How to Ignite Improvisation, Adaptability and Learning with Travis Tomas | Episode 10

In this Cultivate Your Culture article, Zoran is joined by Travis Thomas, who is the Leadership and Team Dynamics Coach for the US Men’s National Soccer Team. Travis is a performance coach, speaker and author of the book “3 Words for Getting Unstuck: Live Yes, And.” He uses the principles of improvisation to teach mindset, collaboration, and culture, based on his 20+ years as a performer. Travis talks about how he has helped shift the culture on the national team, how improvisation can boost results and build adaptability, and how to use reflection to supercharge learning.

This article is the transcript of a podcast done regularly by Zoran Stojković. Listen to Cultivate Your Culture. Please excuse any transcript errors in this article.

Zoran Stojkovic: Hey, what’s going on and welcome to cultivate your culture. This show, this podcast is where we decode how leaders can create environments where their teams do their best work and flourish. Our guests are pioneers in team dynamics and culture from the worlds of business, military and sport. Hear them shares simple, straightforward techniques that you could use with your team to set up, evolve and measure culture. With over 92,000 hours spent working. Let’s focus on the relationships and the results will follow. I’m your host, Zoran Stojkovic. And I help people build habits and behaviors that unleash their inner greatness so that they can contribute positively to the world. Now, let’s get into today’s episode.

Travis Thomas: Yes, is acceptance, the and is the response. So therefore live Yes. And if all of life is an improvisation, I call living Yes. And it’s radical collaboration with reality.

Zoran Stojkovic: That’s Travis Thomas, performance coach, speaker and author of the book three words for getting unstuck live Yes. And Travis uses the principles of improvisation to teach mindset, collaboration and culture based on his 20 plus years as a performer. He is currently the leadership and team dynamics coach for the US Men’s National Soccer Team. Today, we’re going to hear from Travis on how improvisation relates to high performance and mindset, when and how to build reflection in to supercharge learning, and how improvisation can be used to build high performance cultures. Something that surprised me in this episode was a two on the spot improvisation activities Travis had me do to demonstrate how influential creativity and improvisation are on being present in the moment. Something that surprised me in this episode was the two on the spot improvise ation activities Travis had me do to demonstrate how influential creativity and improvisation are on being present in the moment. Leaders in all environments can use similar activities to create an innovative and collaborative culture. And that’s why I’m excited for you guys to hear from Travis and that’s coming up next. Travis, tell us something people don’t usually know about you.

Travis Thomas: So I’m a performance coach. So I focus on mindset, team dynamics, and culture. What a lot of people probably don’t know about me if they only know me as a performance coach. On the surface is the whole reason I got into performance coaching is because I got into improvisation and improvisational comedy. And so I grew up playing sports sports. My passion actually played soccer in college. But I got married right out of college. My wife, we actually just celebrated 25 years. Last month. Congratulations. Thank you. I mean, the gray hair is there. But yeah, we moved to Boston for jobs. And I’m a big comedy guy, I love comedy. We went to an improv theater in Boston. And I was blown away, right? I was just blown away at how talented these performers were. And I wanted to, I just want to know how they did it. You know, it’s like, you know, magic you want to know, like, someone take me behind the curtain. So I understand how the magician does it. And for me, like watching these performers, I’m like, That’s magic. How do you do that? So I called and they actually had a training center. And, you know, six levels of training, I’m like, I just want to take a class. So I took up, you know, an eight week class and just fell in love, I was hooked. And so like light bulbs were going off left and right in my head as far as the the implication of improv into all aspects of my life. And I just kind of kept advancing from next level to the next level. And by the time I was graduating, a year and a half later, from the training center, they were auditioning for another cast. And I made that. And then over the span of the next few years, I made my way up to the top cast. And was doing that. And you know, just getting the chance to perform three or four times in a weekend, you know, sold out shows and just like just the thrill of doing that. And then 2003, my wife and I we moved down to Florida as we were starting to have kids and I found two real talented guys in Florida when we start in a group back in 2004. And we could go we can half ago we performed and we celebrated our 17 year anniversary together performing together which again, is making me feel really old.

Zoran Stojkovic: Wow. It’s like the month of anniversaries.

Travis Thomas: It is. And so all of that to say during that time about 2005 I was working for a website. Everyone got laid off, myself included. And I asked that question, what do I really want to do with my life and I knew that I wanted to do meaningful work, and I loved speaking and I loved performing and I love to coach you right coaching. I just felt you know, coaching sports and all that. And I wanted to bring it all together with improvisation. And that started the journey which has been the last 1516 years Getting into performance coaching and personal development and an organizational and corporate coaching and speaking and consulting back into the world of sports and performance. And, and so back in 2015, I left and went off on my own, under under the title Livia sand. And so since then I’ve just been doing consulting and speaking as a keynote speaker, and then consulting companies, as well as youth college and professional sports teams, on mindset, team dynamics and culture. And that sort of has brought me to working with the national team. And but I also continue to work with lots of other teams at the same time.

