I wonder if you like the house TV shows as much as I do. My new fascination is with Treehouse Masters. Fantasy into reality! (My childhood posse of adventure-loving pals built our own treehouse in the woods behind my best friend’s house. It was the bomb at the time-very rough and tumble and certainly not up to code.)
Today, Treehouse Masters on Animal Planet TV network shows us the possibilities. I cannot get enough. One episode visited Japan to meet with Treehouse Master, Pete Nelson’s, protégé Takashi Kobayashi. His is ground zero of treehouse creativity. In this episode, Takashi reveals the Nasu Tea Treehouse he was commissioned to build for the Niki Club in 2011.
Pete is amazed by this breathtaking treehouse and he asks Kobayashi, “How did you settle on this particular location in all the property you had to choose from?” Takashi replies: “I walked around for a week. I took one whole week and walked around until I settled on this spot.”
This reminds me recently as I coached a senior leader to get ready for a large-audience, high stakes internal meeting. We were working tirelessly on her content during frequent phone calls weeks well out before the event. She’d expressed concern about if the story would work, and I’d repeat, “Don’t worry, when you get on your feet, you will see it will all work out.”
To say she was skeptical was an understatement.
During our dress rehearsals, I had her up to move on her feet – a lot. After reaching great success presenting at this meeting, I asked her, “What was most significant in our work?”, and she proclaimed “the part about getting on my feet. You were so right. On my feet, I discovered what worked best, what the right words are, the right order for the story was, what the right energy was, what visuals were right, and what emotions to express.”
You see, I’ve learned through my extensive Improvisation training that when we take the TIME and we MOVE- physicalizing our ideas – the kinesthetic will allow intuition to take over.
To paraphrase Albert Einstein: “Better decisions are made with Intuition.”
Next time you need to figure it all out – get on your feet, take time, walk around. You’ll be surprised how clear it can all come to you. For more on Takashi Kobayashi: http://treehouse.jp/gallery/index.html
For the Treehouse Master’s Episode in Japan:
