George Gilbert’s Motivational Humor

Archive for the 'Personal Development' Category

Professional Speakers Take Control of the Audience

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

A friend of mine called me the other day asking for some help with her contest speech. She is competing in Toastmasters “International Speech Contest.” An annual contest that is world wide starting in January and culminating at the World Championship in August.

She has made it to the District level which is all of Southern Nevada and all of Central California. If she wins District she will move on to the Region and then possibly the World Championship of Public Speaking in Washington D.C. Everyone from her home club has told her she has a great speech, but she needs “to learn to take control of the room before she starts her presentation like George does.”

I have competed many times in the past and others have observed that I get the audiences attention before I start to speak even before I am introduced. This is what entertainers call stage presence. Anyone can stand up in-front of an audience and tell jokes, give a speech, sing a song, but to be a professional entertainer, comedian, or speaker you have to have stage presence. This is what separates the amateurs from the professionals. Many call it the “it” factor. Do they have “it?” The question now is, is stage presence something that you can develop or are you born with it. Can Stage presence be taught? I believe yes and no.

I believe that you have to have “it” in you to begin with, but many need to be taught how to bring “it” out of them. When I first started I didn’t have stage presence, but I believe I had it in me. I was too nervous and inhibited, but I knew if I was going to make it in humor I would have to get over my nervousness and inhibitions.

The first step in developing stage presence is to get up in-front of an audience as often as possible. There is no substitution for stage time. You have to overcome stage freight. You have to overcome what comedians and entertainers refer to as “Flop Sweat.” This is that feeling you get when you are performing on stage and the audience is not responding to anything you are doing and you break out into a cold sweat. You may always be a little nervous on stage but you have to get it under control. The only way you can control nervousness on stage is by more “stage time.” If I go through a period of time where I haven’t been on stage as much as I am used to, I tend to feel more nervousness.

The second step is to know your material. If you are too busy trying to remember what you are trying to say you cannot possible have stage presence. Knowing your material gives you the opportunity to concentrate on your delivery.

The third step is to dress just a little nicer than your audience. You want to be the focus of attention on stage. This goes back to dressing for success. If you are dressed too casually, the audience isn’t going to focus on you. I should say you don’t want to overdress either. Many entertainers wear a lot of flashy sequined outfits and that is ok for entertainers, but not for speakers. My friend Steve Pavlina who has a personal development blog also owned a computer game software company and when he would speak at computer conferences he said the audience wouldn’t listen to you if you were dressed in a suit and tie. There it is was better to wear a t-shirt and jeans, but for the most part you should dress just a little nicer than the audience

After you get over stage freight and you know your material then you can really learn how to develop your personality so that you can take control of the room. When I competed I liked to sit near the back near the exit. I would get nervous before a contest and want to pace or go to the bathroom. I didn’t want the audience seeing me get up a lot. I didn’t want to appear to the audience and especially the judges that I was nervous before I got up to speak.

Just before it was my turn to compete I would go over to get miked up, I would smile stand-up straight and walk with confidence. This is where I would start to settle down. I knew the audience shouldn’t see me looking nervous so I had to get my nerves under control. Taking a couple of deep breaths and standing up straight can help with that.

When the master of ceremonies (toastmaster) would start to introduce me, I would take one last sip of water so as to not have dry mouth when I spoke. When I was introduced I would walk a little faster than my normal walk with a big smile and look like I couldn’t wait to get up and speak. I walked and spoke with purpose. I would almost jump on the stage. Shake the toastmasters hand and then stand in front of the audience smile and make eye contact. One of the toughest things for most speakers is to just stand in front of the audience without saying anything. I would just stand there and let the applause die down. Only after the applause died would I go into my introduction. Standing in-front of the audience with out speaking shows confidence. It lets the audience get to know you. You want to make a good first impression. You want the impression to be of having fun and that you are confident. In the wild an animal can smell fear. The audience can also detect fear in a speaker. This can hurt your presentation. The audience isn’t going to listen to you, respect you if you appear too nervous. When I was doing stand-up comedy I noticed that the most successful comedians didn’t always have the best material, but the had the best delivery. If the comedian was confident the audience usually laughed, but if the comedian was nervous the audience didn’t laugh and even occasionally the comedian would get heckled.

I recently tried to give this advice to another competitor in the same contest. And she said her speech was too serious that she didn’t want the audience to think she was having fun. She lost. You can still give a very serious speech and show the audience that you enjoy speaking. You don’t have to be a grinning idiot just let the audience know you enjoy what you do.