Zoran Stojkovic: So what I’m hearing is you were you had this job, and you got laid off. And then in that process, in that self reflection process, you actually found this thing that was actually strength. And so you developed your own skills in that, and then started embedding that into coaching with individuals and groups.

Travis Thomas: Yeah, I would say it was sort of a combining of skills. As far as you know, it was like, I was thinking about this earlier today. I’m like, oh, shoot, I’m doing a podcast today. What am I gonna say? You start to self reflect again. And I was like, Oh, okay. What I found was, you know, for me, growing up spirituality and personal development was a big part of my life. And sports were a big part of my life. And then improvisation became a big part of my life, and coaching. So I thought, like, oh, I want to do work that really kind of combines all of those things. And so, as I got into sort of the coaching and the speaking space, I wanted to the improv piece was kind of that thing that was niche, that was a different way of looking or approaching these different ideas. But for me, it’s been a combining, combining all the things you love into sort of a career stew, and, and finding a way to marry them and make them all work. And, yeah, I’m really, really grateful and blessed to be able to do the work that I do. And but it’s, it’s, excuse me, it’s consultant work. And, you know, we mentioned the pandemic a few minutes ago, and you know, I’m coming out of 18 months, of really struggling professionally, to work, because my work is travel and going to places and I’ve been able to do some some virtual work at the same time. But it’s, it’s been a lot of just having to, to model the ideas that I preach, which is how to be resilient, and how to be adaptable, and to find a way and, and be open to new realities and new solutions. And that’s what the last 18 months has been. And as I see some some light at the end of the tunnel, career wise, I’m grateful and exciting. And but you know, that’s, that’s sort of the life of a freelance worker.

Zoran Stojkovic: So improvisation, what, you know what it made me think of, there’s a TED Talk by Charles Lim, where he talks about, he’s actually a neurosurgeon who studied creativity. And he studied the difference between the musician brain, he put musicians in an MRI, he studied the difference between what the brain what parts of the brain are activated, when they’re playing a piece of music that was memorized, versus improvising jazz music. And the difference was spectacular. And when I think of improvisation, I, I actually think that it doesn’t have to happen in an acting studio does it? It’s something that that’s all around us and might be taken a different route home from work, it might be doing things slightly differently that we’re used to doing in a certain way. So, Travis, how do you define improvisation for anybody who’s maybe not familiar with it?

Travis Thomas: Yeah, absolutely. And I think exactly what you said is spot on. You know, the, my organization is called Live. Yes. And, and the Yes, sand is the basis of all improvisation. Right? So I didn’t create this concept of Yes. And anyone who’s done acting or improvisation, they’ll be like, oh, yeah, it’s all about Yes. And what does yes and mean. And so all improvisers. If you understand the concept of Yes, and you can improvise. And I would say this right, all all of life is an improvisation. Right? And none of us know what’s going to happen today. I don’t think many of us predicted a pandemic, some maybe some people are saying, Yeah, I knew this was coming. But most of us were not ready for this. Just like most of us are not ready for a traffic jam. And we’re not expecting our car to get a flat tire. And we’re not expecting to lose a loved one. And we’re not expecting to hit the lottery, all these different things in life that are uncertain, good or bad. They’re uncertain, and all we can do best is we anticipate, we plan and we anticipate and we predict but at the end of the day, you and I wake up nothing that happens throughout that De is guaranteed. It’s all it’s all an improvisation, some of the stuff that we thought is going to happen, will happen. And then there’s going to be a few curveballs mixed in. And sometimes we wake up and our entire day is a curveball. And it’s how do we adapt to that? So that’s really sort of the improvisers brain is, is collaborating with what is happening. And so the Yes, and the end and improvisation was on if you and I were doing well, you want you want to do some improv. Let’s do it. Awesome. All right. So let’s pretend you and I have weekend plans. And we’re talking about our weekend plans. And so I’ll make a statement to you. And you’re going to say yes. And so you’re going to Yes, and you’re going to build off of whatever idea I give you. Therefore, you’re giving me an idea back which I will then yes and and build off of and then you’ll and so we’re just building off of the next idea. Makes sense. Makes sense. Awesome. All right here goes on. I am so pumped about the tickets you have for us this weekend.

Zoran Stojkovic: Yes. And the tickets the basketball game are actually going to be quite cool, because we get to see the next play against the Celtics.

Travis Thomas: Yes. And I’m so excited that the NBA planned this NBA game in Victoria.

Zoran Stojkovic: Yes, me too. I never thought would happen in a million years. But it did the arena, the tickets completely sold out. And then after that, we’re going to go to that place.

