Improv to be a better human being: Galen Emanuele at TEDxBellingham
Summary
TLDRGayen Emanuel, an improviser and teacher, shares the transformative power of 'Yes, And' principles from improv in personal and professional interactions. He illustrates how accepting and building upon others' ideas can foster positivity and support, contrasting it with the negative impact of rejection. Through stories and examples, he encourages adopting a 'Yes, And' mindset to enhance relationships, communication, and overall joy in life.
Takeaways
- 🎭 Improv can transform personal interactions and company culture by promoting positivity and support.
- 🌟 The core principle of improv is 'Yes, And', which encourages accepting and building upon others' ideas.
- 🚫 Saying 'no' in improv halts progress and destroys ideas, which is a concept applicable to everyday life.
- 🏃♂️ A negative response can discourage people from pursuing their goals, as illustrated by Ian's marathon story.
- 🤝 Improv teaches the importance of making others look good, which fosters a supportive environment.
- 💡 'Yes, And' in daily life can lead to more positive interactions and can enhance relationships.
- 👥 Companies can benefit from a 'Yes, And' culture, leading to better teamwork and a more positive work environment.
- 🌈 The speaker encourages practicing 'Yes, And' in real-life scenarios to experience its positive effects.
- 💪 Recognizing the power of 'Yes, And' can empower individuals to handle negativity more effectively.
- 🔮 The 'Yes, And' philosophy is a choice that can be applied consciously to improve personal and professional relationships.
Q & A
What is the main message of the speaker in the transcript?
-The main message is about the power of 'yes and' in improv and how applying its principles in daily life can increase joy and positively impact interactions with others.
Who is Gayen Emanuel and what is his role in the transcript?
-Gayen Emanuel is an improviser and teacher of improv. In the transcript, he shares his experiences and knowledge about improv principles and encourages people to adopt a 'yes and' mindset to improve their relationships and interactions.
What is the core concept of improv according to the speaker?
-The core concept of improv, according to the speaker, is the idea of 'yes and,' which involves accepting ideas, making others look good, and being positive.
Can you provide an example of 'yes and' from the transcript?
-An example of 'yes and' is when one improviser says, 'Hey Doc, I'm here for my 2:00 appointment,' and the other responds, 'Oh great, come on in, have a seat. Your brain's over here, let's get started with the transplant.'
What is the opposite of 'yes and' in improv?
-The opposite of 'yes and' in improv is a 'block,' which is when an improviser rejects an idea or says 'no' to an offer.
What is the story of Ian and his marathon that the speaker shares?
-Ian wanted to run a marathon but his father's negative response made him doubt his decision and he eventually did not run the marathon. The speaker uses this story to illustrate the impact of a 'no' mindset versus the potential positivity of a 'yes and' approach.
How can adopting a 'yes and' attitude change the way people interact in a company culture?
-Adopting a 'yes and' attitude can create a positive and supportive company culture where employees make each other look good, support each other's ideas, and work collaboratively towards common goals.
What is the game the speaker suggests to practice 'yes and'?
-The speaker suggests a game where you consciously choose to say 'yes and' to everything someone says during an interaction, without them knowing, to experience the positive impact it has on the person and the interaction.
What is the speaker's advice on how to use 'yes and' responsibly?
-The speaker advises using 'yes and' responsibly by being conscious and aware of the impact of one's words, taking responsibility for interactions, and choosing to lift people up with positive and supportive responses.
How does the speaker define the difference between saying 'yes' and 'yes and'?
-The speaker defines 'yes' as a simple agreement, while 'yes and' involves not only accepting an idea but also adding to it and making the other person feel valued and heard.
Outlines
🎭 The Power of Improv and Yes, And
The speaker, Gayen Emanuel, introduces the concept of using improv principles to positively impact interactions with others. He explains that improv is not just about humor but about making others look good through the core principle of 'Yes, And.' This involves accepting and building upon others' ideas rather than negating them. He shares a personal story about a man named Ian, whose enthusiasm for running a marathon was dampened by his father's negative response, illustrating the real-world impact of not practicing 'Yes, And.' The speaker emphasizes that improv is about creating a supportive and positive environment where ideas can flourish.
