna work on a uh, we'retrying to write a pilot for a
show, you know.
Um, and I've written a couple ofthose, and those are really fun
to do.
So I'm excited to do that.
Um yeah, I've been working onlike it creatively, like I love
to mix things up at the house alot.
So um I saw this meme on likemaybe it's like Instagram or
(54:26):
TikTok or something that said,What is it about women that wake
up on a Saturday morning anddecide they have to completely
remodel the kitchen by the endof the day?
Uh and that is me.
So um I'm always like movingthings around and trying to
create and just like make thespace a fun place to be.
So um, yeah, those are thethings I'm doing, you know.
I'm on, I'm gonna sell somehomes, um, which is, you know,
(54:47):
it's a fun thing to do, but Ialso really love design and
architecture and um finding agem for somebody that really
makes sense for them.
So, like that's that's a reallyfun process for me because I
it's not just about thetransaction of the buying and
the selling of the home.
Like, I truly do love homes andarchitecture.
SPEAKER_03 (55:04):
So um yeah, you you are on it.
I mean, all the things thatyou've done and all the things
you're doing, and it's just likefocus and go.
It's like wow.
SPEAKER_01 (55:17):
Yeah, but I also just like fell asleep on the
couch last night with some winewatching old episodes of the
West Wing.
So, you know, like it's gonna itcomes and goes.
Yes.
Yeah, it comes and goes.
Yeah, and then my sister-in-lawand I, we and I never really
talk about it.
I do it on my Instagram, but Inever talk about it like on
LinkedIn or anything.
We have a podcast and it'swildly inappropriate, but we
watch television shows and wekind of recap them, but more
(55:39):
just sort of like review them.
And so she is um also acomedian, and so we have a lot
of fun, and she lives inPennsylvania, so it's a great
way for us to continue toconnect.
So we're gonna figure out kindof what's next for that.
But we've been doing it for acouple of years, it's really
fun, and we just, you know, werecapped the entire series of
suits, the television show Suitsthat was out 10 years ago and
(56:02):
they kind of had a resurgence.
And then once Suits was we weredone recapping that, we've been
watching all kinds of stuff.
So um, she got me watching theKim Kardashian show, All's Fair.
Also, we watched that.
I mean, we watched the diplomat.
It's all it's all really fun,and I love it's hard for me to
watch television and filmwithout looking at like the
formatting and the story and thecinematography beyond just for
(56:24):
pure enjoyment.
But um, we have a lot of fundoing that.
So, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (56:28):
Do you realize how much you and Dwight have in
common?
SPEAKER_01 (56:32):
I guess not.
Do are we the same person,Dwight?
SPEAKER_03 (56:35):
Oh my gosh, he he has how many calendars do you
have that are all synced?
SPEAKER_00 (56:40):
Uh yeah, I I I have the the nightmare of juggling
calendars, and it's uh I missedI've missed a couple of things
because of it.
SPEAKER_01 (56:49):
You gotta be careful.
SPEAKER_03 (56:50):
Yeah, it's that is kind of a real fear for me.
I mean, he maps out everythingin advance, and and he gets a
little pissy if I move hischeese.
SPEAKER_01 (57:00):
Rightfully so.
I'd be pissy too.
What kind of cheese is it you'removing?
Because depends on what kind ofcheese, because I love cheese.
SPEAKER_03 (57:09):
I love cheese too.
He's vegan, he does not lovecheese, but if you move his
cheese, if you move his cheese,then he's unhappy.
SPEAKER_01 (57:15):
He all of a sudden decides he likes it and he's
into dairy again.
Okay, I get it.
SPEAKER_00 (57:21):
Well, um, and you you know, you you don't have to
to be so um uh I don't know, onthe hush.
Like only show fans is the nameof that podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (57:32):
It is, yeah, it's called Only Show Fans.
Um, because it was Only SuitsFans is what because we were
were capping suits, and we justthought it'd be funny because
OnlyFans has such a you know,it's out in the world.
And it when you Google Only Showfans, it's just a bunch of
OnlyFans stuff that comes up.
So we think that that's funnyanyways.
(57:54):
And so um, you know, it was alittle bit of it originally.
The idea was like only and thenshow fans, um, so that you
couldn't see it.
But um, yeah, it's just funny.
But we yeah, we talk aboutshows, it's silly.
Um, but we have fun doing it.
It's not one of those thingswhere like that's my business or
anything, it's just a funcreative outlet, and we enjoy
(58:14):
doing it.
The the editing is so awful todo, and sometimes our audio
sounds great, and sometimes itsounds like you know, a
two-year-old was putting ittogether the audio.
So, but we we still have fundoing it, and that's you know,
it doesn't all have to be abusiness or perfect.
It can, you know, it's always aprocess, in my opinion.
Yep.
At the end of the day, it'swhatever brings you joy.
(58:35):
Yeah, and people are like, Whyare you doing that?
I'm like, Because it's fun,because we can I like I can, I
like TV, I love mysister-in-law, it's fun.
We have fun doing it.
Perfect when we don't have fundoing it or it becomes too much
of a burden, we won't do itanymore.
Turns out there's a lot of TV towatch, so um, we're having fun
doing it, and there and therewill only be more.
(58:55):
There'll only be more.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (58:58):
This has simply been delightful.
SPEAKER_01 (59:00):
This has been so great.
Thank you guys for improvisingwith me.
That was really fun.
Yeah, and I'm glad that you gotto learn about a brisk today.
SPEAKER_03 (59:10):
I'm forever changed.
SPEAKER_01 (59:12):
You are.
You're gonna remember.
Here's the thing.
Now it's like whenever you learna new word or you're not
shopping for a red car, and thenall of a sudden there's 20 red
cars on the road everywhere yougo.
The word brisk is gonna come upa lot for you.
SPEAKER_03 (59:25):
Oh, yeah.
Yes, absolutely.
Every time somebody says, Wow,it's kind of brisk out here, I'm
gonna burst into laughter andthey're not gonna know why.
SPEAKER_01 (59:33):
Like that word means more than just one word, that
more than one thing.
You gotta be careful with it.
SPEAKER_00 (59:37):
So well, this has been a delight.
SPEAKER_01 (59:42):
Y'all are a delight.
Thank you.
This has been, I was alreadylooking, I was like, this is
gonna be the highlight of myweek.
And I'm so I wanted to get it ona week where I didn't have a
ton, you know, like othercommitments because I wanted to
just sit down and chat and havefun with you guys.
And I did.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (59:57):
Thank you, thank you, Amanda.
Sometimes I'm not, but I I really have to focus on
that every week.
So that's like a technicalthing.
But I think the bigger pictureis, and it comes back to a lot
of the spirit of improv whereyou have to trust the process
and just be okay with what'sgoing to happen.
I do get a lot of stuff thatcomes at me, and some are
definitely some challenges thatin all of the different areas of
(01:18):
business.
I have to kind of ask myself,okay, is this urgent?
Is somebody in trouble?
Um, can we sleep on this?
Can like a good meal and somewater, maybe a class of wine and
like a good night's rest let memake a better decision tomorrow?
Or is there actually somethingreally urgent?
Like the building's on fire orthis human is on fire, and we
need to address this.
(01:39):
Whenever I can take a step backand realize it's gonna be okay
if we wait until tomorrow todeal with this.
And it's not about putting itoff, it's just about letting it
giving it a minute to breathe,which is also something that,
you know, in improv, we alwaystell people you don't have to be
saying words, words, words.
SPEAKER_00 (02:07):
Welcome to another edition of the For the Love of
Creatives podcast.
I am your Connections andCommunity Guy host Dwight, and
on the line with me today is ourother Connections and Community
Guy host, Maddox.
And today we are joined by theamazing Amanda Austin.
SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Hello.
