We all know the best moments are the unscripted.

The ones where we (or perhaps someone we aspire to be more like) breaks the spell of predictability and injects a spark of vitality into our ennui.

It’s a thrill to break script.

Even a small moment of deviation reinvigorates us, a reminder of what it means to be truly alive.

So why do we still spend so much time reading from it?

Why do we find it so difficult to break with how we’re supposed to speak, work, create and live, and instead do what the moment truly needs from us?

There’s almost always more than one right line.

More than one way to say what it is we’re striving to say. To create the change we’re seeking to make.

The script wasn’t written for us, after all.

It was written for someone seeking simply to fill a role.

To play a part that has been played by many who’ve come before, and will be played by many still to come.

At its worst, the script defines and dominates our lives. Producing a drone, that, no matter how lively, energetic, or emotional, will never break new ground.

We might captivate audiences, but we’ll never create real change.

At its best, the script gives us a framework. A tool to build tension, and get us into a position to do something unexpected.

Even magical, perhaps.

A zig at just the right moment, when everyone was expecting a zag.

They’ve seen this play out before, after all.

Breaking script requires courage, confidence, timing, and a keen eye for recognizing an opportunity, when the moment is asking for something more than what is scripted, and then delivering it.

In the end, it’s the unscripted moments that make a performance remarkable.

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