Audio: Improvisation – End of the Day with Douglas E. Welch – Dog Days of Podcasting 2014 – 23/30

Audio: Trolls - End of the Day with Douglas E. Welch - Dog Days of Podcasting 2014 - 16/30

Improvisation – End of the Day with Douglas E. Welch – Dog Days of Podcasting 2014 – 23/30

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There are times I wish I had the precision of NASA as I launch into my week each Monday. I make lots of check lists and plans, but life is never something that respects plans greatly. There are too many unknowns in life to allow too much planning, so we come up with a few scenarios, a few goals and hope that circumstances go along with those plans.

As you might imagine, while circumstances and our plans sometimes match up, it is much more common for life to fly apart, go chaotic and make us improvise perhaps a bit more than we might like. This can be very stressful depending on the cause of the chaos and the results, but without these improvisational moments life would certainly be a lot more dull. We might not enjoy it much when we are in the middle of a crisis but in many cases it can make our life better — if we let it.

Playing music with Lorilyn

Life chaos requires the ability to let go of trying to control what you cannot and make the best of what you given. Fear and our own arrogance can often cause us to flail about and fight against what is happening, even if would be better for everyone involved to go with the flow. The ability to recognize chaotic moments and ride them out with style is definitely one trait you should look to cultivate. I can guarantee that it will do more good than all the authoritarian bluster you can manage.

Plan your life and your actions,of course, but then treat each day like a Jazz tune where all the musicians follow a basic track, but then are encouraged and challenged to make their own song in and around the basic framework the songwriter created. Life is often nothing but improvisation, so the more you cultivate it, the better off you will be.

More information on Douglas E. Welch and Careers in New Media:

Previously in the Dog Days of Podcasting 2014:

What is the Dog Days of Podcasting?

“Essentially, it is a challenge to do a podcast for 30 days in a row.

In 2012 Kreg Steppe was looking to give himself a little push in regards to recording his own personal podcast since he wasn’t recording it very often. That turned into a challenge for himself to record a show everyday for 30 days believing that after 30 days it would turn into a habit. Once it was mentioned to Chuck Tomasi he took the challenge too and they decided it would be a great idea to record starting 30 days before Dragon*Con, culminating with the last episode where they would record it together when they saw each other there.”

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