Travis Thomas: Yes. And we are going to that private party after the game where we’re going to hang out with the Celtics and the nets. That’s awesome. So you and I are just creating a story. One Yes. And at a time, right. So what is yes and yes, is acceptance. Right, whatever you say to me, I accept it as reality. I accept it as truth. There’s no reason for me to say no to it. Right? We’re making it up on the spot. So a no is just we would call that a negation. In improvisation. There’s no reason to negate my idea, because we’re making it up on the spot. So I know you’re going to say yes to my idea. So I can say, so on your hair’s on fire. And I know you’re gonna have to say yes. And it’s the newest fashion, right? So whatever it is,

Zoran Stojkovic: Thank you for their compliment. By the way. I appreciate it. Welcome.

Travis Thomas: It actually, it’s fire emoji. So the yes is acceptance. I’m going to accept whatever is being given to me the and is the collaboration the and is actually building off of the new information. So every improv improvised scene, it’s just yes, and yes, and yes, and yes. And so now that the scene can go in so many creative directions, because we’re constantly advancing it forward. Alright, so So take that concept now and apply it to your life. You’re driving to work in the morning, you get it, you get a flat tire? Yes, I have a flat tire. Do you have to like having a flat tire? No. Can you argue with having a flat tire? Sure. Is it productive? No. So the fact is, you have a flat tire? Yes, I have a flat tire. And now how am I going to respond to it? Am I going to bitch am I going to moan and we’re going to complain, I’m going to be a victim or I’m going to go and I’m going to call Roadside Service and answer some emails while I wait for the tow truck or and I’m going to call my grandmother because I haven’t spoken to her in two weeks. And I’m going to call my wife and say this is all your fault. I can’t believe you gave me a car with a bad tack. So the end? Is your response. Yes. Is acceptance. The and is the response. So therefore live? Yes. And if all of life is an improvisation, I call living Yes. And it’s radical collaboration with reality. A pandemic is dropped in our lap. Yes, we’re in a pandemic. I don’t have to like it. But the sooner I say yes, the the quicker I can move to an and solution mindset.

Zoran Stojkovic: So we’re talking about training our mind to accept the current situation quickly, and plan the next course of action.

Travis Thomas: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the next course of action, not controlling the outcome. It’s the next course of action with an emphasis on action. So you know, I’m working with athletes. I’m working with the National Team. I’m working with athletes at all levels, you know, the game is is highly mental. What does that mean? It means well, you just made a bad play. Yes. You just turn the ball over. You just gave up a goal, whatever. Yes. We’ve all seen we’ve experienced where we see an athlete make a bad play, and then they make a series of bad plays. Why are they making a series of bad plays? Because they’re stuck in the original bad play now they are stuck in a funk what what have they not done? They haven’t moved forward. The the acceptance is hey, we just got scored on did we get scored on? Yes. We just got scored on we’re losing one to nothing. Yeah, that’s the reality and to go back to your work, what action what’s our next action? We need to tighten up our defense we need to be more aggressive. We need to win the next ball we need to it’s the end is and what is the next thing that we have to do? I use mindfulness. I use improvisation as a tool for mindfulness right yesterday. And is all about being mindful and staying in the present moment. Good or bad. Whatever just happened is in the past, right? What is going to happen is in the future, and what is happening right now is the only thing that matters because it’s happening right now. Life is happening in the present moment, the game is being played in the present moment your life is being lived this moment. Yes. And and then this moment, yes. And then this moment. So we want to avoid that then or when thinking, which is past, which is past and future, which is why do we make mistakes? Because we weren’t present? Right? Why do we, you know, why do I, I’m thinking about the mistake that I made, or I’m afraid of what might happen, when when I’m fully engaged in the present moment, it’s actually hard to be afraid when you’re in the present moment, because you’re simply focused on the action instead of the outcome.

Zoran Stojkovic: So what I’m hearing is when uncertainty happens when things happen, that are out of our control, having the psychological flexibility to accept those things, and move on to that next thing. So it’s this, it’s this interplay between the inner world and the outer world.

Travis Thomas: Yeah, well, and just to reiterate what you just said, right, is the uncertainty. All of it is uncertain, every single bit of it is uncertain, I can’t control 100% of what happens to me, I can make all the right decisions in life, I can do everything correctly. And I still can’t control a pandemic being dropped in my lap. Right, we really don’t control anything that happens to us. That said, I have tremendous influence over the things that show up in my life, but I can’t control what happens to me. And I get to control 100% of how I respond to it. Now, response is not control. I don’t control an outcome, I control my response. So I get to choose I always the end is where we get to choose.

Zoran Stojkovic: And that that thinking is 1000s of years old, is one of the Greek philosophers and stoicism

Travis Thomas: I’m a big I’m a big fan of stoicism of Ryan Holiday of all this books. I mean, if you look at obviously, I said, I’m a deep love of spirituality, right? If you look at most sacred spiritual, you know, beliefs, right? Whether it’s Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, all these different things, when you get to the essence of the practice of these spiritual teachings, it really is about how am I showing up in this present moment? How am I judging? What is happening? And therefore, how am I responding? How am I responding to it?

Zoran Stojkovic: In what ways does improvisation relate to performance and mindset overall, for people?