Choreography is important. You don’t want to pace too much or just stand in one position the whole time you want to move with meaning. The trick is to make it look natural. I see too many speakers that are too choreographed and they don’t look natural when speaking. Their movements are stiff and it appears that they are thinking “when I say this, I will move my arm this way.” When I was in theater class the teacher would say a good set design is one where the audience doesn’t notice it. The same applies to your choreography, if the audience notices your gestures it may detract from your presentation.

The overall goal of taking control of the room is to be confident enough to be yourself in front of the audience, so that they focus on you and what you have to say.

Posted in Positive Thinking, Speaking, Professional Speaker, Personal Development, Speaking Tips | 2 Comments »

Laughter Therapy - Recieving Laughter

Monday, May 1st, 2006

“Humor is the instinct for taking pain playfully.” Max Eastman

My mother humorist Tulara Lee, recently spoke with me to two different audiences about laughter and longevity. This presentation is part of my “Take Two Laughs and Call me in the morning – Laughter is a Wellness Program Everyone Can Afford.” These two presentations were important because this was the first time she has spoken in front of an audience since having a Lobechtomy for Lung Cancer. I believe this is part of the healing process, mom has been a comedian and humorist for more than 60 years, and receiving laughter from the audience is something that has been a part of her life. To be able to hear the laughter again was therapeutic. Afterward she was tired, but exhilarated. She felt like the healing process was now complete. There is something about making people laugh that is cathartic. I know the first time I spoke after mom’s surgery I too experienced a very positive feeling.

Mom started out very strong. Right away she started getting laughs and this put her at ease. I know she was a little nervous about the first two presentations. She was worried about tiring two soon. When you put everything into a presentation delivery, gestures, it can wear you out especially if you haven’t been performing for awhile. I was nervous for her. She was worried that she would run out of breath. She has been little short of breath since the operation. In the middle of the presentation her mouth got a little dry and she started to cough. I was worried that she wouldn’t be able to stop coughing, but she took a sip of water and was able to continue without missing a step. I was also concerned about her losing her concentration after coughing, but it didn’t faze her and she continued where she left off.

The reaction from the audience was so good for her. She received a standing ovation. I once had a conversation with a fellow speaker about being received by the audience and I told her, “you know how well your presentation went by how long it took you to leave the room.” The more people coming up to you to tell you that you were good is a good sign. Sometimes when you speak and no one talks to you afterward you feel that they may not have connected with you. Both nights it took mom a very long time before we could leave the room. People kept coming up to her and telling her how good she was and how much of an inspiration she is. This also is therapeutic when people complement you that is great, but when they tell you how much of an inspiration you are to them that is just the ultimate feeling. If the adreline from speaking wasn’t enough the comments afterward were just what she needed.

For someone who isn’t used to speaking hearing laughter for the first time when giving a humorous presentation can start to put the novice speaker at ease, but for the old pro it gives them a sense of self worth.

Posted in Laughter Therapy, Motivational Humor, Wellness, Speaking, Professional Speaker, coping with a serious illness, Personal Development | No Comments »

How to tell a humorous Story

Thursday, April 27th, 2006

The most effective form of humor to use in a speech is the HUMOROUS STORY or ANECDOTE. These forms of humor are easiest to perform because you don’t have to be a comedian to tell a story. You don’t have to tell a joke. You are relating a story that happened to you to make a point, and if it gets a laugh that is an extra benefit.

It is important to remember that the story you are relating to your audience has to pertain to the subject you are speaking about. There is nothing worse than a speaker telling a story that has no connection to the speech. The audience doesn’t want to sit there and hear about the time you …made a fool out of yourself, or what ever it was that you did unless there is a moral to the story. You will lose your audience if you get off the subject.

We all have had humorous experiences that we can use in a presentation. The trick to relaying it to your audience is to sit down and compose the experience just as you would the rest of your speech. Just because you lived the story doesn’t mean you are ready to deliver it. Write it and re-write it so that it has a beginning, middle, and an end and makes a point. You might even compose a punch line for your story to add to the humor. You can even take a little creative license to it as long as the facts are correct in order to make it entertaining. Composing your story helps you focus on how to tell it. I have seen speakers get up and stumble because they couldn’t remember important details that the audience needed to know in order for the story to make any sense. This also helps to get rid of audible pauses such as: Ah’s, you know, right. These words can detract from your overall presentation.

