Recently, I spoke with Seth Barrish, an actor, director, teacher, and Co-Artistic Director of the Barrow Group. Seth’s teaching has influenced more than just my acting: his work has profoundly influenced my work as a communication coach and, perhaps most importantly, as a communicator. Seth uses techniques that seem to tease out truly human behavior in all its quirky glory. In my work with leaders, speakers, and communicators, I value the beauty of human imperfection and rely on the skills and techniques I learned in Seth’s class. Seth used the Conversation Exercise to help actors …Read on.

Recently, I had a fun and fruitful brainstorming session with a very creative friend. After the session, Mike emailed me:

“Kate, 

Such a delight and great help to get a dose of your perspective and creative energy…After our conversation I realized a big question that I forgot to ask you.  You seem driven and moved by creativity (I love that) -- what's creativity?  

Warm wishes, Mike”

My response:

“Hahahahahaha!

Good question.

Creativity: A generative process resulting from curiosity and play, and devoid of rules and expectations.”

I thought that was the end of the conversation, but no, Mike went further still:

“Great answer. If I can "inspire" a bit further, the bigger (practical) questions for me are how you turn it on and how you recognize you're not there yet. A million answers out in the world....What are yours -- for you -- and for other people you are helping? (Hope that's not too much inspiration!). Thank you!!”

To which I answered:

“Oh, my gosh! OK. So, John Cleese just wrote a book on creativity and I was lucky enough to be at the dinner with him after the talk…

I asked him just that--HOW do you make yourself creative? Was it working alone, at a certain time during the day, with certain people? He told a hilarious story about using the Thesaurus with Graham Chapman to find silly words like “plummet,” which led, of course to sheep plummeting, but really had no prescription.*

However, this is what I would say I need:” Read on…

Are you afraid of public speaking? Do you become self-conscious in front of a group or the camera? Most of us, even professional actors, feel the same way. But actors have a simple technique taken from the great Stanislavski that reminds us to ask, What am I here To Do?

You can never force yourself to BE anything (“be happy,” “be charismatic,” “be present”). It is a fool’s errand to think that we can control our state of being by just willing it. Rather than “being calm,” we can take a breath. Rather than “being curious,” we ask a question.

This week, we play with actions and intentions. When you find yourself facing a difficult conversation, a presentation, or simply avoiding the boredom of another Zoom meeting, ask yourself, “What do I want to do?” Give yourself an action. To engage. To entice. To lift up. To spark. To give. To understand. To share.

Read the full post with examples of actions at work.

“Play is the continuous evidence of creativity, which means aliveness.” —D.W. Winnicott

This week, I invite you to nurture your own sense of aliveness by consciously bringing play into your daily life.