Hi, I'm so glad to be here.
Amanda.
Thank you.
What a treat.
SPEAKER_00 (02:32):
We we're so glad that you could uh could uh grace
us with your presence.
Um you have done a number ofamazing and wonderful and funny
and fun things.
Uh, but uh I would love for youto tell our audience just a
little bit about who you are andwhat you're about.
SPEAKER_03 (02:53):
Sure.
And and how you guys met, howyou guys know each other.
We'd love to share how we cameabout being together for this.
SPEAKER_01 (03:00):
I think that's the most important part is how we
met because it's one of thethings that inspires a lot of
what I do and what you all do.
Uh Dwight and I are in theBusiness Council for the Arts
Leadership Arts Institute cohortfor 25-26, say that three times
fast.
Um, so we are in this cohorttogether where we are learning
more about our arts communityhere in DFW and also working on
(03:23):
projects that are smaller withinthe group to help um other
nonprofits there uh grow theirbusiness side of uh the arts,
which can sometimes be tricky.
So we're getting to tour lots ofdifferent places, learn lots of
things, meet each other, andthat's how we know each other.
So we kicked that off inSeptember, I believe, or August.
Yeah, August, September, andthen we will wrap up in May.
(03:45):
So that's how we know eachother.
And I was very drawn to thatprogram and had been for several
years, and now I just had moreof the bandwidth to take it on
because I've spent most of mylife involved in the arts, one
way or the other.
Um, most recently I owned theDallas Comedy House for uh just
under 12 years.
We closed during COVID because afun thing about business is that
(04:09):
you have to be open to makemoney, and uh that is one of the
driving forces of staying uhopen.
And so we had just done uh quitean expansive remodel on a
location, and so I shut thatdown uh for uh because of COVID
during uh 2020.
But that was kind of my mostrecent uh foray into the arts.
And um I love live theater, Ilove comedy.
(04:31):
Um, now I actually take thosetenets of improvisation and
collaboration, as well as umsome of my education, and teach
companies how to work togethercollaboratively and not
competitively, and how to beinnovative and all while having
fun, because I do believelaughter is an incredible tool
for bringing people together.
And nobody wants to go to somekind of corporate training
(04:53):
workshop that's boring andthey're not gonna remember it.
So I try to make it valuable andfun.
And that's what I spend the bulkof my time doing.
I'm also a realtor, which soundslike it's not creative at all,
but I can tell you you can getreally creative when you're
putting together contracts forreal estate.
Uh, and that's what I um I do,and I teach also at SMU.
I teach a class at the businessschool.
(05:14):
So that's that's who I am andwhat I do now.
I grew up in dance.
So actually, my first love wasin dance and danced
competitively all growing up anddid theater as well.
So I've never been able to getout of the performing arts.
Um, it just I'm so drawn to it,and I do I do believe there's
such a like a great place for itin the world.
(05:36):
So yeah, that's my short bio.
Um, you can ask me what myfavorite color is or my
astrological sign or anythingelse.
It's fine, it's all fair game.
It it's very diverse.
It is.
It's all over the map.
I love that.
It is all over the map, and Isometimes would struggle with
the fact that it was all overthe map because I thought that
that could be confusing topeople.
(05:58):
And now I just lean in becausethese are the things that I'm
interested in, and I pursue themand I try to deliver the best
work I can when I'm doing it andalso have fun.
SPEAKER_00 (06:08):
And that's a beautiful thing.
I I'm a firm believer in thatyou have to just embrace what it
is that you really you're reallyinto, like what really fills
your heart.
SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:20):
Because otherwise, you know, you you're just going
to uh follow the same boringdrab script that everyone
expects.
And yeah, that is just uh no,life's too short.
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
Life's too short to.
I mean, you've got to do some ofthe boring stuff.
Do we we all need to probablyclean our house every once in a
while, do some laundry, pay ourtaxes.
Um, other than that, though,like we can have fun, like
there's no reason why we can'tbe having more fun.
SPEAKER_03 (06:48):
My my new mantra is to focus on what brings me joy,
people, activities, places.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:56):
Yeah.
We we I love it.
And it doesn't have to be bigthings that can bring you joy,
it can be very little things.
I was just talking to somebodyabout this.
I love to travel a lot.
And they're like, what's yourmost like fun adventure
recently?
And it wasn't a bit, I mean,I've had some really fun trips,
but I was in my hometown a fewweeks ago for a funeral, and I
(07:18):
was with my best friend, and wepulled over, it was on a
Thursday night, into the parkinglot of the Broadway Square Mall
in Tyler, Texas, because theyhad a pop-up carnival and we
were in funeral clothes, and wejust like got out, parked the
car, bought tickets, and justhopped on a bunch of rides.
And to me, like that's really Imean, we just did, I mean, I was
(07:38):
in high heels and found somesneakers in the car.
She's wearing a dress.
I mean, we are not dressed to goto a mall parking lot carnival.
But to me, like those fun, likejoyful adventures are actually
what it's all about.
Well, yeah.
I mean, they were scary as hell.
Let me tell you something.
Those rides were hanging on by athread.
There was a 16-year-oldcontrolling it saying, You're
gonna be fine.
(07:59):
But we did it and we had thevideos to prove it, and we made
it out.
But you know, it's fun.
Like it's might as well.
SPEAKER_00 (08:05):
Love that.
So I I'm really curious whatit's like going into spaces
where you are introducing peopleto uh just the concept of
embracing what it is to be real,to be a full, complete person,
where they're um maybe used tofollowing uh something safe and
(08:28):
standard and just you knowgenerally trying to stay in
their lane and not uh not upsetpeople.
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
Oh wow.
That's a great question.
You know, you usually see uh twodifferent types of people in
those rooms, the people that arethey've they've been wanting to
try something new and they'vebeen wanting to get outside of
their comfort zone, and thenthey see this as an actual
opportunity, or they're at workand they're being paid and told
(08:56):
or voluntold to be there, andthey're just like so excited,
and then they they go in andthey are all in.
Then there's also this group ofpeople, let me put my coffee
down because I did the littlereenactment, and they're sitting
in the back of the room withtheir arms shrugged, or they're
on their phone and they're notpaying attention at all because
they either think I'm too goodfor this.
(09:19):
I also think sometimes they'reterrified of it because people
get people get really nervous ifthey think they're gonna be to
crush something.
Like they want to be able to dosomething really well.
And the thought of doingsomething where you have to be
present in the moment, there isno script, can be quite
terrifying to people.
So um, that's always my goal isto win those people over.
SPEAKER_03 (09:39):
And if I don't, it's fine, but I would vote that it's
more terrified than the other.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
It probably is.
Yeah, it really is.
And like even, you know, you allwere talking about hey, we don't
have a plan for the I mean, youhave a plan for the podcast, but
you don't have a list of 27questions that you have to get
through with every guest.
And that can sound terrifying topeople.
Then I would just argue, like,what's the worst that's gonna
happen?
Or alternatively, what's thebest that could happen?
unknown (10:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
I mean, the best that can happen is that we have
a hell of a lot of fun duringthis time together and we learn
more, and that's it.
That's the best that can happen.
SPEAKER_03 (10:16):
You know, Amanda, it's interesting that you say
that because we have we'vecompleted something like oh low
50s now conversations for thispodcast.
Episode number 51 drops thiscoming Monday.
Okay.
And there has only been oneperson that agreed to be on the
(10:37):
podcast and then reached out inadvance wanting to know if I
could send them all of thequestions.
And I said no.
That would uh kill the wholespirit of the podcast.
First of all, I don't have anyquestions formulated, and I
won't have questions formulated.
(10:57):
But second of all, if I sentthem to you and you worked out
all these answers, now it's justa scripted who wants to listen
to that?
