Thinkers Who Move - Katie Stotter

We’ve created The Dojo to make thinkers healthier, happier and smarter by getting them to move their bodies. There’s tons of data on that. But from our advertising days we know that to really change people’s minds data has to come with good stories.

So we set out to talk to thinkers who already use their physical practice to enhance their minds. This is the first article in a series we call ‘Thinkers Who Move’, where we interview people who embody Full Body Thinking through their practices. We don’t want you to skim read, so these are short, with an intro and then discussion on the key quotes.

Our interviewee is Katie Stotter, Strategy Consulting Lead at & us.

If you have more time, you can listen to the full interview through this link.

So we’re talking to thinkers who already use their physical practice to enhance their minds. We’ve been growing through our conversations with them and hope you will too.

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I spoke to Katie just as she was coming back from a week of Swing Dancing competitions, first in Montpellier and then in Leeds. ‘I describe it as a hobby that got completely out of control’, she says of her dancing. Katie found dance after a break up. With all this time she wasn’t using for films in the evening, she wanted to learn new things.

‘I picked things I was bad at: baking and dancing’

Katie promises me her rum brownies are amazing now. Speaking of dance, however, her practice built upon previous pursuits. She understood music as she had been a musician. And her knowledge of how to move came from a decade of martial arts.

There’s quite a bit of research into how learning new skills keeps your brain healthy. I’m always telling people to try learning something hard. But Katie’s approach seems better. Instead of going completely all out, push yourself outside of your comfort zone with a few tethers to what you already know and like.

‘I always liked this idea of project based practice’

On top of that, Katie likes systems. It’s very much how she helps her clients put process around what they need to do. So she felt she could learn more and have more fun approaching dance the same way. Instead of being daunted by the many possible areas of improvement, she’ll pick an area to practice and focus on that for the session. Say her hands. Pick, practice, record, analyse.

She’s even working on a digital tool to remove the tension of choosing what to practice. Like a randomiser. Her next tip was to ‘focus on what you liked’. It’s too easy to beat yourself up about everything you could be doing better. But look at what has improved or what you have to build on.

‘When I hit a slump I try to go back to being a beginner at something’

To me, this sums up Katie’s approach in many ways. For herself, she uses this both in her physical practice and day job. Slump with partnered dancing? Hit solo dancing. Slump at work? Go do something you don’t feel like you need to be good at to start. The mindset of learning something new frees you up to think laterally and you can get out of the slump.

But then there are clients and students too. She says if you’re teaching beginners to dance or senior clients the basics of service design, there are some commonalities. Everyone is a bit self conscious and trying not to look like an idiot. But they can also be energised by the process. Here too the beginner mindset can lower the stakes and open up new areas of conversation.

‘For me, it’s the trombone that does it’

Finally, Katie talked to me about what so many thinkers experience: mental overload. Dancing couldn’t be more different to her day job, so it has become her way of climbing out of that mental overload. For her, when the music comes on it’s when it hits her. ‘Specially when it’s a big, stinky, dirty jazz tune. For me it’s the trombone that does it. And when you got that wailing brass section all you want to do is swing out’.

I love how Katie puts this. I think more people can relate to similar things in their physical practice. It might be putting your hand in a bag of chalk, knotting the belt over your gi, or even pressing play as you start running. These cues that tell our brain to switch gears become almost as enjoyable as the physical activities themselves.

The trombone, though, can’t beat that.  

Listen to the full interview here.