Travis Thomas: Well, you know, if you noticed, you know, while you and I were doing that improvised scene going, right, so think about what was going on there. Were you controlling the story? Yes. Were you controlling it?

Zoran Stojkovic: I had part of it as well, because you had part of it, but I controlled where I went from that part of it. So it’s like you drew a line to here. And then I drew the next line, and you do the next line, We were in collaboration with one another. Right?

Travis Thomas: So we were collaborating. So we were both we both had influence in it. But I could I could take one of your ideas and say something that took the story in a whole new direction. And you’re like, oh, shoot, that’s not where I wanted the story to go. And there’s nothing I can there’s nothing I can do about it. Right? So there’s this this idea of okay, like, we only ever have influence we never have control. Right. So. So again, there’s that there’s that piece. Second piece is, as you and I are telling that story, how engaged were you in the present moment?

Zoran Stojkovic: Oh, fully, because you can’t process anything else besides what this world that you’re creating with the other person? That’s it. That’s it.

Travis Thomas: So all you’re doing is you’re responding to the new information, which is the present moment and you’re choosing how to respond to the present moment, you’re not thinking about, you know, what you did before the podcast, you’re not thinking about what you’re going to do after the podcast, you’re fully engaged in the present moment. What is mindfulness, right? We mindfulness is such a, you know, a popular and catchy idea right now as it should be, because it’s super important. Mindfulness is our ability to bring our full attention to the present moment. To be fully engaged in the present moment, high performing athletes are able to perform at a high level, because they’re engaged in the present moment. They’re not thinking about lots of things. They’re focused on one, two or three key ideas, which allow them to be successful at that moment, and then the next moment, and then the next moment. Well, it’s no different for you and I, whether we’re going grocery shopping, or calling a client or having a conversation with one of our kids are driving the car. If we want to do any of those things really well. The more that we can be engaged in the present moment. If I’m washing the dish, wash the dish, if I’m making a phone call, make the phone call. If I’m having a face to face conversation with a co worker, be fully present with them.

Zoran Stojkovic: That means I’m going to show up at my best
and the assumption in that is that you’ve picked the right present moment. because in the field of life, there’s a lot going on at any given moment. And we can be paying attention on the wrong thing.

Travis Thomas: Well, that’s exactly it. And so it’s not choosing the correct present moment. It’s it’s noticing what I’m focusing on in the present moment. Right? The present moment is you and I could be in the exact same present moment. But you’re noticing, you’re noticing the, the factory smokestack that’s in the way of the sunset. And all I am is noticing the beauty of the sunset, right? So you’re focused on one idea, I’m focused on another idea, right? So again, working with athletes, it’s okay, you’ve got to come take a penalty shot in an extra time. Are you focused on the crowd? Are you focused on the TV audience? Are you focused on the fact that you missed one earlier in the game? Are you thinking about what’s going to happen? If you make it? Are you thinking about what’s going to happen if you miss it? Or are you focused on just what is required action wise in order to be successful? So yes, we’ve got an infinite number of things that we can focus on in the present moment. I like to say when you combine skill and expertise, with the ability to focus is what highperformance is, right? And so if I’m, if I’m a professional soccer player, I have a life time of experience that has taught me here’s what I should be focusing on. And now it’s my job to bring that attention to it. But yeah, so it’s it’s, but it’s, it’s training the brain, right? This is all muscle. It’s all, you know, the ability to live Yes, and is a muscle. And the more I exercise that muscle and get used to accepting and responding, accepting and responding, the easier it’s going to be when life throws me a major, major curveball.

Zoran Stojkovic: Is there a time to say no, but only if you want to be stuck?

Travis Thomas: I mean, that’s okay. We, you know, like, my, and I’ll throw, I’ll throw myself in there, right? My kids will come to me and tell me something that happened, or I will experience something that in every possible way is unfair. It’s not right. shouldn’t have happened. Right? I can say no, but that wasn’t fair. I can say no, but I should have gotten the job. I shouldn’t say no. But I can’t believe that was handled so poorly. We should be out of the pandemic, by now. You have the right to say no, but, but it just means you’re stuck. And so I’ll I’ll tell my kids a lot of the time like, hey, that sucks. I’m sorry, that sucks. And I totally understand if you want to take a pity lap right now. Take a pity lap, take two, take three. And when you’re finally ready to move on and make progress, let’s think about let’s think about how we want to approach this. We’re humans. And so we all we all are all going to breed and deal with setbacks in different ways. And a lot of that will be what I call the victim mindset, which is blaming complaining or making excuses. And so it’s very natural for all of us to do that. And to experience that that’s all fine. But we will never make any progress. As long as we’re in that mindset saying no, but Right. One of my little phrases is you cannot progress until you say yes. Love that. Love that. Thank you. It’s a good little bumper sticker. So think about any any difficult experience that you’ve gone through and came out on the other side.