SPEAKER_01 (11:05):
No, that no you know, there's probably a time
and space for that, but not forthis.
Not for not for the entirepurpose of this podcast.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (11:17):
The spontaneity is what makes this special.
You know, you don't know you'regonna get asked that question,
then all of a sudden you'rereally drilling down and
thinking, or the the spontaneousstuff that comes out of people's
mouths.
Oh my gosh.
I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01 (11:32):
I can't imagine.
Well, I'm glad that you didn'tsend me any questions.
I didn't even look, I actuallydidn't even look for any
questions.
I would prefer for there to notbe any, um, and let's just roll
with it and see what happens.
SPEAKER_00 (11:44):
Yeah, well, along those lines, uh a burning
question for me with someone asuh multifaceted as as you are
and having to uh have to pivotso many times and just deal with
what comes.
What is it that you've had tolean into in order to be
(12:05):
prepared for each nextchallenge?
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
Well, a couple of things.
I'll say what's coming to mindnow, and then there might be
something that comes to mind inuh uh you know a few more
minutes.
Yeah tactically speaking, yougotta be really good at your
calendar.
Like you have to know, you haveto, and I have a couple of
calendars, and so I've had tomerge them all.
And that sounds so silly.
If you are juggling a lot ofdifferent things and have, you
(12:33):
know, what's some I guess calllike a portfolio career, you
gotta know who you gotta betalking to, where you gotta be,
what you know, you you've gottaknow.
And so I have to be really goodwith my calendar, and sometimes
I'm not, but I I really have tofocus on that every week.
So that's like a technicalthing.
But I think the bigger pictureis, and it comes back to a lot
of the spirit of improv whereyou have to trust the process
(12:55):
and just be okay with what'sgonna happen.
I do get a lot of stuff thatcomes at me, and some are
definitely some challenges thatin all of the different areas of
business, I have to kind of askmyself, okay, is this urgent?
Is somebody in trouble?
Um, can we sleep on this?
Can like a good meal and somewater, maybe a class of wine and
(13:15):
like a good night's rest let memake a better decision tomorrow?
Or is there actually somethingreally urgent?
Like the building's on fire orthis human is on fire, and we
need to address this.
Whenever I can take a step backand realize it's gonna be okay
if we wait until tomorrow todeal with this.
And it's not about putting itoff.
It's just about letting it,giving it a minute to breathe,
(13:35):
which is also something that,you know, in improv, we always
tell people you don't have to besaying words, words, words,
words, words the entire time inan improv show.
There can be a little bit oftime to breathe.
So I've tried to, you know,remember that and also ask
myself, what's the worst that'sgonna happen?
Am I gonna remember this in twoweeks, two months, two years, 20
years?
And when you look at that overlike the span of your lifetime,
(13:59):
some of the big challenges thatcome your way can shape you
forever.
And then some of them you willcompletely forget about next
week and be like, oh dang, Ididn't I forgot that even
happened.
SPEAKER_03 (14:09):
So you're you're describing the difference
between urgency and importance.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Yeah.
And you have to know, and youyou have to know, and you have
to be able to like silo it outand be okay with it.
Um because there's really not, Imean, I used to say this a lot
when I'm in the comedy club,like we're not we're not curing
cancer, right?
Or we're not ER surgeons.
So unless the the comedyemergencies that would come up
(14:38):
were typically something withthe facility, the alarm has gone
off, you know, or there was anissue.
I mean, those are those arethings that need to be addressed
right now.
Other than that, I think we'regonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
There you go.
Yeah, it's I think that peopleneed to have their um
perspective reset sometimes.
Um I've part of my past involvesworking for a facility that's
not on many maps.
And some of the things that wehad to deal with um could have
(15:12):
well, the mission had to do withbeing prepared in the event of a
nuclear exchange.
So I I know what an emergencyis.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
And yours is very different.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:23):
Uh if somebody tells a really bad dick joke, that's
not an emergency.
That's just sad for them, youknow.
SPEAKER_03 (15:28):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
We'll get we'll we'll get through it.
SPEAKER_03 (15:30):
So I have an idea, something that we've never done
on the podcast before becausethis never presented itself.
Okay.
But I'm wondering if you wouldbe uh for if I just spat it off
a topic and punched a timer,could you riff on that topic for
one minute?
(15:51):
Could you give us a littleimprov?
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
Well, I could, yes.
Improv is better uh shared withpeople.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
Ooh.
SPEAKER_01 (16:00):
So I would um say it would be really fun if we all
did it together.
Because otherwise, I would justbe kind of doing a monologue,
which would be fine.
I think it would be finer if thetwo of you joined me and we just
did a little improv scene.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
I'm feeling that terror right now.
Challenge accepted.
SPEAKER_01 (16:18):
Okay, okay.
I mean, that's what we talkedabout at the beginning.
And I'm sitting here going, ohshit.
Okay, but here's the thingbeginner's luck, first of all.
Also, remember the people wetalked about that were in the
back of the room that wereterrified.
Guess what?
I haven't lost anybody once inan improv workshop, and I've
done it for 20 years.
So, um, and you're sitting therein the comfort of a place that
you know well.
So Dwight's like, yeah, let's doit.
SPEAKER_00 (16:40):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (16:41):
Okay, well, we probably need a little more than
a minute than if we do, we do.
SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
What we could do is think about we could just do a
little improv scene together.
Why not?
SPEAKER_03 (16:52):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
I mean, remember that if if you don't know the
rule in improv, the number onerule in improv is yes and.
And yes means I've heard whatyou have to say, and and means
I'm gonna build on it.
So you don't have to agree withwhatever is being thrown out,
but um, we just have to build,just be okay with it.
It's uh it's all right that it'sand somebody has an idea, it's
(17:16):
not gonna hurt anybody.
So we could just to make it alittle bit more narrowed down,
give ourselves a scenario thatwe're in, and then we can play
these actors that are in thisscenario, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (17:26):
We will follow your lead.
SPEAKER_01 (17:28):
Okay.
Then I'm gonna ask for asuggestion here.
Um, I haven't done improvvirtually, and it's been
probably a year since I've doneimprov virtually, so this is
gonna be really fun.
Okay.
How about um a reason that threepeople might be celebrating
something?
What's a reason that we could becelebrating something?
It could be a a marriage, adivorce, a birthday, um.
(17:51):
A brisk.
Okay, we're celebrating a brisk.
All right.
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
I don't even know what a brisk is.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Well, we could okay, so we can do a couple things
here with this.
You can not know what a briskis, and we can just go with it,
and just whatever you say isgonna work, and it's gonna be
really fun, um, which is what Iwould prefer.
Okay.
Okay.
I would prefer that you don'tknow and that we just go with
(18:18):
it, and that we're all at thisbrisk.
This is what happens when youpitch an idea and I turn it back
on you.
Yep.
I see that.
SPEAKER_03 (18:31):
I get tongue-tied, so don't be surprised if I just
sit here with this dumb look onmy face.
SPEAKER_01 (18:36):
Totally fine.
All right, you want to start?
Let's do it.
And then whenever it feels likeit's coming to an end, I'll just
call scene.
How does that sound?
I'll say and scene.
All right.
You guys, thank you so much forcoming.
I know this is so last minute,and I know like carpool and just
getting everybody and the kidsand the family here.
I just really appreciate youbeing here.
SPEAKER_00 (18:54):
Oh, well, we quit wouldn't miss it for the world.
I've heard so many great thingsabout how these things go down.
SPEAKER_03 (19:00):
Yeah, I wouldn't miss it for the world because I
I don't even know what it is.
I don't know how it's gonna godown.
SPEAKER_01 (19:07):
I think you know how it's gonna go down.
I think you're just playing shyand acting like you don't know.
Man, but yeah, you do that allthe time.
Remember that one time we werein college?
