The Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance

There’s a handy piece of technology that will double the speed of your skill mastery, and it costs less than a dollar. It’s called a training journal. A training journal is a place to capture ideas and track your progress.

The journal should be small because you’re more likely to use it if it’s in your pocket instead of across the room. 3x5 notebooks with the binding at the top work well because they slip easily into the pocket. It’s a good idea to put your name on the front cover because, if you leave it someplace, it’s easier for people to know to whom it should be returned.

A training journal is comprised of two sections—training notes and support pages.

Training notes

In the front of the journal, keep notes on your training sessions. Write on the front side of the pages. It makes it easier to scan through the notes when reviewing your writing. Writing the date at the top of each page also makes it easier to find specific notes later on.

Here are the three kinds of training notes that are useful.

Tools and challenges – When you learn a new tool, write it down. The physical act of writing helps lock in the concept. If you have trouble with a skill, write that down too. It moves the struggle out of your head an onto the page, making it easier to address. Tag your notes with icons to make them easy to spot—stars for tools and question marks for challenges. When you find a solution, add that information and change the question mark to an exclamation mark.

Feedback – When receiving a note (or giving a note to yourself) write it down. This allows you to reflect on feedback when you’re not in the middle of it all. It’s also a good practice to write down notes that you disagree with. It sets aside the ego and keeps you from debating or defending your actions.

Three-sentence journal – At the end of each training session, reflect on what happened. Summarize the highlights in a journal entry that is limited to three sentences. This makes you focus on what was most important and keeps the task of writing brief and doable. Three-sentence journal entries are also easier to digest when you’re reviewing your overall progress.

Support pages

Support pages are another good use for your journal. These are lists and logs that are helpful when training. The place for support pages is in the back of the journal. Here are some common types of support pages.

Warm-ups – Keep a list of the exercises you do for your internal prep and warm-ups. It’s easier to get started when you don’t have to figure out what to do. Follow the list and you’re ready to go.

Scores – It’s easier to stay motivated when you can track your progress numerically. Drills can be measured by the number of repetitions you do. For example, you could track the number of words you generate when doing the Random access drill. You can also do qualitative measurement using a five-point scale, with five being very hard and one being very easy. If doing the Follow every offer exercise is kind of hard, it might be a 4. Measuring progress with scores makes it easier to see your progress over time. Create a scores page for each drill or exercise that you want to track.

Expansion lists – Expansion lists are like training wheels for improvisers. They help you break out of your default impulses and expand your repertoire. Whether you’re stuck for ideas or always going to the same ones, an expansion list can help. If you’re always calling characters John or Mary, make an expansion list of names. If you frequently start a scene by pouring a drink, make an expansion list of actions. Whatever the rut you find yourself in, make a list of alternative options. Then, before you play, pick something from the list to use in the scene. As new options become second-nature, your repertoire expands.

Another use of an expansion list is to help you get unstuck. If you don’t start scenes because you can’t come up with an idea, make an expansion list of premises.

A word of warning, though. Don’t always rely on expansion lists. From time to time, make yourself “play from nothing” or the training wheels can become a crutch.

Skill quest – When you have a skill that you want to get better at, create a skill quest. Write the skill at the top of a page. At each training session, jot down the date on the skill quest page. Set your aim by closing your eyes and imagining yourself doing the skill well. During warm-ups, include a drill that works the skill. When you do exercises and scene work, glance at the skill quest page before you play, and then forget about it. After the exercise or scene, consider whether the skill showed up. If it did, add a tick mark beside the date on the skill quest page. At the end of a training session, count up the tick marks. If there are three or more, you get a gold foil star on the skill quest page. When you’ve earned five stars, the quest is accomplished. This reward system may seem juvenile, but it’s surprising how motivating those shiny gold stars can be.

I don’t recommend taking notes on your phone. There’s a practical reason. Digital text only records words. Handwriting records both words and feelings. How you feel when you write is captured in your penmanship. Also, the physical location of notes on the page helps anchor concepts in the memory. To make handwritten notes easily searchable, you can always digitize them with a free transcription app. (See the entry, Transcription tools.) Given all of these considerations, if you still prefer to take notes on your phone, by all means do. Digital notes are better than no notes at all.