Zoran Stojkovic: That sounds it sounds like a TED last. So title. So

Travis Thomas: I think, yeah, you know, I think the last one would like the head coach beard, hey, you’re not progressing to say Yes, right. Yes, is just accepting that. Yeah, this is happening. I can’t change it. I would love to change it. But I can’t. Right. You know, we can say like, I can’t believe I got stuck with this professor, this professors steaks, right. Stinks. I’m with you. Right. I will. I will empathize. And I will stand beside people all day, who are going through something difficult and agree with them that yeah, this is not right. I wish it’s not right that you’re going through this. But you are right. And so the quicker we get to yes. And then from the yes, we get to the end, the end is where we have power. Right? The Yes, the yes is just acceptance. The end is where we have power, because there’s an unlimited ways for us to respond to whatever is happening to us. And in that end is a lot of power. You know, Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning has the great quote about there’s a space between stimulus and response. Right? It’s in that space, where you have the power to choose. And that’s what we’re talking about here. The end. The end is that space where we choose how we’re going to respond in the world of sports and just like the world of life, the more quickly we can accept what is happening and then move into a proactive response that I say is authentic and connected to our purpose, the more quickly we are going to put ourselves in a position, that is the best possible position in that moment. And that’s the best we can. And then because guess what? There’s the next Yes. And is a moment away?

Zoran Stojkovic: My observation is that the default mode is not yes. And so in what ways do you use improvisation to help train athletes and coaches, especially with the US? National Team?

Travis Thomas: Yeah. And so, you know, I’m blessed with the national team is that, you know, the head coach, Gregg Berhalter, and then the entire coaching staff is we have, you know, we have a very specific mindset that we are constantly preaching and reinforcing and modeling with our players, which is very much a no excuses type mindset. And I don’t mean that in a heartless, cold way. I mean, it from the standpoint of we’re not going to spend any time complaining about what has happened, or what should have happened. And so without it being an explicit, you know, yes. And yes, and it’s probably not a term that we use a lot. But it is the approach to how we respond to everything, in fact that that idea, those two words we respond, is one of the phrases that we go to all the time, hey, no matter what happens, we respond, we were at our last game against Costa Rica, you know, we just had come off a loss, and we’re looking to see how we were going to respond in the next game. Well, what happens in the first minute of the game, we make a mistake, and we’re down one to zero, in the first minute of the game, the wheels could come cut falling off, you know, at that point, mentally. But again, we have, we’re conditioning the mindset of this team, to how do we respond to every situation. And instead of losing our cooling, losing our composure, the guys rebounded, they adjusted, and we ended up excuse me, we ended up winning two to one. And so it’s a you have to model it, right, you have to model that behavior from a staff and from you know, or as a parent, or as a teacher, or as a coach, you have to model the behavior that you want your team or your kids or your, your co workers to, to also exhibit. But so yeah, so a lot of what we do is just how we talk about it, and how we model that behavior from an improvisational standpoint. You know, I do, you know, improvisational activities and games with, with players, I do them, you know, with, with, with youth players and things that I work with on a regular basis, we do these activities all the time, again, to exercise that muscle, to be present to be fully I’m never more mindful than when I’m improvising. And to get into that mindset of I just have to, I’ve got to accept it and respond, accept it and respond. And, and again, when I work with athletes, and I work with players, you know, so much of what I do is, is getting them to, to think and notice and be aware of when they noticed themselves distracted, is how quickly can they notice it, and then bring their attention back to the present moment. And so that’s the thing, it’s not about being perfect, it’s not about not getting distracted. It’s about how quickly can we notice our thoughts when we are distracted, so that we can bring them back to the present moment, and respond to the present moment, which is always the best possible place we can be. So what

Zoran Stojkovic: I’m hearing is paying attention to language, we respond, we’re not we’re not victims of a situation and where we let the past go and figure out what to do in the moment like you give gave that example about getting scored on in the first minute by the Jamaican team. And then what I heard as well, is this paying attention to where our attention is? And that awareness. So the recurring theme for me so far, Travis has been mindfulness is that thread, and mindfulness and improvisation and the interplay of those two, because to me, it provides ation is really play. You’re, you’re playing with your environment you’re playing with, and play is fun. When you work with the the guys in the coaches, how do you get them to buy into that, like you must get some pushback from from some players who haven’t really experienced that before?

Travis Thomas: Yeah, I wouldn’t say push back and not necessarily push back, you know, that, you know, there’s, there’s always gonna be players that, you know, maybe they’re like, Yeah, whatever. Yeah, I don’t know, you know, and others who really engage with it. But I wouldn’t say pushback, per se and I think, you know, what I’m doing is that I’m not presenting anything that goes against, you know, what they what they inherently know, when it comes to performance, you know, and I’m not a sports psychologist, but I’ve been teaching mental skills for you know, 1015 years and So the improvisation for me is I’ve, I’ve used improvisational tools, principles and games to reinforce mental skills and positive psychology or sports psychology. And so I’m not reinventing any wheels, I’m using a different skill set and a different tool set to teach to teach these, these psychological ideas and tools in a fun and engaging way. We’re playing games, right? And so, again, I think instead of me being a talking head, lecturing to a bunch of professional athletes, here’s what you need to think about in order to be successful. Who am I? But if I get them up on their feet, and we play a game, and we do an activity, and they’re like, oh, shoot, I had a hard time because I couldn’t focus. Yeah, right. Okay, you can focus. So how does that relate to being on the field? How does that relate to? And so, you know, I want people to feel these concepts I don’t want them to think about I want them to feel it, because when I feel it, then I can translate it to, to what’s practical in my day to day life.