How you acted like you did notknow what somebody's 21st
birthday party celebration was,and then you show up with showed
up with two bottles of champagneand you were ready to go.
SPEAKER_03 (19:28):
Well, you know, champagne works for just about
anything.
It probably works for a brisk.
SPEAKER_00 (19:33):
I don't know.
I I think you need a rathersteady hand when it comes to
cutting around there.
SPEAKER_01 (19:38):
You might, you might.
I'm just saying for us in thebackground, we could definitely
be drinking some champagne,right?
SPEAKER_03 (19:45):
Yeah, but chilled champagne because you know you
want to be brisk.
SPEAKER_01 (19:50):
You do, and I also appreciate that you all dressed
for the occasion in briskclothes as well.
So you really just like doubledown on we're gonna have like a
brisk drink, and we have theselike brisk, you know, some coats
to keep us nice and warm at thisbrisk.
I didn't realize it was gonna bethat itchy, though.
SPEAKER_03 (20:07):
It's really itchy.
SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
Well, that's also what they might be saying too
during the brisk.
SPEAKER_03 (20:13):
I'm just glad I didn't wear brisk underwear.
SPEAKER_01 (20:18):
Well, as a spectator, um, it's okay for you
to be wearing underwear during abrisk.
SPEAKER_00 (20:29):
But it's probably not so great that it's this cold
during that kind of a thing.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
Yeah, that can uh be trivial.
That's why I've got ittemperature controlled inside.
I don't know if you noticed Ihad uh some heaters brought in
just to kind of keep things niceand neutral and warm here.
SPEAKER_03 (20:43):
I wonder if I'm concerned that's gonna make the
itching worse.
SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
Well.
For you it might, you know, butfor you but for you know the
brisky, they need it to be niceand and warm.
It can't be too cold.
SPEAKER_03 (20:57):
Was the the the the brisky were they married to a
brisket at some point in theirlife?
SPEAKER_01 (21:04):
It's so funny that you ask.
People say that a lot.
Um little too young for formarriage.
A little too young for marriage.
If they were though, a brisketwould be a good choice.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
It would be an excellent choice.
SPEAKER_01 (21:19):
Yeah.
So can I guess interest you guysin any um uh of the order's
here?
I've got these little like uh uhlittle uh weenies, little beanie
weenies that uh I have uh tochoose from.
I also have uh pigs in ablanket.
SPEAKER_03 (21:35):
Uh and then we're just gonna ask, are there any
pigs in a blanket?
SPEAKER_01 (21:38):
There are.
And then I do have a hot dogtruck that's gonna be here a
little bit later.
So um we'll call scene there.
Dwight, are you okay?
You need a moment?
SPEAKER_00 (21:51):
I'm okay.
He's crying.
You yeah, you you warned usabout the dangers of a bad dick
joke, but oh man, we were wewere right there in it.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
We were right there in it.
Maddox, how are you feeling?
SPEAKER_03 (22:04):
Yeah, no, that was that was fun.
I I'm cracking up at him becauseI know him well enough to know
that he's tears are streamingdown his face over there.
SPEAKER_01 (22:12):
Yeah, when he was doing this, like I was like,
he's such a good quiet laugher.
Like, how polite, because it Icouldn't hear the sound coming
through, but I I he wasn'tmuted, so I knew with this he
was trying to, he was a littleof a climped.
SPEAKER_03 (22:25):
So a climped, yes, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
Dwight, would you like to tell Maddox what a brisk
is?
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
Um, I I would like to know if Maddox, you have a uh
a guess as to what it is at thispoint.
SPEAKER_03 (22:40):
I I have no idea, no guess whatsoever.
If it's not the spouse of abrisket, I'm lost.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
Okay.
Well, so it's it's um somethingthat's it's going to be done for
for little um male children forum yeah, uh it's uh it's like a
circumcision ceremony.
SPEAKER_03 (23:03):
Oh my gosh, I was just getting ready.
That this has got to be thecelebration of getting losing
your foreskin.
Oh my god.
It is, yeah.
And they named it brisk.
I guess that's better than hack.
SPEAKER_01 (23:16):
Totally, totally.
Um also can I just say this,Dwight?
I will get that suggestion a lotto get because a lot of times
when you're trying to do a sceneand if I'm doing like corporate
work or whatever, you don't wantto just start out in the middle
of with no inspiration.
So I'll get differentsuggestions to take it from
everything that's possible downto here.
(23:37):
And the the the ask of what is areason that people might be
celebrating is something that Iask a lot.
I don't know that I've ever hadanybody say a brisk ever.
So you got me really good.
Um, because I was like, we'regonna have to do this here on
this recording because I don't II I can't remember when somebody
has said that.
SPEAKER_00 (23:56):
So I love that.
SPEAKER_03 (23:59):
You stumped me.
It was obscure.
I had no idea.
SPEAKER_00 (24:02):
Well, you you don't want to see all of the things
that might be swimming around inhere.
It's it can be a little weird.
SPEAKER_01 (24:10):
Isn't that the same for all of us, though?
SPEAKER_00 (24:12):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
You know, that was great.
I I hope that our listenersenjoyed that as much as we did.
SPEAKER_01 (24:20):
So that's what happens if you ask me to just
riff for a minute.
We're gonna talk about a briskfor three minutes.
SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
So it's a beautiful thing.
Yeah, I I gotta say, it it mustbe a delight to go into those
rooms where you never know justhow stuffed the shirts might be.
And I I'll bet that you can justget everybody to open up.
SPEAKER_01 (24:45):
That's the goal.
You know, when I do my work,like if it's a workshop, I like
to have three to four hoursminimum with the group because
if I go in for 20 minutes, Imean, I've had people say, Can
you come do something for 20minutes?
And you know, my question is,what are you wanting to get out
of that?
Are you trying to fill the time?
Or do you just want me to comein and be funny?
Because that's not going toreally move people to action.
(25:07):
If you really want to see thework, it takes a little bit of
time to warm up to the idea thatthere are some tenets in
improvisation that are paramountto success in the real world,
regardless of what professionyou are in.
And I would argue when peoplesay, I can't, I get this all the
time.
People say, I can never doimprov.
I can never do it.
Well, first of all, we just didit.
unknown (25:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
Okay.
We did it under the guise of weare doing improv.
Second of all, most of ourconversations in life are not
planned.
Like we're not showing up everyday.
This is improv.
Yeah, like you're not walking insaying, okay, let me read um
what I'm gonna say.
Hello, good morning.
I'd like 2x, please, with Imean, that's not how life is.
Right.
(25:48):
We're all improvising all of thetime.
SPEAKER_03 (25:51):
Yes, absolutely.
I never really thought of itlike that, but yes.
SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
I mean, think about when's the last time you read a
conversation.
SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Kill me, please.
Right.
Just put me out of my misery.
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
Yeah, so we're all improvising, and I think people
get nervous when they think thatit needs to be funny.
And so I'm not teaching peoplein the context of what I do now.
I don't teach people to befunny, I teach them the rules of
improvisation and how thesetenets help them be better
innovators, collaborators, youknow, and and team players.
(26:28):
It is funny because I put youthrough some fun theater
exercises to show you how it canwork and then teach you how this
could actually work in business.
So it is funny because you'redoing fun games and you're
you're laughing with each other,not at each other.
And so it's always funny.
It's not about teaching peopleto be funny.
(26:49):
Even when we had an improvschool, we weren't teaching
people to be funny, we wereteaching them to make a higher
percentage choice.
So taking a choice here overhere is actually will end up
being funnier on stage, and youhave to just kind of learn that
over years and years.