🏃♂️ Transforming Negativity with Yes, And
Gayen continues by contrasting the negative impact of saying 'no' with the positive outcomes of embracing 'Yes, And.' He uses the story of Ian and his father to demonstrate how a simple shift in attitude could have led to a different, more supportive response. The speaker also discusses how the principles of improv can be applied in everyday life and work environments to foster better relationships and a more positive atmosphere. He shares an anecdote about a workplace conflict that could have been avoided by practicing 'Yes, And,' and he encourages the audience to experiment with this approach in their interactions to see the transformative effects firsthand.
🌟 Cultivating a 'Yes, And' Mindset
In the final paragraph, Gayen emphasizes the importance of consciously choosing to live by the 'Yes, And' principle, which can lead to increased joy and positive impacts on all relationships. He clarifies that 'Yes, And' is not about blindly agreeing with everything but about being aware of the influence one has on others and making a deliberate effort to uplift and support them. The speaker suggests a practice where the audience members commit to responding with 'Yes, And' to everything he says, as a way to experience the power of affirmation and positivity. He concludes by urging everyone to adopt this mindset to improve their personal and professional lives.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Improv
💡Yes And
💡Joy
💡Negative Response
💡Supportive
💡Culture
💡Doubt
💡Progress
💡Discovery
💡Toxic
💡Responsibility
Highlights
The speaker, Gayen Emanuel, introduces the concept of using improv principles to increase joy and positively impact interactions.
Improv is not just about being funny; it's about making others look good and accepting offers.
The core concept of improv is 'yes, and', which involves accepting and building upon ideas.
Improv principles can be applied to daily life to enhance communication and relationships.
A negative response can extinguish enthusiasm and prevent someone from pursuing their goals, as illustrated by Ian's marathon story.
Improv teaches to say 'yes' to ideas, make others look good, and be positive.
The concept of 'yes, and' in improv is demonstrated through an example of an improv scene.
Saying 'no' in improv halts progress and destroys ideas, which is counterproductive.
The speaker shares a story about workplace negativity and how it can escalate into larger problems.
By adopting a 'yes, and' attitude, individuals can prevent negative escalations and foster a positive environment.
The speaker emphasizes the transformative power of 'yes, and' in personal and professional settings.
Ian's story is revisited to show how understanding improv principles could have changed the outcome.
The speaker introduces a game to practice 'yes, and' in everyday interactions.
The importance of being conscious of the impact of one's words and actions on others is discussed.
The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to live by the 'yes, and' principle for a more joyful and positively impactful life.