Zoran Stojkovic: So it sounds like you also buy into this experiential learning model. Absolutely. have of you do the activity, you conceptualize, you reflect you do the activity again? So it’s that cycle of do reflect, do reflect?

Travis Thomas: Absolutely, absolutely. And so, you know, even when I work with, you know, I work with some Academy, soccer players every couple of weeks, and we’ll do activities. We’ll focus on breathing, we’ll focus on mindfulness, we’ll do games, we’ll, but I always bring it back to Okay, Hayden, last few weeks, since you’ve seen me last? Give me some examples in the last few weeks, when you notice yourself distracted in a training or in a match? And and how did you? How did you get that funk? How do you bring your attention back. And so this whole thing about awareness and noticing if we can teach and reinforce for young people, students, athletes, or just any of us, in general, if we can reinforce this idea of having it be a normal part of our reflection, you know, when I when I have a training, I worked at IMG Academy for three years, which is like a sports school. It’s a Hogwarts Academy for athletes. So, you know, I would, I would have, you know, and it was all different athletes. You know, what I would have a group of tennis players come into my room, they just been on the cords for two hours. And they’d have their rackets and they crash on the couches in my office. And I would say, hey, awesome. Would you? Would you learn the last two hours? And they look at me, like, What are you talking about? I’m like, What do you notice? You just trained your butt off for like, two hours? What did you notice out there? And they’re like, I don’t know. Like, I just, I’m just practicing. Like, huh, okay, like, you know, you just worked so hard for two hours. Take a moment right now, and just reflect on the last two hours and say, Hmm, notice how you were feeling today. Notice how your focus was today, notice what was working, what wasn’t working? And now just reflect on that? Why do you think that wasn’t working? Why do you think that was working? Notice your effort. Notice your attitude, notice your mindset. So, you know, we can go through our entire days on never having to ever be present, and reflect on anything that we’ve just done, we can just constantly move on to the next thing. And if I don’t want to sit with my thoughts, I just pull my phone out. And I can be fully disconnected. You know, while I wait in line at Starbucks. And so again, yes, and is a muscle. Reflection is a muscle. All of these things are muscles that if we don’t, if we don’t exercise, the observer, the noticer in us, then we can go through our entire day life totally unconscious. Right? What does unconscious really mean? It’s just I’m not conscious of the thoughts of the feelings that are coming in, compared to being conscious of them, where I’m noticing them, I’m observing them. And now I get to choose whether I listen to them, or I just let them pass and choose something else.

Zoran Stojkovic: It sounds like ways to accelerate learning and to accelerate growth and progress. That’s that’s what I that’s the way I use reflection and learning anyways. Yeah. What went well, what’s worth living? That’s, that’s the two basic for me. That’s the two basic questions. You can ask yourself those two questions, take a minute to write it down. Or even think about it mentally do a voice note whatever it is, that will accelerate learning.

Travis Thomas: Yeah, let me I’ll give you a cool example of that. Sorry. Alright, so I’m going to give you like 10 seconds, so I’ll just count my head. 10 seconds. I want you to say as many words that come in the top of your head in the next 10 seconds go.

Zoran Stojkovic: Brick glass wood lamp, microphone, coach, watch mouse, keyboard improvise.

Travis Thomas: Time. Pretty good. All right, we’ll do it again. Next 10 seconds is I want you to do the same activity, but this time I want to, they all have to be animals. So the names of animals go.

Zoran Stojkovic: Dog, Cat, fish. Snake, rabbit, turtle. Seal.

Travis Thomas: Yeah. Good job.

Zoran Stojkovic: That was tough.

Travis Thomas: Good job. So it was it was tough. But now Now tell me from a mental standpoint, the first time or the second time? Did you have a greater sense of clarity?

Zoran Stojkovic: Greater sense of clarity? The second time the first time I was more like searching my environment?

