Spontaneität Archive - This Moment Counts

The next note

“When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next one that makes it good or bad.” That’s how Miles Davis described his approach to dealing with the unforeseen.

And there’s not much to add.

Just this, perhaps: It’s often the wrong notes that lead us to explore paths we’d never discover if we strictly stick to the rules and only ever play the “right notes”.

Turns out that these paths — i.e. the ones that started “wrong” — are often much more interesting and rewarding than the “right” paths.

Be open to turning wrong notes into good ones when they happen accidentally.

And dare to explore them deliberately at times.

Have you done that? Would love to hear how you turned it around.

I’ll just improvise

A lot of people tend to think that improvising is about being super spontaneous. What gets easily overlooked is how much improvising has to do with being prepared to be spontaneous.

For example, the master improvisers in music don’t just walk on the stage and start playing what comes to their mind. Or, in fact, they do. But they do it after years of practising.

They have experimented a lot. Played a lot of wrong notes. Been surprised many times by an unexpected turn of their fellow band colleagues. Thought of a line that their fingers just couldn’t implement.

But kept trying. Experimenting. Playing.

And therefore they are able to react masterfully to every turn that their fellow musicians are taking while their hands are able to quickly play what their mind is thinking.

When you improvise unprepared you’re probably going to hit a couple of lucky goals. But you’re going to miss just as many. In essence, you’re leaving success to luck to a large degree.

(Which, by the way, is a comfortable place to be in for some because you can always put the blame on the fact that you haven’t actually prepared and were just winging it and if only you had prepared you of course would have performed better.)

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t start to improvise when you’re just starting out. It’s rather a motivation to dig deeper in order to become better at improvising.

How to become quick-witted

There’s a simple reason why quick-witted people are quick-witted. Wanna know it?

Well, because they often respond quickly. That’s basically it: Quite simply they have a lot of practice at being quick-witted. But here’s the nuance:

If they do it often enough, they’ll hit the mark often enough. And can learn from every hit. The laughter of the group confirms: Well done! More of this!

But it’s also true that these people don’t always hit the mark. On the contrary. Quite often they miss the target. Sometimes big time. It’s the mass that compensates for this. If you score enough hits, the missed shots don’t matter much. It’s not the many so-so comments that are remembered but the few bull’s-eyes.

Don’t aim for perfection, aim for quick

Quick-wittedness is one of those skills where perfection is completely counterproductive because the perfect opportunity has long passed while you’re still looking for the perfect answer. Quick to respond, quick to take the win, quick to move on if it wasn’t a hit.

The crucial thing is this: You can’t learn this in theory because it always requires spontaneity.

Spontaneity has to be practiced. If only because the nervousness of the first time needs to be overcome so that it doesn’t get into your way. If you rarely even try to be quick-witted, the problem is that each time will feel like the first time.

So, if you want to become more quick-witted, the next conversation is the best time to start. Let go of perfection, respond quickly, see what happens, and learn from it.

Beyond quick: the thoughtful response

Yet, allow me to ask one more question: Why do you actually want to become more quick-witted? Why do you feel you need to be quicker to respond?

Being quick-witted is one thing. But when the laughs have faded, and then the much more thoughtful comment comes from someone in the background … that comment often takes a conversation much deeper.

That’s why you might also want to consider this approach: Listen better, think deeper, share more generous thoughts – even if that takes a bit longer.

How much preparation you need …

Some experts seem to appear on TV all the time. Whenever something happens, these people pop up in TV shows to explain what happened.

It’s the kind of people who always seem to know what to say. Who understand quickly and answer eloquently. Who are clever, relaxed and quick-witted.

Science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of them. Yet, if you ask him how he became so quick-witted, his answer might surprise you:

You need to be 10x prepared in order to look like you didn’t have to prepare. – Neil deGrasse Tyson

So, yes, these people are smart. But probably the smartest aspect about their personality is that they prepare. That’s why they always know what to say. That’s why they are quick to answer. And that’s why they are so easy to work with for TV stations.

They don’t just wing it. So they don’t easily fail. TV stations can rely on them. Because they prepare. And, in essence, that’s why they are always on TV.

Posts in Tag: Spontaneität