3 Things You Learned in High School Can Help Land Your Dream Job

If you’ve ever done any kind of theatre class in your life (high school on up), you’ll have a basic understanding of how to breathe and speak using your diaphragm, how to play the “Yes, and” improv game and what it’s like to play a character in a costume.

And you’ve likely never thought about that stuff beyond your high school play. Right?

But you should!

Theatre Games For Life?

In addition to being a speaking, visibility and confidence coach, I’m also a teacher at St. Lawrence College, and I teach a course called Acting For Real Life. It uses theatre training to show you how to navigate real life situations. Breath work and meditation to stay calm; Alexander Technique to develop a strong physical presence; Improv to build listening skills and help figure out conflict management. For almost every step of theatrical training, there are real life uses. Let’s talk about 3 of them!

Diaphragmatic Breathing

I talk ad nauseum about the invaluable powers of controlled breathing. (And I go into great detail about it in my free speaking guide.) I even created a gif that you can use in any situation when you want to calm down. This deep breathing into your diaphragm also supports a strong and resonant voice by deepening your breath capacity and giving you literal breath power.

A great place to use these 2 powerhouse tools is at a job interview. Practise controlled breathing while you’re waiting to take the meeting, and use your resonant voice to answer your questions. You’ll be much calmer, and your voice will indicate confidence and control.

(FYI I have a 100% success rate for clients getting 2nd interviews - send me an email if you’ve got a job interview coming up and you want to nail it!)

Yes… and?

The beginning of all Improv training begins with the “Yes, and” exercise. Two people get up and Person A begins the story with some kind of statement (“What a nice day!”). Person B “catches” the statement (Yes) and adds to the story line (and…) (“Yes! And I hear the temperature is supposed to continue rising!”). This keeps the momentum moving forward, and each person is responsible for building upon the other person’s latest offering.

The “Yes, and” game is excellent practise for listening, thinking on your feet, and getting creative. These also happen to be great attributes at work. If there’s a job opening up and you want it, start to shapeshift the concept of the “Yes, and” in meetings, in conversations and during discussions to increase your visibility and let the Higher Ups know that you’re a fabulous employee.

Costumes? For Work?

Your Court Jester costume for King Lear may not be an obvious choice for getting your dream job, but let’s unpack the importance of costume, or, wardrobe.

If you tried to zip yourself into that thing on opening night, and get out to perform for the first time, you’d probably trip all over the place. Same goes for what you wear.

Don’t show up for your Zoom Performance Meeting wearing that new blazer you just bought on the weekend unless you’ve had a chance to test it out. What if the back rides up and makes you look like Quasimodo? That button down blouse you’ve been saving for a job interview looked great in the store, but if it opens up while you’re sitting down, that’s not something you want to discover at a job interview you worked so hard to get.

New heels? Definitely spend some time walking in them before trying them out at your quarterly work presentations.

Same goes for hair styles. If you’re going to try a new style before a presentation, make sure it doesn’t put hair in your face, or make you feel self conscious. You’d be amazed at how a couple of bobby pins can throw you off by just feeling “weird” on your head.

These are some simple, but incredibly handy tricks and tips for your toolbox.

——————————

So now that we’ve got the conversation going, what other high school theatre training can you translate into a real life situation? Let me know below, and maybe I’ll use it in my next class! (Just kidding. I have that 14 week course mapped out perfectly.)

——————————

Did you like this blog post? I have so many more! Look below to browse through the recent ones, or just click here to see ‘em all!