Transcripts
[Music]
thank
you I want you all to answer this
question if you could increase joy in
your life and have a massively positive
impact on every single person that you
interact with would you want
that I can show you how to do that it is
by living by the principles of improv my
name is gayen Emanuel and I am an
improviser improv completely changed who
I am and changed the way that I view the
world and the way that I interact with
every single person in my life I know
that it can do the same for you so uh
come with me for a moment as we explore
that who here has had a conversation
where you tell somebody that you are
going on vacation and they respond by
saying oh you suck I hate
you yes who here know someone in their
life that you can think of right now top
of your mind that if you have an idea
something you're really excited about
really stoked or jazzed and you go and
tell this person about it they will
shoot it down you know that before you
even bring it up to them they'll say
something negative and they'll suck all
the excitement out of the idea and shoot
it down no matter how positive it is or
any of that stuff yes you all know
somebody like that there
everywhere uh I have a story about that
a couple years ago I was doing a
workshop for a company about company
culture and improv and and using and
improv the way that we communicate and
how we impact each other as we as we
connect and this guy after the workshop
came up to me Ian and told me his story
Ian was planning on running a marathon
never run a marathon before in his life
he was super excited about it he had
friends that were supportive and he
called his dad to tell him about the
idea this is how the conversation went
hey Dad I'm thinking about running this
marathon and his dad immediately
responded with
oh really o are you sure I don't know
and proceeded to tell him about how
running is bad for your body and it's
miserable and what's the point of a
marathon you can't win anything
Etc so after that conversation even
though Ian was super excited about
taking this on he ended up not running
the
marathon
right because his dad's negative
response sucked the enthusiasm out of
his idea and planted that seat of doubt
and enough that he didn't do it
so what does any of this have to do with
improv everything I've been improvising
for about 10 years and teaching improv
for about seven years who here has seen
a live improv show or watched the
television show Whose Line Is It Anyway
great you're all familiar so when
improvisors like me perform we do
exactly what you've seen we take
suggestions from the audience and then
everything that we do is made up on the
spot inspired by those
suggestions improvisors have a brilliant
set of principles that they follow to
make impr impr successful if you take
those same principles and use them in
your life it will change the way that
you interact with every single person
that you come
across the common misconception about
improv is that it is about being funny
and quick witted and thinking fast on
your feet and being clever that is false
improv is about making other people look
good which is so important I'm going to
say that again improv is about making
other people look good everything in
improv is centered around this core
concept idea of yes and that is the meat
and potatoes of everything improv and so
in improv everything you do and
everything that your partner does is an
offer and you must accept your partner's
offer and add more information onto it
surrounding that core concept idea of
yes and there are a set of tenants
principles that make improv possible
that every single improv student knows
from day one of improv class here they
are say yes which means to accept ideas
make other people look good which means
to support and instead of trying to make
yourself look good focus on making other
people look good and validating them and
to be positive which means to use
positive language to be optimistic and
good-natured so when you see improv on
stage it looks like magic but it's just
a very simple brilliant strategy and
here's an example of yes and in action
in an improv scene two improvisers on
stage one of them one of them says to
the other one hey Doc I'm here for my
2:00 appointment the other improviser
would respond something along lines of
oh great come on in have a seat your
brain's over here let's get started with
the transplant right there that second
improviser said yes and accepted the
idea that they were a doctor that they
had an appointment and then they added
more information come on in it's a brain
transplant let's go so the opposite of
that in improv is what we call a block
which is to say no to an idea here's an
example of that improviser one hey Doc
I'm here for my two appointment
improviser 2 what are you talking about
I'm not a doctor I'm just a squid in the
ocean here
right that is a
block the second improviser said no and
rejected the idea of the first
improviser it's a no no it is the only
thing you cannot do in improv is to say
no because when you say no you halt
progress and you destroy an idea but
when you say yes you create forward
progress and you open the door to
Discovery possibility and creation it
looks like magic but it's just a very
simple brilliant strategy
so if you use those same principles of
gu a in your life you will impact
positively the way that you connect and
deal with every single person that you
come in contact with let's go back to
Ian and the marathon Ian's Dad wasn't
purposefully trying to say no and be
negative he was just carelessly giving
his opinion unaware of the impact that
it would have on the situation
and what actually you know the truth of
it is that his dad would have been proud
of him if he ran the marathon right Ian
would have been proud of himself for
taking something new on and
accomplishing it so let's take a look at
what actually happened Ian's dad acted
the opposite of yes and say yes he
didn't he rejected the idea immediately
make other people look good he wasn't
trying to make Ian look good he was