When telling a humorous story don’t ruin it by laughing at your own story. Some speakers remember what is coming and they start laughing in the middle of the story. The audience wasn’t there when the story occurred and they don’t know why you broke out in laughter and they start to lose interest and you start to lose credibility as a speaker.

The best part of telling your own story is that you don’t have to worry about another speaker telling the same story. You lived it. You own the story. Many speakers tell stories that have made the rounds. I have heard many speakers tell the “Starfish Story.”(The starfish story is about a child walking the beech at low tide throwing stranded starfish back in to the water. A man walks up to the child and says, “There are so many star fish you can’t possibly make a difference.” The child picks up another starfish and throws it back in the ocean. The child says, “I made a difference to that one.”) Meeting planners and speakers bureaus don’t want to hire speakers telling the same stories. What would happen if the speaker on the podium before you told the same story? Would you be able to tell a different story?

When funny things happen to you make a point of writing them down. Note all the facts and why it was funny. Sometimes when something funny happens we don’t take note of it right away and then we can’t remember why it was funny. Start thinking about how you can tell the story immediately so that you develop your humor writing skills. This will also help you develop your observational humor skills so that you can start to think funny. The minute you say “Someday we’re going to laugh at this.” Is the minute you should be trying to figure out how to relay it to an audience.

The world is full of funny stories. It is your job as a speaker to recognize the humor and value of the story as it occurs.

For more information on how to use humor in speaking check out Humorspeak.com and its blog Humor Speaking Tips

Posted in Speaking, Humor, Professional Speaker, Personal Development, Speaking Tips, story telling | 1 Comment »

Humor and Laughter in Stressful Situations

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

“Comedy is tragedy plus time.” Carol Burnett

Have you ever been in a stressful situation or had an experience where you said, “Someday I’ll laugh about this.” Maybe the time to laugh about “this” is when you are experiencing the stressful situation. Experts tell us that laughter reduces stress so, if you can find the humor in it at the time it will help you cope and recover from the thing that is causing you stress. I realize this is hard to do, after all if it weren’t a stressful situation it would be easy to find the humor in it. But when you say, “someday I’ll laugh about this.” you have already acknowledged the fact that there is humor to be found in the situation. You just aren’t ready to take the next step and laugh while it is occurring.

Maybe we need to practice finding the humor in less stressful situations so that we get into the habit of finding humor when we need it most. Maybe we need to step back and look at it from someone else’s point of view. Humorist Will Rogers once said, “Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.”

Humor and Laughter is two fold. Humor gives us a different perspective about the stressful situation while laughter physically breaks the stress. Humor is mental while laughter is physical. Both have benefits alone but together they combine to help us survive tough times.

Posted in Laughter Therapy, Motivational Humor, Wellness, Job Stress, Stress Reduction, Personal Development | 1 Comment »

From Stand-up to Stand-Out - Know Your Audience

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

Different audiences process information differently. Bob Hope was known for his machine gun style delivery, where he would talk very fast telling joke after joke. This worked for him usually, but in different parts of the country he didn’t do so well when he first started because the audience couldn’t keep up with his fast pace. In the biography “Bob Hope A Tribute” by Raymond Strait Bob had a tough time in Texas.

Bob Hope did so poorly he told the unit manager, “Get me the hell out of here on the first train. I want to go back to the United States.”

Bob O’Donnell, an unpretentious guy who seemed to hang around the wings while the acts were performing, came back to the dressing room and asked Hope, “Hey fancy pants, what’s the problem?”

If I wanted to play to foreigners I’d go to Africa. I’m not for these people. That’s what’s the matter!”

O’Donnell laughed out loud. “Son,” he said, ‘you’re in Texas. Don’t talk so fast. These folks can’t understand a word you say. Relax. It’s summertime. Ain’t nobody goin’ anywhere. So take your time. You’ll be all right.”

Bob O’Donnell was the head of the International Vaudeville Circuit.

“O’Donnell taught him a very critical lesson in comedy. “Know your audience. Sometimes it don’t pay to rush things. Don’t be in such a hurry,” he said, “Let the audience catch up to you.”

Bob Hope took his advice and the second show was much more successful.

Posted in Humor, Jokes, Personal Development, Speaking Tips | No Comments »

Laughter Therapy - Socializing with Friends

Wednesday, April 12th, 2006

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” Victor Hugo

Today was a very special day. I took a good friend to our “Wednesday Lunch.” He has recently been in the hospital for most of the last seven months with complications from a stomach aneurism. Most people that suffer from this don’t survive. He has lost more than 100 pounds and is now trying to get his weight and stamina back. Not only is this a tough challenge physically, but it is equally mental. Every time it looked like he was recovering he would suffer a set back with pneumonia and infections. After multiple surgeries he is now on the mend.

