10/08/2026
I read the best book of my summer on a train.
We were in Europe with the family earlier this summer, and somewhere between London and Paris I opened a small book called Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up.
My friend Margalit Grunberger put it in my hands. She's read it more than once, she coaches founders and CEOs for a living, and when Margalit recommends something, I listen.
Now, we're a family of preparers. We'd planned that trip down to the hour. Color-coded outfits. Backup plans for the backup plan.
So a subtitle that says Don't Prepare felt like it was written about me personally.
I kept reading anyway.
It's by Patricia Ryan Madson, who taught drama at Stanford for three decades and started the Stanford Improvisors in 1991. Thirteen maxims. Say yes. Don't prepare. Just show up. Be average.
Be average. Written for a room full of Stanford students.
Here's what I found when I looked closer.
The book isn't really about comedy. Madson says she's standing on the shoulders of two incredible teachers.. One is Keith Johnstone, the improv teacher. The other is David K. Reynolds, an American psychologist who spent his career on two Japanese practices and built something called Constructive Living out of them.
She studied with Reynolds for ten years.
So those improv maxims have a psychology sitting underneath them. Accept how you actually feel. Know what you're here to do. Do what needs doing anyway.
Your feelings get a seat at the table. They don't get the steering wheel.
I've watched so many women sit on a finished offer for another quarter because they didn't feel ready.
Ready isn't a feeling that shows up and taps you on the shoulder. It's something you notice afterward, once you've already started.
This week's newsletter has the 6 steps I use with my coaching clients when they're waiting to feel ready.
Comment SHOWUP and I'll send you the worksheet that goes with it.
margalitmethod.co