SPEAKER_00 (27:06):
Yeah, no, I uh I I can't help but take in what
you're saying as just an entrypoint for uh embracing some
other um some other conceptsthat you might come by by way of
um church or or school, youknow, different philosophies,
(27:27):
different ways of being.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
You know, it's just another another entry point to
be able to embrace thoseconcepts because there's a lot
about tolerance and uh justabout um accepting what is, uh
being uh in control of thethings that you can control and
(27:55):
letting go of the rest.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
You gotta let go of a lot of it in improv.
So and in life.
I mean, we can't I mean, we canreally only control ourselves,
and even that we can't controlall of it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
So Yeah, that this is I'm I'm actually like having
a shift.
I'm like thinking, wow, youknow, I'm I'm envisioning this
meme that says life is an improvbecause I never really thought
of it like that, but we don'tknow that we rehearse.
You know, when I have to have adifficult conversation with
somebody, I rehearse in my mind,but when I actually get there,
(28:30):
it's complete improv because Imay not say a word that I
rehearsed.
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
It's literally that is the debrief I do with an
exercise, what you just said.
It's exactly right.
You how many times have youplanned a conversation?
You are driving somewhere oryou're driving home or you're
about to get on a call in 20minutes, and you're like, I'm
gonna give them the biz.
I got this thing to say, or boy,here are my seven talking
points, and I've got them righthere, and I have practiced this
(28:56):
over and over again.
It doesn't matter how much youpractice, there's another person
on the other side of thatconversation who's probably also
been practicing if they know theconversation's coming, if it's a
surprise, they don't.
You cannot, you can practice,practice, practice, but if
there's somebody else in thisequation, which in life with all
of our conversations, there is,it's not gonna go as planned.
(29:19):
It may go way better, it may goworse, it just may go different.
And improv is teaching you abouthow to be present and listen to
what they have to say and notlisten to respond, listen to
understand.
Because when you listen tounderstand, there's this
incredible willingness tochange.
And so I could be super pissedat Dwight and have this whole
thing prepared that I need totell him.
(29:40):
And I'm gonna say, when I seeyou in December at that class
day, boy, am I gonna say this,this, this, this.
And then you show up with thatwonderful smile on your face and
you start talking to me, and I'mlike, oh, that's not what I was
gonna say.
Okay, hang on, I'm gonna change,you know, because there's
somebody on the other side.
And regardless if they'veplanned it or not, there's more
than one person in thatequation.
And you've got to be able to bepresent and not worried about
(30:02):
what you're saying, listening towhat they want to say.
SPEAKER_03 (30:06):
You're you're describing an energetic thing.
Oh, yeah.
You can walk up and see them,and they're it just be right
there.
No one's even spoken yet, andjust the energy that you feel
coming off of them cancompletely alter what you
thought you were gonna say.
SPEAKER_01 (30:21):
Oh my gosh.
My brother that um we haveperformed forever together.
We just started taking classestogether, you know, almost 20
years ago.
And um obviously we know eachother well.
We've kind of known each othersince we were born, and we're
close, and we still don't knowwhat each other will say if
we're performing together.
We might have an idea, but it'syou can know someone that well
(30:41):
and still not know.
And he, I say that all of that,because he has a saying that he
would say to me all the time andstill does, and that energy is a
choice, and so that shift inenergy on stage in the green
room before you go on, beforeyou come into a podcast, before
you walk into a meeting, or youjust show up to Wendy's to order
(31:02):
some spicy chicken nuggets,whatever that is, like that is
all a choice that you're making.
Even when life is really sucky,we still have that choice to to
think about the energy thatwe're bringing.
SPEAKER_03 (31:13):
You're you're bumping into our our one of our
minor commote components rightnow, which is about becoming
yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, you get to the magicalsegue.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
And you do.
You do.
Um it's you know, I love, youknow, I said dance is my kind of
my first love, and of course Ilove the theater and comedy
specifically.
Um, I also really love music.
I can't uh carry a tune in abucket.
So uh I always say, if I couldsing, you would know me.
You just you wouldn't, you wouldknow of me, you just wouldn't
(31:48):
know me because I would try tobe famous if I could sing, but I
cannot sing, but I will sing andI will listen to music all the
time.
Because when I go on a morningwalk, I mean, and there's so
much I will listen to almostanything, but like that can
change anything.
Think about like when you put ona song for just 20 seconds, that
shift, like that you're becominga different person.
(32:09):
And it's a not entirely, butlike it can really shift the
energy, just like a little bitof music, or what is the thing
or the things that you're doingto get your energy and get your
like head and your heart andyour soul in the right place
before you show up that day.
SPEAKER_03 (32:22):
I think there's a lot of life that does that.
I think that our clothing doesthat.
Yes.
I I think that you can put on apair of sneakers and you walk
one way, or you can put on apair of high heels and you walk
a totally different way.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
Yes.
Some of that's out of necessity,though.
SPEAKER_03 (32:42):
Sure.
Some of it, but more of it isthat it's just evoking a
different energy from within.
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
It is, it is.
I wish I wish high heels weremore comfortable because I walk
and talk and carry myself sodifferently when I'm presenting
and I'm in a tall ass pair ofhigh heels.
Um, my favorite thing though isto take those off and go put the
tennis shoes on afterwards.
But it is, you're right.
Even the way that we show up,and when I work from home, I
(33:14):
joke that I'm kind of like in abusiness mullet.
So I'll wear somethingprofessional on the top, but
then it looks like Adam Sandleron the bottom, like oversized
basketball shorts or bigsweatpants.
And that's fine and comfortable,but there's something to be said
about actually like putting onsomething that's expressive in
the way that like it representswho you are when you show up
too.
SPEAKER_03 (33:35):
Yes.
We're we're both very much aboutthat.
We we are we when we go out,we're not always dressed up, but
we're dressed, you know, some ofwhich is really artsy fartsy
stuff that we found in thriftshops.
Love that.
SPEAKER_02 (33:49):
I love that.
SPEAKER_03 (33:50):
But it's about expressing who we are.
You know, I got up one morninglast week.
Oh, it was we were on our way tocreative mornings, so it was an
early, oh, and I got decked out.
I good for you, head to toe.
I had on a hat, I had onjewelry, I did it all.
And it was just because that waswhat I was feeling when I got
(34:12):
out of bed that morning.
SPEAKER_01 (34:13):
Good.
I love that.
Dwight's always dressed, I feellike, to the nine.
You always are just having sopulled together.
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
So oh, thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (34:22):
No pressure when I see you again in December.
Right.
Please come dressed as aChristmas tree.
No.
Uh you're right.
Like it's there's so many likelittle choices that we can make
throughout the day, and we'renot always going to crush it
100%.
All of that energy, you know, asa choice is not just, you know,
it's your energy, it's your,it's, you know, the smiling, the
(34:44):
being more positive.
It's the way that you dress, theway like have you have you
bathed recently, you know?
Um, you know, the little thingslike that can actually like have
a big impact on the way youshould be.
SPEAKER_03 (34:53):
It's amazing what a good bath can do for somebody's
energy.
SPEAKER_01 (34:56):
And for somebody else's energy if they're in the
same room with you.
Sure.
I would argue sometimes thebaths and the showers are not
just for me, but for others.
Uh, you know, that and a goodbreath mint.
Oh, by the way, never turned outa breath mint.
That's a rule somebody told me along time ago.
If someone offers you a mint, itprobably means you might need
it.
SPEAKER_03 (35:16):
Yeah, I had a friend, a co-worker one time,
this has been nearly 40 yearsago, say to me one day, I've
I've been meaning to tell youfor the last couple of weeks
you've had bad breath.
And I was like, Some fuckingfriend you are, let me go around
with bad breath for two weeks.
Oh my god.
I chewed her.
SPEAKER_01 (35:37):
Oh, I would have too.
I would have too.
Oh gosh.
I get nervous about that.
