In this motivational monologue, the speaker opens with a light‑hearted greeting about the energy of Friday and mentions recent speaking engagements. He recounts a spontaneous encounter in a Starbucks parking lot where a woman panics after misplacing her car keys. By offering calm assistance, he helps her locate the keys, which leads to her relief and gratitude. The experience triggers the speaker to reflect on an improvisation principle from his book: the goal of an improv partner is to make the other look brilliant. He expands this idea into a broader mindset—shifting focus from what one can receive to what one can give, supporting others’ ideas, and looking for collaborative opportunities. He concludes with a weekend challenge, urging listeners to actively seek ways to help and uplift people, even those with opposing political views, as a concrete way to practice this ‘moment of yes.’
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your Moment of Yes for Friday, October 2nd. There's something about Friday, right? Friday puts you into just— there's a different energy, a different spirit, puts you into a better mood. Even though poor Shepherd, gotta take him to the dentist this morning. It's not what you wanna do on Friday. No offense, Lori. But yeah, here is your Moment of Yes for today. I've done a few different talks this week. One was a corporate event yesterday. These are online events, but a corporate talk yesterday. I got a chance to speak to some athletes the other day. And then I had an experience. I was in the parking lot a few days ago at Starbucks, shocker. And as I was getting out of the car, I could see a woman and she kind of like pulled out of her parking spot and was starting to leave. And then she Stopped and she got out of her car and she had this look of panic on her face. And so I'm like, uh-oh. Like, and so she's kind of like looking around the parking lot. She had this panic look. And so I got out of my car, you know, wearing the mask and everything, and I'm like, are you okay? And she looks at me and I can't tell, like, is she gonna cry? Is it laughter? Like, what is it? And, and she, she's kind of frantic and she's like, I was just standing here talking to a friend and I, I dropped my keys I thought I dropped them into my bag. Now I'm in the car, I can't find the keys. I'm like, well, I mean, if, you know, you're— if the car started, then, you know, it's probably in the car. And, and she's like, yeah, but I started the car when I was standing here. And so she was just kind of freaking out. And so I'm looking around with her, and, and then she, she went— she— we were looking where she wasn't. And so she went and she found her keys. They were a couple of spots over from where we were. And she was super relieved and said, "This is my daughter's car," and you know, you know. So she was just kind of there was other things that she was freaking out about beyond just losing her keys. But it was a simple, you know, obviously simple gesture, simple simple act on my end, just to help someone who was clearly in need. But you know, she was super appreciative and gracious, and you know, almost sort of like surprised that. someone was willing to help her, which is, you know, that's what most of us would do. And so the, you know, again, the idea that came to me after that experience was the improv principle that, that's obviously it's in my book, but it's the improv principle that, that exists in improvisation, which is, you know, your goal is to make your partner look brilliant, right? Your goal is to make your teammate look good. And so it's, it's, it's, it's having that intention, that mindset of what can I do to make someone else look good today? Yeah. What can I do to have somebody's back? What can I do to support someone else's idea? And when we approach things that way, it completely shifts our perspective from what can I get from someone or something today compared to how can I support someone? What can I give to them? And so now we're looking for opportunities to collaborate. We're looking for opportunities to support instead of looking for opportunities To be the receiver, which is fine. We should be open to receptivity. But as we're looking to give, we actually end up usually receiving more. So that's your moment of yes for today. As we move into the weekend, what can you do to look for opportunities to help others, make them look good, make them feel good, support them, whatever that looks like for you? And that might just mean walking around the neighborhood, and every time you see a political sign, of someone that you disagree with, loving them and supporting them instead of condemning them. That's what I'm going to do this weekend. That's your moment of yes. Have a great day, everybody.