I promised my friend that when he got out of the hospital when he was feeling up to it I would take him to our “Wednesday Lunch.” For the past ten years a group of us from high school meet at the same restaurant every Wednesday at 12:00 PM to have lunch. Sometimes we have as many as 14 people at the lunch. Sometimes there is as few as two of us. Who ever can make it shows up. This is a great way to stay in touch with friends and keep up to date on what is happening in our community. I called some of the guys to make a point of showing up, we have all been concerned for him and his family and we wanted to show our support.

This was quite the challenge getting out socially for the first time and can be stressful and tiring. I told my friend that I would take him home as soon as he felt too tired. The weather was perfect and we sat out side. There were six of us today. There is nothing more therapeutic than getting together and laughing with friends.

With in five minutes of getting to the restaurant and seeing the guys he started becoming his old self again. He started cracking jokes and laughing. One friend joked that he lost so much weight that he hadn’t been that light since birth. Everybody laughed. The jokes were flying and there were laughs everywhere. I am sure by the time I drove him home he as exhausted and would probably have to rest, but the laughs and socialization will do him more good in the long run.

When my ex-wife was recovering from her kidney/pancreas transplant it was important to get her out of the house as much as possible and go to movies and make sure that she had lots of laughs. When someone lives through such physical health challenges it is important to get them out and in social settings as soon as possible. Other wise they can become house bound out of fear. They don’t think they are strong enough. They don’t want others to see them in this state. This is where laughter plays such an important role. Laughter can help reduce the stress. And there is nothing more stressful that socializing when recovering from a long illness. As I have always said, “Laughter is a wellness program everyone can afford.”

Posted in Laughter Therapy, Motivational Humor, Wellness, Stress Reduction, coping with a serious illness, Personal Development | 1 Comment »

Laughter Therapy - The Benefits of Making Others Laugh

Monday, April 10th, 2006

“If I have caused just one person to wipe away a tear of laughter, that’s my reward.” Victor Borge

Making people laugh is very therapeutic. I used to criticize would be comics for getting up on open mike night and using stage time for therapy. And I still do. When they aren’t even trying to be funny. I would see people get up and tell these awful stories about their lives that should be reserved for a psychologists couch. These stories weren’t funny. There was no real attempt at writing a joke, it was just a chance for someone to get up and tell the world their problems. I call it the “Jerry Springer effect.”

But making people laugh can get you out of your doldrums. The other night I appeared at an event. This was the first event I had performed at since my mother had surgery for lung cancer. I have been using laughter therapy on her and myself to overcome the stress of her illness. But the last few days I found myself not as positive as I normally am. Even moments before getting up on stage I wasn’t in the mood to speak. As soon as I was introduced I found myself getting that positive feeling back. I stepped on to the podium, stood up in front of the audience, and I found myself shedding away all negative feelings. The laughter from the audience made me feel good about myself again. I have been doing stand-up comedy since the age of 12 and making people laugh is not only my career it’s my mission. Becoming a motivational humorist has been most rewarding for me. Being able to make people laugh and then expounding on the benefits of humor and laughter has given new meaning to my life. When I can make an audience laugh, I know I have made them forget about their problems even if it’s just for a few minutes. Milton Berle said, “Laughter is an instant vacation.” Laughter is a vacation from the stresses we put on our selves. Like going on a vacation we go to get away from our every day problems.

Over the past several years not only do I get the instant reward of an audience’s laughter, but the extra benefit of members in the audience coming up to me to tell me their experiences with laughter therapy. I gave a presentation at the Bellagio in Las Vegas last year to the International Association of Building Contractors. As I was collecting my props several people came up to me. They wanted to share their stories with me. One lady told me about her son, who was a police officer in the town where she lived. One night while on patrol he accidentally came across a pipe bomb. The bomb blew up in his hand. This is not something you would think would be something discussed in the same topic with humor. The lady told me that her son was in pretty good spirits about the incident and one of the reasons was many of the family members started making humorous comments about it. At first she was mortified that they would joke about her son losing his fingers in front of him until she realized that he was laughing and that it was a way of coping with the loss of most of his fingers. In order to cope sometimes we laugh at very morbid subjects. Subjects that others would be offended by. Even though they probably didn’t realize it, joking about the accident was also a way that family members used to cope with this near tragedy and they felt better making him laugh.

