Improvisation Is Not a Strategy

(Sunday Blooming Reading – May 25th)

Improvisation is the name we give to creativity under pressure.
It’s the emergency exit.
The parachute.
The jazz solo when the sheet music blows off the stage.

And yes—improvisation is a blessing.
But only when all else has failed.
Only when the planned path caves in and you need a wild, last-minute bridge to cross the gap.

Improvisation is not a method.
It’s a reflex.
A beautiful one—but also a dangerous one when mistaken for a plan.

Because the myth is seductive: that ideas “come” to us, from somewhere, somehow, and that some people have the rare gift of catching them on demand.

So they wait.
And when the moment hits, they call it improvisation.

But let’s be clear:
Improvisation isn’t divine.
It isn’t magic.
It’s what happens when trained minds meet unpredictable moments.

If you build your creative process entirely on improvisation, what you’re really building is a belief system where preparation, growth, and practice are irrelevant.
And that’s a dangerous way to treat your talent.

On the other hand—
those who improvise only when there’s no other option,
those who turn to it when all else fails,
those who treat improvisation as the last card—
they are the ones who understand creativity as craft.
As a muscle.
As something woven thread by thread, not plucked out of nowhere.

They don’t wait for ideas.
They build the conditions for ideas.

Improvisation, in its right place, is brilliant.
It saves the moment, shocks the system, creates something fresh when the expected fails.
But if you lean on it constantly—
if your only move is “winging it”—
you’re not crafting creativity.
You’re just gambling with it.

Blithe Ernst