Winging It Darth Vader Style

Have you ever just made things up as you went along? As a new parent with a two year old I feel like I do this all the time. Its not like my wife and I don't have a plan: we have done our best to prepare. We just didn't realize that we needed a family policy against shoving Goldfish crackers down one's pants. Our adorable daughter continues to instruct us with the finer points of parenting. In the mean time we prepare; and after we prepare we improvise  Improvisation is a natural part of life: you cant be ready for everything. But there are some things you have better figure out before they force you to make a foolish decision. Sometimes when we wing it things turn out OK. Take Star Wars for example. Today I learned that they shot the movie before figuring out what Darth Vader was going to sound like. Check out the clip below and listen to the disaster that is take one.  

Fortunately, they figured something out. But what if George Lucas and company stuck with their first draft? What if they failed to improvise? The Star Wars series may have never become the giant that it is today. But you are not George Lucas and your are not making a movie. You are up to something far more important: your life! This is one area where you need to have a plan. Making decisions one step at a time often leads in many different unintended directions. You will never walk straight ahead when you are only looking at your feet! Grasping a firm direction and vision for your live is crucial. But you also need to be able to improvise.

Improvisation works when you know what trying to create. Listen to jazz. At times it may sound as if the artist has wondered so far off of the map that they will never be able to return. But they have a destination in mind and work within the broad boundaries of their song. This is good improvisation and it can often sound better than the original plan! Don't be afraid to improvise but make sure that you have an end result in mind before you do.