I'm always have a big old tin ofaltoids on me just because.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:46):
I I carry a little packet of tic-tacks.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
Something that will freshen the breath.
SPEAKER_01 (35:51):
Freshen it up.
Look where we got now.
This is what happens when youdon't have a list of questions.
You start talking about yourpreferred breath mints on a
podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
Well, these are some essential life tips.
I mean they are.
If there's someone that's onlybeen listening to whatever they
could find on the internet inthe basement because no one
would talk to them, you know,this might be the clue that they
needed.
SPEAKER_03 (36:14):
That is exactly.
I'd I'd love to tiptoe a littlebit more into the becoming
conversation.
Sure.
I know that you had um thecomedy improv that you had to
close down during the pandemic.
SPEAKER_01 (36:28):
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (36:29):
And so, you know, that hadn't been that long ago.
There's there's been an aspectof, okay, gotta become somebody
different now.
And that may be what you didfrom the closing to here, but
then there's the okay, what'snext?
And who do I need to become?
And when I I guess I'm this isnot a common conversation I'm
(36:52):
finding.
So when I ask this, nine timesout of ten, people, it's like
they're a little kid, andsomebody said, Who do you want
to how what do you want to bewhen you grow up?
I want to be a fireman.
I'm not talking about what doyou want to be?
I'm talking about who you wantto be.
So it's one is an internalthing.
Who is an internal?
And what is an external?
(37:14):
I want to be a fireman, I wantto be an astronaut, I want to be
an artist, I want to be, youknow.
So that my question is the who?
Who do you have to become?
If you said, oh, I want tobecome, you know, an astronaut,
who would you need to become inorder to be an astronaut?
SPEAKER_01 (37:33):
All right, so wonderful question.
I've stopped trying to worryabout what I want to be when I
grow up because I don't know.
I mean, I'm I'm still figuringit out.
I'm still growing up.
I'll never completely grow up.
I don't know if any of us reallywill, we'll will listen to that
East Texas accent.
(37:53):
I think what's important to me,I was talking to my best friend
about this, is that I I alwayswant to be the person that shows
up for the people that areimportant in my life and that I
am loyal and that I have fun inalmost anything that I do.
And I don't really commit tosomething unless I know I can
(38:13):
commit to it.
And that's a that's a part ofwho I am, as opposed to what
that ends up being, becausethere, you know, I've got this
like portfolio of things I'mdoing.
I don't know if I'm gonna bedoing all of those in two years,
10 years, or two months.
I don't know.
It's all about me feeling likeI'm in line with what I should
be doing.
It also needs to have some kindof element of creativity where I
(38:35):
can express myself creatively,even though it may sound like
it's not.
How can I bring my unique valueproposition and my point of view
to those things?
So that's who I want to be.
I want to be the person who'salways doing something that has
that is inspired by somethingcreative, whether or not it may
not look creative, and that I amdoing it in a way that honors
(38:58):
the people that I am serving,whether it's an organization or
a company or a nonprofit, orit's a dinner party on a Tuesday
night.
And um, that I'm like a reliableand loyal person in people's
lives.
That's also a hell of a lot offun.
SPEAKER_03 (39:13):
What great answers! And you like really got my
question.
You know, I've learned that toget good answers, you have to
ask good questions.
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
You asked a great question and you framed it so
well, too.
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
Thank you.
You said something in there thatI want to backtrack to because I
think it's similar to thingsthat get said a lot, but I want
to call out the distinction forthose that maybe didn't catch
it.
You said I I only want to committo things that I know I can
truly commit to.
And what I hear more often thannot is I'll only commit to
(39:44):
things that I know that I can dowell.
And I think there's a there'ssomething about that that I I
would love your take on that.
I personally think I only committo things I know that I can do
well is a limitation.
It's like I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (40:05):
How do you know if you can do it well if you don't
exactly you can't do anythingwell from the beginning?
SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
No, that's right.
SPEAKER_01 (40:13):
Michael Jordan did not come out of the womb, slam
dunk and making three-pointers.
People, I mean, think aboutanybody.
SPEAKER_03 (40:20):
I feel really sorry for his mom.
SPEAKER_01 (40:22):
For his mom, right?
That's a whole nother improvscene we could do.
Um anybody who is really greatat something or thinks they can
even do something well, theydidn't do it well to begin with.
They were bad at it.
Now, there are some people thatokay, I use sports as an analogy
a lot because people are canresonate with that oftentimes
(40:43):
when I'm talking about the artsand sports, which is an
interesting combination.
But anybody.
That you see in anything thatthey do well, they might have
been more inclined.
Maybe Michael Jordan is a littlebit more athletic than somebody
else.
But he didn't know how to dothis.
You don't know if you're goingto do it well until you try.
I actually like the clunkinessof it all.
I like the having the trainingwheels on and having to finish
(41:06):
it.
And in fact, there's this quote,I'm looking at it because it
sits on the other side of mydesk, uh, and it's really long,
but it's a quote from Ira Glass,who is the host of this American
Life podcast and many otherthings.
And he, I'll summarize it.
And it's really about thecreative world, but I like to
tell people about it's reallywith anything, that when you
start something new, you havethis really good idea of what it
(41:30):
should be.
Like you have your taste and youknow it should be like this, but
you're down here and you knowyou want to be here.
And a lot of people stop beforethey get here because let's say,
for example, you're learning toplay the violin and you know you
should sound like this, and thatyou know it could be this
because you've heard people playthe violin well, and you're
(41:50):
really bad at it.
And so you keep trying, and ifyou stop before you get there,
that's what happens.
But what you need to remember islike the progress is not going
to be linear, and as youcontinue to get better, your
valley after, I don't know, twoweeks, two months, two years is
still so much better than thepeak when you started.
And it will eventually, you'llget to this part.
(42:10):
So saying that you can't committo something because you don't
know if you you're because youwon't be good at it, like, I
don't know.
Like, what's the if if it's notinteresting to you, then I would
say don't commit, don't committo trying it and learning
something new.
But if it's something that'sinteresting to you, how cool is
it to get through all of thisand then get out on the other
side?
And then when you're up herewhere you think you should be,
(42:32):
that's like the new startingpoint.
So that that's here, and thenyou get to keep going like this.
SPEAKER_00 (42:37):
Yeah, you know, I can once again it's a choice.
SPEAKER_03 (42:40):
It is a choice, it is a choice, and and I can see
maybe looking at it anddeciding, you know, I'm not
willing to put that effortforward.
Yeah, you know, but I I mean,I've thought for a lot of my
life that um if I wanted to havea singing voice, I I've sang on
and off in choirs.
I don't have a solo voice, butif I had wanted that, do I think
(43:03):
I could have done that with thehelp of a voice coach?
Sure.
Absolutely.
But I chose not to invest mytime and energy in that.
I found other things that calledto me more than that.
Um, I'm currently painting andit's nowhere where I'd like for
it to be.
SPEAKER_01 (43:22):
But do you love it?
I do.
SPEAKER_03 (43:24):
I'm happy to do that.
Then keep doing it.
Then keep doing it.
It's frustrating.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
You know, it's it's also frustrating.
But I'm not sure if you'reexperiencing that that thing
where the your your valley isdefinitely above where your peak
was at the beginning of thesummer.
SPEAKER_03 (43:40):
But do I think that at some point I will be really
good at it?
I do.
SPEAKER_01 (43:47):
But I don't think I didn't think I would start out
that way.
But you're keep but you'recontinuing to pursue it because
it's you love it.
SPEAKER_03 (43:55):
It just it it feeds me.
It's um when I paint the wholerest of the world, it goes away.
SPEAKER_01 (44:03):
Then you should keep everything goes away.
SPEAKER_03 (44:06):
It's like it it is just literally me, the brush,
the paints, and the surface.
I love it.