You don’t have to get up on stage to reap the benefits of making people laugh. Share humor with a friend or group of friends. Call someone up, especially someone you know going through a challenging time, and tell them a joke. Send a friend a humorous card, let them know you are thinking of them. Clip out a funny article or cartoon from the paper and put it up on the bulletin board at work. You will immediately feel the positive effect of your mental state by making someone laugh. Making someone laugh is a win-win situation. What I have found is that sharing humor with the audience is your gift to them and their laughter is their gift to you.

We are all here for a spell; get all the good laughs you can. –Will Rogers

Posted in Laughter Therapy, Motivational Humor, Wellness, Humor, Stress Reduction, coping with a serious illness, Personal Development | No Comments »

April is a Very Important Month For Humor and Health

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

With the exception of the 15th, April is my favorite month. Two very important things in my life take place in April. It’s National Humor Month and National Donate Life Month. Both of these causes play a very significant role in my life. As a motivational humorist I not only speak on the importance and benefits of humor in our lives, but since my ex-wife Dori’s kidney/pancreas transplant, I often speak to inspire organ and tissue donation. To medical personnel in that field I speak from the patient’s point of view and how we used humor to deal with such a serious illness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could combine the two! For instance, if a person is lacking a sense of humor, we could give that person a transplant of a funny bone or a humorous.

If it weren’t for her kidney/pancreas transplant Dori would probably not be here today or at least not enjoy the quality of life she enjoys today. Needing and waiting for a transplant can be a very traumatic and painful experience, but humor helped to alleviate some of that trauma and stress. This does not mean we didn’t have our pity parties but laughter kept those pity parties from developing into a major depression.

Not long after the transplant, while she was still in the hospital, I knew healthwise Dori was feeling better because she started to worry about her looks instead of her health. I came into her hospital room one morning and she was looking in the mirror. “I look terrible,” she said, “I have all these staples down my front.” I joked, “You look beautiful! Just like a Playboy Centerfold, and even they have staples down the front.” A little bit of humor can ease the mental anguish of dealing with a serious illness or situation. Laughter can put a different perspective on a stressful situation.

Posted in Laughter Therapy, Motivational Humor, Wellness, Humor, Stress Reduction, coping with a serious illness, Jokes, Personal Development, April Fools Day, Organ and Tissue Transplants | 2 Comments »

Mistakes Speakers Make

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

When using humor in a speech the goal is to make the humor enhance the presentation and not detract. I recently saw a speaker trying too hard to be funny. He was injecting humor just for the sake of being funny and not trying to fit it to the subject. It was as if he wrote the jokes and then wrote the speech as an afterthought. Some of the humor was about people in the audience and I felt uncomfortable because it was embarrassing for those members in the audience to be singled out. This wasn’t a roast or a comedy club.

When a comedian singles out people in the audience it can be funny. Don Rickles has made a career of picking on the audience and to some even that can be offensive. But the difference is that people know there is a chance to be picked on when you go to see a comedian like Don Rickles perform. But when you are watching a speaker it can be shocking. I should say the speaker didn’t verbally attack audience members like Don Rickles, but still it was inappropriate.

The next mistake the speaker made was he killed the joke by laughing during the jokes setup. You knew he was trying to tell a joke. Most humor, not all but most humor, gets a laugh when the audience doesn’t know its coming. The surprise is what makes it funny. Will Ferell once said, “The way I approach comedy, is you have to commit to everything as if it’s a dramatic role, meaning you play it straight.” By laughing at his own jokes the speaker wasn’t playing it straight.

Laughing while telling the joke also kills a laugh because the audience couldn’t understand the speaker. He spoke while laughing. The only thing worse than speaking while laughing, my mother would say, is speaking while your mouth is full. In order to be funny the audience has to hear the set-up line and the punch line. If they can’t you are not going to get a laugh. No matter how funny the joke is.

Make sure your humor is appropriate to the speech and the audience. Humor can make a dull, dry, boring speech interesting and even entertaining. Don’t joke about an audience member just for the sake of getting a laugh, especially if the joke might embarrass the person you are speaking about.

