George Gilbert’s Motivational Humor

“Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine” Lord Byron

Even though we are still waiting for more tests to be scheduled so, that we can proceed with the proper medical treatment for my mother’s lung cancer. We are not sitting around waiting to get started with her laughter therapy. That’s right, I said, laughter therapy. I hooked up a VCR for her so that she could watch our old comedy videos that we don’t have on DVD. Videos from old time comedies like Laurel and Hardy to the English comedy of Benny Hill. These are some of her favorite comedians. No matter how many times she watches Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy get into “another fine mess!” or Benny Hill and his bawdy humor, they make her laugh.  The goal for watching the humor videos at this point is to keep mom in the proper frame of mind. The last thing I want her to do especially at this stage, when we don’t have enough information about how serious her condition is or what steps we have to take for treatment is to be sick with worry. Incorporating laughter therapy to reduce the stress of the unknown can alleviate what I call the “woe is me” syndrome.

Whatever challenges you may be experiencing whether it’s an illness, psychological or, professional problem, humor can help you cope with the stress we put on ourselves keeping us from overcoming the challenge.

Everyone has their own sense of humor. Because mom was regarded as one of the funniest comedy/variety acts of her day she appreciates the old comedians and how hard they worked to perfect their craft. Many people don’t respect Benny Hill, they think he is corny, but he worked very hard to make his routines look easy. When I need some laughter therapy I may watch the old comedies or I may put in a new comedy. The other day I watched the “Wedding Crashers” with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. This movie is hilarious and I laughed out loud, but this isn’t the type of movie my mother would enjoy and therefore wouldn’t be therapeutic for her. When you need to apply laughter therapy put you favorite comedy in the DVD player or VCR and Laugh, Laugh, Laugh! Remember the old saying Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” -  John Cleese

Creating a fun working environment can lead to more creativity and productivity. When employees enjoy their job and aren’t all stressed out they are more apt to get things done.According to Dr. David Abramis at Cal State Long Beach “people who have fun at work are more creative, more productive, get along better with co-workers and are better decision makers. They also call in sick less often.”

When I worked for a company that didn’t encourage fun, there was more stress in the office, employees didn’t work as a team and I found myself less motivated to get things done. Others called in sick frequently. Getting out of bed in the morning was much more difficult because there was no incentive other than money to go to the office.  

Creating a fun work environment isn’t difficult. It starts with respect. Do you treat your employees with respect? Are you approachable? Do you create an environment where they can approach you with a problem without fear of negative consequences? When employees don’t feel they are respected the motivation to be productive plummets.

Humor and fun on the job don’t have to interfere with productivity. As long as the humor and fun are part of the subject at hand it helps motivate employees. A laugh now and then can help reduce the stress of a major project that gets bogged down, and change perspective. When the team is trying too hard and the mood is tense try lightening it up. Do a David Letterman’s “top ten” list on the project to break up the tension. Encourage the list to be outrageous. Not only will this reduce the stress, but when you look at the list there may be something on there that might inspire a solution to what was creating the tension in the first place.