Travis Thomas: It could be it could be anything. Right? Right. It wasn’t. So it was so open ended, it could be anything. As soon as we give ourselves a little bit of a focus or a little bit of an intention. It gives us you know, a little more of a laser sharp focus to actually focus on. So to your point, that idea when we reflect when we reflect back on what went well, and what didn’t, what didn’t go, Well, the next time I do it, I can be more intentional about what I’m trying to accomplish. Right. So if I’m a player, I could just tell about, hey, you just go out there and do your best have fun. And they go out and they go out there and they do something right. They great. Maybe they do great. Maybe Yeah. But then I tell them, Okay, like what went well, what didn’t go well, if I’m talking to maybe a soccer player, maybe a center midfielder. And I say, Okay, go out there. And what I want you to focus on is winning as many tackles as possible. Right, so now they go out there, now they have a very clear intention of an action that they’re trying to accomplish over and over again. So now, like a laser type focus, they’re like, you know, when the ball when the ball when the ball when the ball like a shark, right when a tackle women tackle when a tackle, tackle. So when we reflection, again gives us the ability to next time is to be more intentional, right? If we are intentional, more intentional about everything that we do, we’re more effective, our performance is higher, you know, so if I, you know, I have a personal intent intention of every time I have an interaction with somebody, I want them to, I want them to feel seen and valued. Right? That’s not easy to do. Yet, it gives me it gives me a purpose every time I have an interaction with somebody. So it gives it allows me to be focused and and much more effective about who I who I want to be as a person. So when we’re intentional, again, intention is just a greater sense of focus, what do I really want to accomplish here, and I’m going to be specific and intentional about it. And again, what we’re trying to do is we’re not we’re not eliminating distractions, we can eliminate distractions, we can be more intentional about what we want to focus on. Therefore, the distractions are still there. We’re just deciding to put our attention, we’re resting our attention on and on ideas or actions that are going to produce effective results.

Zoran Stojkovic: And I would even argue that writing that down before performing makes that that much more likely.

Travis Thomas: Yeah, I know, the research is there, the research is there as far as writing things down as far as goal setting. That is, I’m I’m a big, I’m still a big, you know, pen and paper note taker. There’s something about pen to paper writing that note, which I think allows it to stick more. And again, when you like to your point when writing something down makes it more intentional. It does when you’re writing it down. Because I think at first, we think we can think so much more quickly than we can write. And so when we’re forced to write something, it it, I think it makes us more present in that moment about what we’re actually thinking about or intending or setting a goal for.

Zoran Stojkovic: Travis, you talk about building these high performance cultures that you’ve been parts of at img at the US Men’s National Soccer Team. How is improvisation used to build high performance cultures in sport and business and in other contexts?

Travis Thomas: Yeah, so the short answer to that would be so this idea of we’ve talked about how yes and is effective on a personal level, from a performance standpoint. The other aspect of the yes and from a from a cultural standpoint, or collaborative standpoint, which is in order for you and I to collaborate and telecine is that we’re yes and each other. So now, you and I are creating relationships that’s based on trust, respect, and value. Now when I create sport team environments where essentially the team and the staff are trying to Yes, and each other, and when I create in corporate worlds or any relationship in your life, where you are in collaboration with that person we have a mantra in improvisation is every time I step on stage, I’m trying to make my partner look brilliant. And what are they trying to do? They’re trying to make me look brilliant, right? So when we talk about mindset, a yes. And mindset is about how can I make the people around me look and feel brilliant, and they’re trying to do the same thing to me and everybody else. So when you create teams, and relationships and environments, which are, you know, service, my service minded, servant leadership, helping out and getting outside of myself taking care of each other, trying to make each other look good? Well, you can see how that becomes a really, really healthy and thriving environment to work in, in performance, right? And so that the term psychological safety, you know, the highest performing teams have the highest levels of psychological safety, trust, respect and value. What does improv improvisation do? Why are improvisational groups and troops able to do what they do? They have high levels of psychological safety, I know that no matter what I do, you have my back. And whatever you do, I have your back. And when you can translate that into the workplace, or into sports environments, or just into your marriage, or your friendships, etc. That’s what high performing, you know, relationships and cultures look like.

Zoran Stojkovic: Last question for you here. So it’s a listener question. It comes from Amir selenia, who is the host of football talks TV, it’s a it’s a TV show on football transfers and stuff like that. So um, you’re asked both in the USA and Canada, there are a lot of players that are playing overseas right now, and less less are playing in US colleges than before? How are you incorporating these values that some of these players are bringing in from their overseas pro clubs and to the US Men’s National Team?

Travis Thomas: Yeah, so thanks for the question, Amir. So, you know, yeah, we’re blessed US and Canada to have so many players who are playing abroad, you know, in in top European leagues, right. And so they’re playing at a high level, they’re playing for teams that have their own values and their own principles. And when they come back into our environment, the good news is, is that there’s not going to be a huge discrepancy between the values that that are in the clubs that allow them to play the high level and the values that are within our clubs. So what we try to do is we have, you know, we’ve got some core anchors, some core values within the national team, that we try to incorporate into everything, you know, that idea of, we want it to be, you know, threads that are woven into everything that we do, and so it’s less about the values that they’re coming from is more, it’s just reinforcing the values of who we are and what they’re about. And knowing that it’s, they’re really not in conflict with with the teams that they’re playing for. It’s more about just again, going back to being very intentional, about what our core values are, and making sure that we’re reinforcing it and incorporating it into what sort of makes us authentic, you know, sort of as, as the US team, and presumably, the people that get recruited to fit those values.

