Improvisational Drama

Forgive the cliché, but “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players”. These words in ‘As You Like It’ portray life in the most theatrical way. Though Shakespeare was a maestro of scripted plays, I find his words make better sense in association with improvised theatre.
Interestingly enough, amongst all the courses I took during my undergraduate degree in Economics, the class that inspired me the most was one on Improvisational Drama. What started as an easy fulfillment of a degree requirement became the foundation that built my perspective towards the people around me. The crux of what I learnt in that class is best penned by Tina Fey in her book Bossypants, where she discusses the rules of improvisation that helped her succeed both on and off stage. These rules, which are ‘Agree’, ‘Yes and’, ‘Make statements’ and ‘There are no mistakes’ have helped me navigate my life, make decisions and eventually define me as an individual.
To ‘agree’ is to say yes. As an improviser, agree to your partners’ creations. Failing to do so prevents the scene to takeoff. In reality, no one ever agree with everything but this rule, at its heart, teaches you that in order to grow it is important to start with a

I associate this rule with how, poetically, failures in not getting what I want in my life has led me to truly get what I need. Graduating in 2009 we were labeled as a lost generation of the great recession. While I had a part time job and worked for my dad, it wasn’t until 3 years and two different continents later that I finally found a job that I loved. Those 3 years in search for meaningful work led me to learn coding, design, compile a team and the courage to start my own startup. Though this startup also failed, the skills I learnt from these disappointments continue to expand my knowledge and motivate me to build on more innovative ideas and