Make The Bold Choice!

When your plan gets derailed, you need time to catch your breath and get your bearings. But once you do, it’s the perfect moment to make a bold choice that ushers you into the next chapter.

Now What? – Practice 10: Make Bold Choices

This article is part of a 12-part series on improv lessons for life.

So far, we’ve looked at the power of being present, measured, accepting reality, playing the scene you’ve been given, and even seeing mistakes as gifts. But now we come to a big one.

Because once you’ve done all that groundwork, it’s time to make a bold choice.

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Bold Choices on Stage

The best improv scenes—the ones people remember long after the show is over—are the ones where someone made a big choice.

Sure, safe choices keep a scene alive. But bold choices make it soar.

And it’s the same in life.

When your plan gets derailed, you need time to catch your breath and get your bearings. But once you do, it’s the perfect moment to make a bold choice that ushers you into the next chapter.

Here’s the irony: what often holds us back from bold choices is the very thing we’ve just lost—our plan. We think, I can’t risk it, I need to stay safe.

But if the old plan is gone, what’s holding you back now?

My own life has been shaped again and again by bold choices—walking away from a steady career in ministry to pursue improv, leaving the stage to launch a film company, or stepping down from a CEO role to start Called For Adventure. None of those choices were safe. But each of them opened up the next chapter of my story.

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Bold Choices in Life

Bold choices in improv create memorable moments. Bold choices in life create defining ones.

Of course, bold choices in life carry consequences. You shouldn’t make them lightly. They deserve thought, discernment, and wisdom. But here’s the danger: we can overthink forever. We can get stuck in “safe” when the moment is actually calling for “bold.”

So how do we know when it’s time?

For me, one thing ultimately guides bold choices: your vision story.

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Vision Stories

I’ve had vision issues for as long as I can remember. Literally.

When I was about seven, I kept seeing “bugs” swarming around the house. Gnats everywhere. I’d point them out, but no one else could see them. I thought maybe I was crazy.

Then I went to the eye doctor.

The moment the glasses went on, the bugs disappeared. The world was clear in a way I hadn’t even known was possible.

Turns out, I wasn’t crazy. Just near-sighted. And I’ve lived with that reality ever since.

But here’s the point: vision is everything.

Without a clear vision, you wander confused and uncertain. With vision, the path sharpens.

I’m not talking about mission statements or goal lists. Those are fine, but a vision is different.

A vision is a story.

Your vision is the future story you tell about yourself.

The only reason you’re reading these words on this platform right now is because I once took the time to do visioning work. I could see this future story—and I stepped into it.

Here’s my hypothesis after years of doing this work with people in workshops and coaching:

• Your origin story (where you’ve come from) shapes your calling.

• Your vision story (where you’re going) shapes your next chapter.

When you clarify your vision story, you unlock the courage to make bold choices now.

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A Word of Hope

Maybe you’re standing at a crossroads. Maybe life’s script has fallen apart and you feel stuck.

This is your moment to look forward. To paint a vision of where you want to be.

And then—make a bold choice that moves you toward it.

Not because it’s safe. Not because you know how it will end. But because bold choices, guided by vision, are what carry us into the stories worth living.