Zoran Stojkovic: And it’s not just the skills, it’s not just based on skill.

Travis Thomas: Absolutely, absolutely. Obviously, it’s all of it, right? It’s the skill, it’s the attitude, it’s the values, it’s, it’s all of that and being a good fit, and, you know, us, you know, appreciating them and then feeling you know, appreciated by us, it’s it really is a, you know, a player center, a player centered culture, and, and there’s just a really, really great sense of, you know, putting the player first and making the the players feel valued when they come in.

Zoran Stojkovic: That’s awesome. You talked a little bit about live. Yes. And can you tell me a little bit more about that? And then where people can connect with you, Travis?

Travis Thomas: Yeah, that’s great. Thanks for asking that. I mean, I do have a book. It’s called three words, three words for getting unstuck. Those three words are live. Yes. And and you and I obviously spoke about sort of kind of what that means, you know, the whole can I say no, but yeah, you can say no, but you’re just going to be stuck. And and so the book really kind of dives into sort of more of these principles of how, you know, some from improvisation, some from personal development. So it’s it is in that book, it’s available, it’s available on Amazon, and then my websites Livia sand.com, social media, everything’s pretty much live. Yes. And, and yeah, I would love to talk more to people. I’m really accessible when people reach out and I’m always happy to have conversations and help people any way I can. And, you know, we talk and talk about modeling these ideas. I really truly feel my my journey has been, you know, pretty interesting. It’s been an interesting journey going back to about 25th 22,005 to now and this path and I knew when I started my own company, it had to have yes and and it’s you I didn’t know what the real title was going to be. And after sitting with it for a while, the whole live piece popped in because I’m like, wait a second, like, what have I been doing? The last, you know, 1012 years at the time, like I’ve been, I’ve been really trying to live these ideas. I’m like, That’s it, right? Like, it’s just live these ideas live this Yes. And, and, you know, my wife, you know, God bless her, has been right there with me the whole time, you know, supporting me and supporting each other. And, you know, there’s an African proverb leap, and the net will appear. And that’s a huge Yes. And, and we’ve been trying to live live that mantra of leaping, the net will appear, because there’s not, there’s not a real clear path for an improviser who wants to get into performance coaching. So there’s been a lot of Joseph Campbell, creating your own path. And that’s scary. It’s really scary. And it’s really exhilarating at the same time. But it’s a whole lot of, wow, we’re going to take another leap. And we don’t know that uncertainty, we don’t know what the outcomes are going to look like. But we know we’re going to be okay. And so therefore, the Livia sand is, is taking steps and trust and faith, not controlling the outcome, but knowing that you’ll be able to respond to whether whatever the next outcome is, that’s amazing.

Zoran Stojkovic: Any parting thoughts at all?

Travis Thomas: You know, I mean, I know I’m speaking to everyone in the time where we’re still in a pandemic, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s still very real, and we’re still going through it, you know, I would, I would challenge everyone to, to look at from the beginning of the pandemic, to now. And think about all the different ways you have changed how you’ve been forced to change and how you’ve willingly changed in these past 18 months. And we’ve all lost loved ones. And we’ve gone through very difficult times. And yet, you’re still here, right? You’re still here. And you have had to Yes, and numerous challenges and adversity along this path. And so I would just say, pause, again, reflect on that, and appreciate appreciate the growth that has happened in that time period. I mean, there’s not a single person listening to this who have not who has not gone through tremendous growth in that time period. And so, you know, appreciate that we can be in the middle of, we can be in the middle of struggle, and still appreciate the growth that has happened. And I think we can all we should all give ourselves that that appreciation right now.

Zoran Stojkovic: I learned a ton from the conversation with Travis. But if there’s one thing I want you to take away, it’s this life is happening in the present moment. The game you’re meeting, the conversation are happening right now in front of you. So be where your feet are. That’s what mindfulness is the ability to bring your mind to the present moment without judgment, to be fully engaged in what’s in front of you. You’re processing the information you’re getting in the present moment and responding to it. So avoid them or when thinking which can keep you stuck as it takes you back to the past or projects you into the future. Instead, accept the current situation by saying yes, and then quickly make a move. That makes sense given the situation you’re in. Hey, thanks for listening to cultivate your culture. I hope you enjoyed our deep dive into how to level up the relationships and environment to cultivate your team’s culture. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone in your life, leave a rating and subscribe. Visit K zero.ca/podcast to get extra resources and join our email list. A huge shout out to teriyaki from earbuds from producing the music for this show. And to Kate Lovett and Silvio Canalla parola for helping produce and promote the show. Cultivate your cultures produced by Keizo, a leadership coaching organization helping teams to get the results they want so that they can positively impact the world. To learn more about the services Keizer can provide for your team, please check out our website at kizo.ca/team. See you again next week