In one of my after-dinner speeches, I am not introduced as George Gilbert, but to the audience as “Dr. George Willoughby” a psychologist who recently wrote a book entitled, “How to Laugh at Your Neuroses.” This is intended to be a spoof of an after dinner speaker. Before I speak, I send out a questionnaire to the organization that I am speaking to. I try to find out as much about the organization as I can. I ask them about what might be sensitive so I know to stay away from those subjects. The last thing I want to talk about is something that is going to upset or offend the audience. I ask them to think about some funny things that have happened to them at their jobs that I might use in my presentation. I also ask for three names of people that I can contact to get more information. When I do joke about someone in the audience, I approach them before I speak and ask them if they would mind if I poked a little fun at them. I would never want to embarrass or shock that person because the audience will always side with one of their members and resent me.

When portraying “Doctor Willoughby” I stay in character, if I were to start to laugh at my jokes they would fail to get a laugh. I am supposed to be a renowned serious psychologist. Make sure you stay in character even if that character is you. Don’t try to be someone else. Lucille Ball probably said it best, “I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that’s good taste.”

Posted in Speaking, Humor, Professional Speaker, Jokes, Personal Development, Speaking Tips | 1 Comment »

March Madness - Keeping Loose With Humor to Win

Wednesday, March 29th, 2006

The other day 11^th seeded George Mason University knocked off the number 1 seed University of Connecticut in overtime in the NCAA tournament to reach the final four. This was a huge upset. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz said, “This was the greatest run ever to the Final Four.” Others have said it is the biggest upset in the tournament’s history. Before the tournament many felt that George Mason University wasn’t a good enough team and shouldn’t have been chosen to participate in the tournament. Obviously they have proven them wrong. But what makes this team different than the rest. They are having fun!

George Mason’s coach Jim Larranaga made sure that his players continue to have fun during this remarkable run. A run that has seen this team upset sixth seed Michigan St., third seed University of North Carolina, and seventh seed Wichita St. Just before they took the court to face the University of Connecticut, Larranaga reminded his players they were from the CAA — not the Colonial Athletic Association, but from the “Connecticut Assassins Association.” The players broke out in laughter. Before they played North Carolina coach Larranaga told the team North Carolina is “Superman and we’re Kryptonite.” The coach’s goal was to keep the players loose and not stress out for the games.

Does this mean coach Larranga and his team isn’t taking these games seriously? Just the opposite they are taking them very seriously. Being able to find fun and humor in your endeavors can free you up to handle the momentous task at hand. I see a coach like Larranga get his team to overachieve because he reminds them to have fun and then I have seen Bobby Knight’s teams on occasion underachieve. I sometimes think coach Knight’s style of intimidation backfires. I think his players tighten up because they are afraid of coach Knight. I don’t think we will ever see Coach Larranga throw a chair across the court or choke a player for making a mistake.

There were other teams in the tournament that succumbed to the pressure. After being up by 9 points with 3:27 seconds left in the game and leading until the final 10 seconds, Gonzaga lost their bid to go to the final four for the first time in school history. It was obvious that Gonzaga’s players started to feel the pressure in the final moments of the game. They couldn’t score and turned the ball over to give up the lead. With two seconds left Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison overwhelmed with emotion started crying before the game was over. He is a great player and will indeed have a great career ahead whether he stays in school or decides to go to the NBA. Obviously no one enjoys losing, but maybe Gonzaga who has never been to the final four should have focused on having more fun throughout the tournament. I believe they put too much pressure on themselves and in the end they tightened up and couldn’t finish unlike George Mason University whose team was able to not make mistakes and close out the game with a win.

Just when we need to focus most is when we tend to loose our focus. Why? Because we get too serious, thus impeding our concentration. The harder we try, the harder it is to concentrate, choking off any chance we had of accomplishing our goal. This is the time to find something to laugh at. Humor and laughter can help bring back our focus and see the challenge in a different light. Joking that the George Mason team were the Connecticut Assassinations Association helped lighten the fact that they were going to play what many pundits picked as the team to win the tournament. Humor in this case enabled the team to see the opponent as someone that can be beaten.

Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. We let our stress beat us before our opponent. It doesn’t matter whether it’s on the basketball court, at school, in business or any other aspect of life. We too often forget to have fun. We forget to laugh. Because we get too serious. We tighten up. Coach Larranga used humor to, as he said, “to keep his kids loose.” When I find myself starting to tighten up before a speech I remind myself as I am walking up to have fun. I know if I’m not having fun I am not going to perform to the best of my ability.

Posted in Laughter Therapy, Motivational Humor, Positive Thinking, Teambuilding, Leadership, Humor, Creating a Fun Work Environment, Productivity, Job Stress, Stress Reduction, Burnout, Motivating employees, Personal Development | No Comments »