All that exists while I'msitting there with brush in hand
or with whatever tool in hand,everything else goes away.
And how many things in life dowe have where everything goes
away?
SPEAKER_01 (44:23):
So when it starts not going away and becomes a
chore, then maybe it's not thething anymore.
Or maybe you step back from it,but that's okay.
Like, that is okay.
It's also I I love to read, butI used to be so hell-bent on
finishing a book if I startedit.
And sometimes I'll pick a book,a couple book, and be like, this
is awful.
I'm not like this book.
(44:44):
Or like the book club assignmentfor the month was some book and
I'm 40 pages in and have to keeprereading it because I just
don't like it.
And it's not that it's a badbook, I just don't like it.
And so there's no reason for meto continue.
And so I think that when peoplesay, like to your point, that
they're answering the questionof, I don't want to do it unless
I'm gonna do it really well.
(45:04):
I mean, if it's something new,how do you know it?
I mean, I for the LeadershipArts Institute, I asked to be on
a committee that I reallyappreciated the art form, it's
dance.
I don't know enough aboutputting together a uh donor and
stewardship program, is whichwhich is what we're doing.
To me, that was interesting totry and learn that.
(45:27):
And also I liked theorganization.
And it would have been easierfor me to sign up for a theater
company because I know how torun the business of a theater
company.
And I chose this because it wasinteresting to me and I I wanted
to learn more about it, and butI'm not good at it.
I don't know.
I mean, I'm I'm learning.
I don't know.
I think there's just it'screating that wrinkle in your
(45:47):
brain when you're learning.
SPEAKER_03 (45:49):
And it's painful sometimes.
Yeah.
It's it's we want to be good.
It's like, yeah, would I love tojust sit down and paint a
masterpiece?
I would love to, but somethingtells me that if it was easy, it
wouldn't be nearly asgratifying.
SPEAKER_01 (46:04):
No, all the easy stuff is it's the low-hanging
fruit.
This, you know, the stuff that'sworth it is you got to sink your
teeth into it.
SPEAKER_03 (46:11):
I was um a beauty professional for 40 years.
And I never ever stoppedlearning and growing.
You know, every time I wouldexperience burnout, I would go
back to the drawing board andput myself in classes to stretch
myself and learn new techniquesand things that I had never done
before.
And it was the way that I wouldinfuse me and the whole business
(46:35):
with fresh energy again.
You have to.
SPEAKER_00 (46:41):
Yeah, there's there's something to be said
about bringing all of thoseother things, those other
mountains that you've climbed.
You know, there's uh there arethose that m maybe have been
steeped in the that world of uhgetting collecting all of the
donors and and getting people toum to go all in to support a
(47:05):
cause that they that they love.
But uh if they are only havethose enthusiastic people that
are at the center of it, thenthey they can't appeal to those
other groups that might beadjacent or those other people
that just don't have anawareness.
You know, they don't they don'tknow that they they can
contribute to something likethat.
(47:25):
They have no idea that it's evenout there.
And what a gift it is to bringall of the things that have made
you who you are to make it sothat you can infuse your gifts
into a recipe that uh wasmissing, was devoid of of all
the things that are in yourwheelhouse.
SPEAKER_01 (47:46):
Right.
And that's all of us, right?
It's also what you said, Dwight,is very similar to this quote,
and I'm gonna get it a littlebit wrong, and I can't remember
who said it.
And it goes something like this,where there are just so many
more people out there that youare meant to know and love that
you have have not walked intoyour life yet.
And so it's that idea of likelearning new things and trying
(48:09):
new things, like you don't knowuntil you try.
It's the same thing with Ihaven't you haven't met
everybody.
You haven't met everybody you'regonna know.
I mean, you're gonna meet peoplethat are gonna become really big
parts of your life, and you'renot gonna meet them for days,
weeks, months, years.
And how cool is that to knowthat that is a that is something
that is a potential if you justkeep showing up in life, you
know, being true to yourself.
SPEAKER_03 (48:29):
I have such huge opportunities are all around us.
You know, I I for a long timenow have believed that we teach
what we most need to learn.
And there is like definitely apart of me that thinks it would
be fun, even though I don't atthis point have a lot of skill,
I think it would be a lot of funto teach art.
(48:52):
Do it.
We went to um an art walk thispast weekend, uh-huh.
And I walked up to a booth wherethere was a young woman who has
was doing collage.
And she mentioned that she hadonly been doing it for three
months.
Well, I was just kind of blownaway.
(49:12):
Not that her art was, you know,necessarily super exciting or
anything, but that in she'd onlybeen doing it for three months,
and she'd set up a table and hadall of her stuff and was
showing.
She was putting herself outthere, putting her art out
there, and she's only been doingit for three months.
She had created little packagesthat she was selling that were
(49:34):
little pre-made packages forcollage so somebody could take
that package open and just useit to collage.
And she had a board up where shehad a glue stick and some cut-up
pieces of paper where she wasasking people that walked up to
the booth if they would like tocollage pick a piece and collage
(49:55):
it onto the board, which Ithought was really, really cool.
But it was a glue stick and someclippings.
And I said, Is glue stick theway you collage your your
artwork?
And she said, Yes.
And I said, would you be open toanother an alternative?
And she said, Absolutely.
(50:16):
And so I shared with her what Iknow about a couple of different
acrylic mediums that um it'sjust a whole totally different
process.
And I told her why why it wouldbe good, you know, and gave her
some tips on how to do it.
But it was so cool to be in theearly stages of my own art and
to see somebody that's justgotten started and to know that
(50:37):
I already had something worthyof sharing.
And she was just soaking it uplike a sponge, going, Oh my god,
I love what you're telling me.
I can't wait to try this, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (50:47):
And I think it's the people who are earlier in
sometimes.
I mean, like with that, thathave it, they're gonna look at
it from a different way, right?
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (50:56):
There's something to be said about hiring an expert
um and having somebody who'sdone it for years, but also like
it doesn't mean that you can'tteach something.
Cool.
There's always somebody that'sknows less than I do.
Yeah, and there's alwayssomebody who knows more.
SPEAKER_00 (51:11):
Yeah, and I and I would say that the the mark of
someone that's really skilledwhen it comes to teaching
anything is uh as a master, ifthey can find if they can find
someone who maybe is justlearning.
You know, they're they're justthey're just cementing the
skill.
(51:31):
They've been closer to themistakes.
They they're more of a a peer tothose who are coming along.
They have the recent memory ofwhat it was to struggle and they
can relate it in a way thatmakes sense.
Yeah.
Then your most skilled teacheris going to leverage those who
have just learned.
SPEAKER_03 (51:51):
Yeah, that's a great, that's great.
You know, I hadn't reallythought about it, but I'm in
several f artist Facebookgroups.
People are always postingdilemmas with their art, you
know, or questions, or I don'tunderstand how this works, or
what do I need to be able to dothis?
And I find myself drawn and youknow, piping it.
(52:12):
I'm not really posting anythingright now, but I'm commenting on
other people's posts because II'll go, oh, I know the answer
to that.
Or it's great.
I tried something that reallyworked really, really well.
Let me tell you what what I did.
And um, that's fun to me.
SPEAKER_01 (52:29):
Also, those people aren't gonna check your
credentials.
The fact that you took the timeto do that, you're not trying to
screw them over.
I mean, like you'reintentionally in this group,
they're gonna listen to you,like, oh great, this guy's got
something to offer.
This is great.
Nobody's gonna go double checkand see like where your last
gallery opening was, or what Imean, like what if you have a
MFA from somewhere.
Nobody's looking at that.
SPEAKER_03 (52:50):
They don't care.
All they want is the answer orthe to this, it's to solve the
problem that they were upagainst or the resource that
they were looking for.
unknown (52:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (52:59):
Yeah.
Oh, I love that.