trying to make himself look good by
coming across as the voice of reason and
being knowledgeable about running right
and being wise and giving advice and
being positive he could have said
something positive instead he said a
bunch of negative things and destroyed
the idea of running it so if Ian's Dad
instead was an improviser dedicated his
life to living by the principles of yes
and here's how that conversation could
have looked hey Dad I'm thinking about
running a marathon that's awesome you're
going to be
great the most amazing part of the story
is that Ian also told me in that
conversation that if he had taken that
workshop with me ahead of time he
wouldn't have let it affect him because
he could see now what his dad was doing
which is just carelessly saying no and
not realizing it
how powerful is that right and once you
start to see the world in terms of
people saying yes and people saying no
and the impact of those two things
everything you view every the way that
you see the world completely changes
that's what happened to me that's the
transformation that took place
completely blew my mind and totally
changed who I was as a person that's why
I'm so passionate about talking to
companies about creating a yesand
culture and why I'm talking about this
right now with you people is that it's
so immediate it's so powerful and it's
available to every single person all of
you right now can start living by yesand
also companies can have this too uh
here's another story that you probably
can relate to if you've ever had a
job a woman told me about a problem in
her building where she came around a
corner and saw an employee that was
walking over a piece of paper that was
on the ground she thought he had dropped
it so when she asked him his response
was oh no that's not mine but I'm not
going to pick it up it's not my job that
situation escalated to this guy ended up
calling the maintenance department to
have them pick up the trash that that
was on the ground the maintenance
department shows up to find one single
piece of paper on the floor that anybody
could have picked up right so that guy
frustrated chose out the guy that called
him now those employees don't like each
other they go back and tell other
employees about that now these two
departments don't like each other it
escalates it's
ridiculous but how familiar is that
right you've all experienced something
equally ridiculous in a work environment
work environments can be so toxic but if
that company and that employee was
dedicated to an intentionally essay and
culture he could have just picked up the
piece of paper no problem right the
there was an offer to pick it up he
could have said yes and by doing so he
would have made the maintenance
department look good and supported them
he could have chosen to be positive
instead of saying that's not my job
right and when you choose to live your
life with yes and I'm telling you you it
changes the way that you see everything
in life forever this is the red pill it
is the Matrix
people to prove that this is a choice uh
I'm going to teach you a fun game that
you can play on somebody the next time
you have an interaction with anyone I
want you to choose ahead of time that
you're going to use yes and on them
without them knowing about it right so
you just say yes to everything make them
look good and be positive and then feel
what it feels like to say yes to this
person and watch from an outside
perspective how that impacts this person
and what they what their experience is
with you it's unbelievable if you want
to have a better marriage try that get a
glimpse of what it would feel like if
you made an effort to create a yesand
marriage it's incredible
we're all going to do something right
now because I want you to be able to
practice this before you go try it on
somebody else so I'm going to say a
bunch of things to you and every person
in this room you're all going to say
that's awesome to everything that I
say yeah okay are you ready okay I'm
thinking about running a marathon that's
awesome I'm going on vacation next month
that's awesome I want to make dinner
with you that's awesome I'm sad that's
awesome
rude now that you know how to wield this
power you must wield it
responsibly remember the guy that we
talked about in the very beginning that
you could think of at the top of your
mind that says no to everything do not
be that person don't be the person that
opens your mouth and says something
negative instead be the person who
thinks of something positive to say who
says yes and accepts ideas right think
of a reason why something can work
instead of immediately why it won't work
lift people up around you and do it
every single time you open your mouth
you can you absolutely can and this is
not about you saying yes to everything
in your life or being fake or pretending
that you're happy all the time that's
not possible this is real life what yes
hand is about is about you being
conscious and aware and taking
responsibility for the impact that you
have on every single person that you
interact with there is a way to say yes
to somebody to make them feel like
crap uh fine I'll go on a hike with
you technically that's a yes
and there's a yesand way to say no to
somebody that makes them feel like I
heard what you said I considered you
you're important to me right I'd love to
hang out with you and spend some time
I'm not excited about going on a hike
but maybe we can do something else it is
possible for you to say yes to a person
and no to an idea and that's important
consciously please choose to live your
life by yes and principle you will
increase joy in your life you'll have a
massively positive impact on every
single person that you interact with
you'll a better marriage you'll have
better friendships you'll have a better
working environment it's simple and it's
worth it I promise you choose yes and
say Yes make other people look good and
be positive thank
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
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