Hello improvisers!

I made two guides (totalling over 50 pages!) about giving and receiving notes in improv, and I think they might be the most useful things I've put out yet.

The first one is for students. It covers why notes are so hard to process, what your brain is actually doing when you receive feedback after a scene, and what to do about it. There are frameworks for separating the useful information from the emotional noise, strategies for both during class and after, a section specifically for neurodivergent brains, and worksheets you can use after every session to track your notes and your patterns over time.

The second one is for teachers and coaches, and I think this one fills a gap that I genuinely haven't seen anyone else fill. It covers what's happening inside your students' brains during notes that you can't see from the outside. The double empathy problem (which might reframe some confusing interactions you've had in your classroom), rejection sensitivity, processing delays, literal processing, alexithymia (which affects how about 10% of your students handle any exercise or note involving emotions), and practical adjustments you can make to how you deliver notes and structure your sessions.

If you teach or coach improv, you have neurodivergent students. You have students with ADHD, students with trauma histories, students who process feedback in ways that can seem confusing or frustrating when you don't have the context for what's happening. This guide gives you that context, along with direct, simple strategies that will make your notes be heard better for every student in the room.

Both guides are professionally laid out with hand-drawn illustrations throughout (by me, so, you know, manage your expectations for fine art). They're available separately, or you can grab both at a discount on either page.

For the next two weeks, newsletter subscribers (you!) can use the discount below to get 15% off for the next two weeks. You can also get $5 off a second guide if you grab them both together (offered when you click a button below). First time I've used some of these features, so let me know if you have any issues!

$10.00 $8.50 Processing Notes: A guide and workbook for improv students In the guide: Understand how notes work, why they're hard, and what your brain is actually doing when you receive them.... Read more Get it now!

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$10.00 $8.50 Notes They Can Actually Hear: Guide for Improv Teachers This 27-page guide is about what's happening inside your students' brains during notes that you can't see from the... Read more Get it now!

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New episode! Why lying to your brain doesn't always work

I heard this thing on a clip from the olympics: "I'm an evidence person, not an affirmations person" and I was like "damn, that's why I really dislike the phrase you got this. And a lot of other phrases in that general category of phrase.

Not a strong dislike-dislike... and I understand why many use them socially and like them... but I think it's because they always felt inaccurate, or got me all in my head. I have said this kinda thing too though! Probably many times!

But it always felt off to me whatever side of the phrase I was on, and when I heard that thing about evidence vs affirmations it made a lot of sense what was going on there. And I was pretty sure at that point I could apply it to improv (after all, that's the activity where I heard or used it the most myself).... hence, this weeks episode.

So who I heard say that quote: Eileen Gu. A few of her recent interviews are the inspiration for a short series of videos about metacognition in improv (thinking about thinking). One of the things she said is that her confidence before competition comes from the specific preparation she's done. The hours and the reps and breaking things down technically and stuff like that. Because of this, her brain trusts what she's actually executed, and she draws from that archive when she's under pressure on a world stage.

So it stuck out, her explanation, because my brain basically does the same analytical metacognition-y thing. If I tell myself "I got this," my brain immediately starts listing reasons I might not. A lot of 'em, with footnotes. And now I'm arguing with myself, all in-my-head style, instead of doing the thing I was trying to feel confident about. That dishonesty creates more tension, and tension is the last thing I need when I'm trying to perform and actually, you know, record a show.

Is this you too? It's not all of us I know, but I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one here who is into... being very literal about phrases.

This is common in autistic and ADHD brains. The pattern-matching and inconsistency-detection runs STRONG. So when an affirmation isn't backed by anything real, your brain flags it with a big ol red flag. And your confidence can actually drop further than if you'd never said the affirmation at all.

Evidence-based confidence is the topic of this weeks episode. It works differently that affirmations or manifestations because it gives the analytical brains out there something to verify.

This week's episode of Your Improv Brain applies this to improv practice with specific exercises, but honestly the concept works everywhere. Start building up that archive, friends.

Read the article for this episode that contains a few more details, or leave a comment there and create (or join!?!!) a discussion. Or view the YouTube video version, already a conversation going in the comments there! https://improvupdate.com/why-just-be-confident-doesnt-work-and-what-to-do-instead/​

-- Jen.

Watch or listen

You can watch the video for this episode, or listen to the podcast (they're slightly different, I record them separately).

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