I think you should keep I shouldyou should keep doing art and
you should start teaching art.
I'll take a class.
SPEAKER_03 (53:05):
I'm I'm considering it.
I'm not sure what that's gonnalook like, but I'm also kind of
thinking about something thatlooks a little bit like art
therapy, except it would be morelike art coaching, because I'm a
coach, not a therapist.
Big difference.
SPEAKER_01 (53:19):
So it's good that you know that too.
SPEAKER_03 (53:22):
Yeah, yeah, yes, it is.
Uh Amanda, what's next for you?
SPEAKER_01 (53:28):
Well, I did get a roasted chicken at the store
last night, so I'm probablygonna eat that for lunch.
Um, so specifically that and alittle bag salad, you know, try
to keep it light beforeThanksgiving.
So that's specifically what isnext.
SPEAKER_03 (53:42):
You are too funny.
SPEAKER_01 (53:43):
Um, sorry, that was easy.
That was an easy one.
Uh you know, um, I'm gonna keepkind of trucking along with what
I'm doing.
I love the speaking and thetraining that I'm doing.
Um, I'm starting to work on alittle writing project with a
couple of people that I justadore, and uh I think it's gonna
(54:04):
be really fun.
So hopefully something will uhcome to fruition.
We're gonna work on a uh, we'retrying to write a pilot for a
show, you know.
Um, and I've written a couple ofthose, and those are really fun
to do.
So I'm excited to do that.
Um yeah, I've been working onlike it creatively, like I love
to mix things up at the house alot.
So um I saw this meme on likemaybe it's like Instagram or
(54:26):
TikTok or something that said,What is it about women that wake
up on a Saturday morning anddecide they have to completely
remodel the kitchen by the endof the day?
Uh and that is me.
So um I'm always like movingthings around and trying to
create and just like make thespace a fun place to be.
So um, yeah, those are thethings I'm doing, you know.
I'm on, I'm gonna sell somehomes, um, which is, you know,
(54:47):
it's a fun thing to do, but Ialso really love design and
architecture and um finding agem for somebody that really
makes sense for them.
So, like that's that's a reallyfun process for me because I
it's not just about thetransaction of the buying and
the selling of the home.
Like, I truly do love homes andarchitecture.
SPEAKER_03 (55:04):
So um yeah, you you are on it.
I mean, all the things thatyou've done and all the things
you're doing, and it's just likefocus and go.
It's like wow.
SPEAKER_01 (55:17):
Yeah, but I also just like fell asleep on the
couch last night with some winewatching old episodes of the
West Wing.
So, you know, like it's gonna itcomes and goes.
Yes.
Yeah, it comes and goes.
Yeah, and then my sister-in-lawand I, we and I never really
talk about it.
I do it on my Instagram, but Inever talk about it like on
LinkedIn or anything.
We have a podcast and it'swildly inappropriate, but we
watch television shows and wekind of recap them, but more
(55:39):
just sort of like review them.
And so she is um also acomedian, and so we have a lot
of fun, and she lives inPennsylvania, so it's a great
way for us to continue toconnect.
So we're gonna figure out kindof what's next for that.
But we've been doing it for acouple of years, it's really
fun, and we just, you know, werecapped the entire series of
suits, the television show Suitsthat was out 10 years ago and
(56:02):
they kind of had a resurgence.
And then once Suits was we weredone recapping that, we've been
watching all kinds of stuff.
So um, she got me watching theKim Kardashian show, All's Fair.
Also, we watched that.
I mean, we watched the diplomat.
It's all it's all really fun,and I love it's hard for me to
watch television and filmwithout looking at like the
formatting and the story and thecinematography beyond just for
(56:24):
pure enjoyment.
But um, we have a lot of fundoing that.
So, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (56:28):
Do you realize how much you and Dwight have in
common?
SPEAKER_01 (56:32):
I guess not.
Do are we the same person,Dwight?
SPEAKER_03 (56:35):
Oh my gosh, he he has how many calendars do you
have that are all synced?
SPEAKER_00 (56:40):
Uh yeah, I I I have the the nightmare of juggling
calendars, and it's uh I missedI've missed a couple of things
because of it.
SPEAKER_01 (56:49):
You gotta be careful.
SPEAKER_03 (56:50):
Yeah, it's that is kind of a real fear for me.
I mean, he maps out everythingin advance, and and he gets a
little pissy if I move hischeese.
SPEAKER_01 (57:00):
Rightfully so.
I'd be pissy too.
What kind of cheese is it you'removing?
Because depends on what kind ofcheese, because I love cheese.
SPEAKER_03 (57:09):
I love cheese too.
He's vegan, he does not lovecheese, but if you move his
cheese, if you move his cheese,then he's unhappy.
SPEAKER_01 (57:15):
He all of a sudden decides he likes it and he's
into dairy again.
Okay, I get it.
SPEAKER_00 (57:21):
Well, um, and you you know, you you don't have to
to be so um uh I don't know, onthe hush.
Like only show fans is the nameof that podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (57:32):
It is, yeah, it's called Only Show Fans.
Um, because it was Only SuitsFans is what because we were
were capping suits, and we justthought it'd be funny because
OnlyFans has such a you know,it's out in the world.
And it when you Google Only Showfans, it's just a bunch of
OnlyFans stuff that comes up.
So we think that that's funnyanyways.
(57:54):
And so um, you know, it was alittle bit of it originally.
The idea was like only and thenshow fans, um, so that you
couldn't see it.
But um, yeah, it's just funny.
But we yeah, we talk aboutshows, it's silly.
Um, but we have fun doing it.
It's not one of those thingswhere like that's my business or
anything, it's just a funcreative outlet, and we enjoy
(58:14):
doing it.
The the editing is so awful todo, and sometimes our audio
sounds great, and sometimes itsounds like you know, a
two-year-old was putting ittogether the audio.
So, but we we still have fundoing it, and that's you know,
it doesn't all have to be abusiness or perfect.
It can, you know, it's always aprocess, in my opinion.
Yep.
At the end of the day, it'swhatever brings you joy.
(58:35):
Yeah, and people are like, Whyare you doing that?
I'm like, Because it's fun,because we can I like I can, I
like TV, I love mysister-in-law, it's fun.
We have fun doing it.
Perfect when we don't have fundoing it or it becomes too much
of a burden, we won't do itanymore.
Turns out there's a lot of TV towatch, so um, we're having fun
doing it, and there and therewill only be more.
(58:55):
There'll only be more.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (58:58):
This has simply been delightful.
SPEAKER_01 (59:00):
This has been so great.
Thank you guys for improvisingwith me.
That was really fun.
Yeah, and I'm glad that you gotto learn about a brisk today.
SPEAKER_03 (59:10):
I'm forever changed.
SPEAKER_01 (59:12):
You are.
You're gonna remember.
Here's the thing.
Now it's like whenever you learna new word or you're not
shopping for a red car, and thenall of a sudden there's 20 red
cars on the road everywhere yougo.
The word brisk is gonna come upa lot for you.
SPEAKER_03 (59:25):
Oh, yeah.
Yes, absolutely.
Every time somebody says, Wow,it's kind of brisk out here, I'm
gonna burst into laughter andthey're not gonna know why.
SPEAKER_01 (59:33):
Like that word means more than just one word, that
more than one thing.
You gotta be careful with it.
SPEAKER_00 (59:37):
So well, this has been a delight.
SPEAKER_01 (59:42):
Y'all are a delight.
Thank you.
This has been, I was alreadylooking, I was like, this is
gonna be the highlight of myweek.
And I'm so I wanted to get it ona week where I didn't have a
ton, you know, like othercommitments because I wanted to
just sit down and chat and havefun with you guys.
And I did.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (59:57):
Thank you, thank you, Amanda.
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