If you’re standing still while everyone else is moving forward, you’re not actually staying in place—you’re falling behind. It’s like keeping cash under the mattress. You think it’s safe, but between inflation and lack of interest, that money is actually losing value every single day.

The same thing happens when you don’t make a choice. You devalue your own position. And when you don’t choose, someone else eventually makes the choice for you. Even the people who love us—our parents, our teachers—don’t always make the choices that are best for us personally. You have to reclaim your agency.

1. Remove the Ego and Insecurity

When we finally decide to move, we have to check the ego at the door. Choices made from a place of insecurity are “safe” at best, and self-destructive at worst. If you’re basing your life on fear or anger, you aren’t looking at the facts. You’re just reacting. Poorly! Real growth happens when you remove that ego-shield and just look at what needs to be done.

2. The Balance

In Improv, our biggest tenant is making our team look amazing. When I’m on stage, I’m not worrying about my own “bit”—I’m focused on making you look like a star. And when everyone does that, the whole team wins.

It’s that logic from the Wrath of Khan (Star Trek 2) when Spock says, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Don’t go to the selfish choice first. Greed might give you a short-term win, but it alienates your “chosen family”—your coworkers, your neighbors, your community. Those are the people you need in your corner when things get real.

(sorry not sorry for 1980 references lol)

3. Service, Not Servitude

Now, people will tell you, “Walt, what about the lazy people? What about the ones who don’t pull their weight?”

Look, there’s always going to be someone not bringing their piece of the pie. But don’t get caught up in the one or two people who don’t reciprocate. Lead by example. Most people will follow that lead, and the ones who don’t? They’re replaceable.

I always say: Live a life of service, not servitude. I’ve met maybe three people in 53 years who were truly “criminal”—people who defrauded and sabotaged. You cut those people off. Period. Your psychological safety matters.

But for everyone else? Keep the door open for redemption. Suspend judgment. Most people are just incompetent or having a bad day; they aren’t out to get you. Give them the long rope—the space to fail, but also the space to come back into the circle.

The Bottom Line

Make the choice. If it’s a bad one, learn from it. If it’s a good one, repeat it. Get out from under the mattress and put your life to work. Stop worrying about being “safe” and start making your team (s) look amazing. The interest on that investment pays back the best in the long term.

Did you know we have weekly classes in Times Square NYC

• CLICK HERE to register for your first class using my discount code “Walter101”
• EMAIL me for private shows and workshops. We daily work with corporate teams and student groups!