How to Stay Flexible: An Exercise

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday where travel plans, cooking plans, and being with extended family may require some social, physical, and mental flexibility, here is a fun creativity game you can play solo or with a group. "Design this" - https://protobot.org/#en

Take 3-4 minutes. Generate an idea from the website. "Design a business card that is very fragile," was just generated for me. Challenge yourself (or your group) to brainstorm a few different ways to achieve this goal/outcome and then narrow it down to one that feels like it has the most juice. Imagine the end user, think about them, why would they need this, who are they? Come up with an ad campaign for the product - a slogan, an image, a spokesperson, even a jingle). Everything is game. Say yes to your own ideas. Be playful and have fun. Above all, make yourself laugh with how silly, how delightfully impossible yet entirely creative your product is.

Some debrief questions: How do you feel about the process? What did you notice? What was different or challenging? What would you do differently? What did you learn about yourself? How did you feel creating something completely new?

*I learned about the Protobot.org website and improv game from an incredible facilitator Jude Treder-Wolff. Follow her from more excellent content on the intersection between applied improv & psychology.