Travis Thomas uses improv exercises to teach his philosophy that "the answer to how is yes." He puts a volunteer on the spot to speak about topics he knows nothing about, showing how saying yes and staying present unlock creativity and leadership. Fear and over-analysis kill dreams.
Trust is not taking that next step when you know what's going to happen. That's not trust. Trust is taking that next step and you have no idea what's going to happen. I need a volunteer, preferably someone I don't know. All right, I need a volunteer. Yeah, do I know you?
No.
Come on out, man. All right, what's your name, bud?
Ryan.
Ryan. Ryan, I think I've maybe seen you years past. Go ahead and take the mic, Ryan. Ryan, come on over. Come on over. So trust, total trust. So Ryan, here's what we're going to do. Ryan, tell me something that you know absolutely nothing about besides girls. What is something you know nothing— I'm kidding. You're a good-looking man. I don't think that's true. It doesn't matter who you were, I was going to make that joke. All right, something you know absolutely nothing about.
Ancient Vietnamese culture.
You don't know anything?
Absolutely nothing.
All right.
1, 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 1, 1, 1.
Woo!
Yes! You can sit now, right? Who of you is not awake now, right? It totally works. So, No one has ever created anything innovative or have broken through anything by going, how? How are we going to do that? The answer to how is yes. Yes, we're going to do it, and I'm going to take the next step in that direction. The beautiful thing about improvisation is that it keeps you in the present moment. The answer to how is yes, and what I've been using for myself personally to keep me in the present moment, the answer to now is yes. The answer— if you want to bring yourself back to the present moment, the answer to now Is yes. Nothing happens until someone says yes. Because when we try to be authentic, stuff shows up and it goes, no, don't go there, right? And we like— we don't like to look at it, so we go over here. I'm gonna go over here. I don't want to look at it. What happens when you get out of your comfort zone and you look at the stuff that's preventing you from being the person that you want to be, not what you want to do? And that can be scary, but it can be fun. So I tried to create a program that's fun, and as a result, I've gotten to meet all these wonderful people.
There's 2 things that I deeply cherish about Travis in my time that I've spent with him. One is that he looks below the surface of things, the appearance of things, into the reality of spiritual reality. And the second is that he taught me that I could be a much better leader, an effective leader, if I would make sure that I gave Those around me a voice in the decision-making process.
I probably haven't said it in a while, but you are awesome. You are beautiful. Hello, everyone. Welcome. My name is Travis Thomas. I am so excited to be back here in the Optimal Living Academy for Entheos once again. It's just— it's such a pleasure to be such a part of this site and a part of so many amazing people. Thank you for actually having the courage to click on a link that talks about goo. What is it in your heart, in your truth, in your yes, in your authenticity that you want to do and be? But fear's holding you back. Leap and the net will appear. Or said otherwise, the answer to how is yes. How am I going to do that? Don't say how, say yes. How am I going to get there? How am I going to do that? How am I going to accomplish that? Hows have killed millions and millions of dreams worldwide, and it's killing them right now. It's not just good enough to be in a bad experience and go, this sucks. All right, can't wait for it to be over. If that is our mindset, we're not going to learn a thing. And guess what? It's going to repeat itself because we haven't learned our lesson. It's just a cycle. If you learn from it, you grow out of it. If you don't learn from it, guess what? It's going to find you again. And that it is going to find you again, it's just that your growth opportunity is going to find you again. For these next 60 seconds, you are going to be the ancient Vietnamese culture expert. So no matter what you say, no matter what you say, I got it, right? You cannot screw up. You cannot make a single mistake. I want you to say the first thing that pops in your head no matter what I ask you. Don't say I don't know. You say something.
Okay.
All right, you roll with it. There are no mistakes.
Okay.
All right, welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. So good to be here. At the commercial break, we've got our next guest. Just flew in, uh, just flew in from Vietnam, and, uh, we're blessed to have— he is the expert on Vietnamese culture. His name is Ryan. Ryan, you just wrote a new book on Vietnamese culture. Tell everyone the title of that book.
Ender's Game.
Ender's Game. Ender's Game. Now I understand there's some copyright issues right now. That you're working through.
I wrote it first.
You wrote—
and you wrote it, you wrote it because it's a reflection of Vietnamese culture. How, how is that a reflection of Vietnamese culture?
Because the Vietnamese people were very technologically advanced.
Yes, yes, with the rice paddies and the— they were so technologically advanced. And by living in Vietnam all those years, you found You found one key to their culture, which is—
Flags.
Flags. It's all about the flags. And there's something about the flags that connects everyone to each other. What is it?
The patterns.
The patterns. You discovered that there's a, there's a pattern to life, just like there's a pattern to the flags. And, and, and now you're, you're getting ready to go on this world tour, and you're going to teach people. You're going to Teach him what?
Why Ender's Game is the greatest book in the history of ever.
In the history of ever. Not ever, of ever, which is a country right next to Vietnam.
Yes, it is.
Yes. All right, thanks, Ryan. Good job, buddy.
